How to Evaluate Inherited Jewelry: The Box-by-Box Triage Method

Every estate produces the box: decades of jewelry, tangled and anonymous, somewhere between sentiment and salvage. Triage — not expertise — is the first skill: sorting the box into investigate, keep-for-love and ordinary piles efficiently and without wrecking anything.

Round 1: the marks pass (fast)

Loupe every clasp, shank and back: gold and purity numbers (585, 750, 14K), "STERLING"/925 vs plate codes, PLAT, and any name — fine houses or costume signatures. Everything marked precious-metal or signed → investigate. (Magnet assists: strongly magnetic chains are plated steel → ordinary, but remember non-magnetic proves nothing.)

Round 2: the materials pass

Unmarked pieces get the feel-and-look tests: weight and coldness (real stones and gold are dense; pearls tested tooth-gritty), plastic-era tests (that "ugly bangle" clunking in the box might be carved Bakelite worth real money), cameo material checks, foil-backed vs open-back stones, and construction quality — finished backs, prong settings, hand work (backs are résumés). Quality-without-marks → investigate.

Round 3: the era pass

Style and findings date pieces even anonymous: Victorian clasps and symbols, Nouveau vs Deco vocabulary, screw-backs (pre-1960s ears), WWII sterling costume, aurora borealis (post-1955). Old + intact → at least investigate-lite; broken Victorian gold still carries metal value plus repair-worthiness.

What NOT to do mid-triage

Don't untangle chains violently (kinked gold sells; snapped antique chains sell worse), don't polish anything old (patina money), don't pop stones out "to check," don't ultrasonic-clean unknowns (kills foil backs, opals, pearls, enamel), and don't sell the "scrap gold" pile before Round 4 — period pieces are routinely worth multiples of melt.

Round 4: pricing the investigate pile

Photograph each piece (front, back, marks) and run the set through the Antique Identifier app for maker/era/tier reads; comp sold results per piece; and split the endgame: signed/precious pieces to a proper appraisal or specialist auction, quality costume to collector markets, true scrap to a reputable gold buyer — weighed in front of you, after the antique-value check.

The bottom line

Loupe first, feel second, era third — and let nothing leave as "scrap" until its maker, material and period have all had their say. The box always contains one surprise; triage exists to catch it.

Values mentioned in this guide are indicative ranges from public auction and marketplace results; condition, provenance and market timing move them substantially. For insurance or estate purposes, get a written appraisal from a certified appraiser.