How executors can sell watches
and jewellery from an estate

Your duties as executor when selling estate valuables

When you take on the role of executor, you accept a set of legal duties that govern how you handle estate assets — including physical valuables such as watches, jewellery, coins, and medals. Understanding these duties is the foundation for making good decisions about how to sell.

Step one: secure and inventory the valuables

Before any valuation or sale takes place, your first practical task is to secure and inventory the valuables in the estate. This means:

• Gathering all watches, jewellery, coins, medals, and other portable valuables into a single secure location
• Photographing everything before it is moved or handled
• Checking all drawers, cases, bedside tables, jewellery boxes, and storage areas systematically
• Looking for associated documentation — original boxes, warranty cards, receipts, insurance valuations, service records
• Creating a written inventory, however rough, of what you have found

Do not clean, service, or handle the items unnecessarily. In vintage watch and jewellery markets, original condition — however worn — is a positive attribute. A watchmaker's service or a professional clean, while well-intentioned, can actually reduce the value of specialist pieces by removing evidence of originality.

Step two: obtain specialist valuations

This is the most important step — and the one most commonly handled inadequately. A valuation from a generalist jeweller, an antique shop, or a general estate agent will not give you the specialist knowledge you need for watches, coins, medals, or vintage jewellery. It will give you a general view — helpful for common items, but potentially significantly wrong for specialist pieces.

What a proper specialist valuation looks like

A specialist valuation for an estate collection should be:

• Written. A verbal estimate is not sufficient documentation. You need a written valuation you can place in the estate file.
• Itemised. Each piece should be valued individually, not grouped or averaged. "Watches: approximately £1,200" is not sufficient — you need a value per watch with an explanation.
• Explained. The valuation should explain the basis for each value: what the item is, what comparable examples have sold for, and what factors affect the specific piece's value.
• Specialist. For watches, a horological specialist. For coins, a numismatist. For medals, a militaria specialist. For jewellery, a specialist in antique or vintage jewellery rather than a general high-street valuer.

Types of valuation

There are different types of valuation for different purposes. Understanding the distinction prevents confusion:

Probate valuation (for HMRC). Required if the estate is above the inheritance tax threshold. Must reflect the market value at the date of death. HMRC expects formal probate valuations from appropriately qualified valuers (such as RICS accredited) for significant assets. For watches and jewellery, you may need a specialist probate valuer in addition to obtaining sale offers.

Insurance replacement valuation. Significantly higher than market value — reflects the cost of replacing a piece at retail. This is not what you want for estate purposes and should not be used as the basis for sale pricing.

Market value assessment. What a knowledgeable buyer would pay in the open market. This is what a specialist direct buyer like Fair Vintage provides through written offer letters — and this is the most relevant figure for most executor decision-making.

Step three: understand the selling options and their implications

As executor, you are not required to use any particular sales channel — only to achieve a fair market price through a process that is defensible to beneficiaries. The main options and their implications for executors are as follows.

Specialist direct buyer (recommended for most estates)

A specialist postal buyer like Fair Vintage assesses the entire collection in a single submission, provides individual written valuations for every item, and makes a formal purchase offer. For executors, the advantages are significant:

• Written valuation per item suitable for the estate file
• Fast timeline (5–10 working days for assessment, 72 hours for payment)
• No commission reducing the net proceeds
• Item-by-item choice — items wanted by beneficiaries can be excluded
• Free insured return of anything not purchased
• Discreet handling of the entire process

The written offer letter constitutes your documentation that you obtained a specialist market assessment before selling. This is important for your estate file.

Auction

Auction provides a public market that can, for exceptional pieces, produce prices above what a direct buyer offers. For executor purposes, auction also has the advantage of creating a public record of the sale price. However, sellers' commission of 15–25% reduces net proceeds. The 4–12 week timeline may conflict with probate schedules. And for a mixed collection with pieces of varying quality, many lots will be catalogued generically and attract limited specialist interest.

For executors, the best approach is often to use a specialist buyer for the bulk of the collection — with documented written valuations on each piece — and reserve auction only for any exceptional individual items where competitive bidding is likely to add value above the commission cost.

Private sale to beneficiaries

Where a beneficiary wishes to purchase an item from the estate, this can be a perfectly appropriate solution — but only if the price reflects fair market value. Obtain an independent specialist valuation first. The beneficiary pays this value to the estate, and the transaction is documented. Never allow personal relationships to result in an item being transferred at below-market value to a beneficiary without the agreement of all other beneficiaries.

Dealing with disagreements between beneficiaries

Where multiple beneficiaries are involved and disagree about the valuation or sale of specific items, written specialist valuations from an independent buyer or valuer are your strongest tool. They provide an objective, documented basis for the value that removes the dispute from the personal and places it in the professional.

If one beneficiary disputes a valuation they believe is too low, invite them to obtain an independent second valuation. If the second valuation is materially higher, take the higher route or obtain a third opinion. Document all of this carefully.

If a beneficiary simply does not want the items sold — perhaps for sentimental reasons — the will and the terms of the estate govern whether they have grounds to object. If the will directs that the estate be converted to cash for distribution, the sale of valuables is generally required regardless of individual preferences.

Sensitive handling — bereavement and the collection

This guide focuses on the practical and legal dimensions of selling estate valuables — but it would be incomplete without acknowledging the human dimension. Most collections of watches and jewellery come with decades of memory attached to them. Deciding to sell a watch that belonged to a father or grandfather, a brooch worn by a mother every day, a collection assembled over a lifetime — these are not purely commercial decisions, and the best sellers understand that.

We approach every probate submission at Fair Vintage with this in mind. There is no pressure and no rushing. If you need time to consider an offer, you have it. If you want to keep a piece for sentimental reasons after it has been assessed, that is entirely your decision. We return items quickly and without complaint.

The written valuations we provide are not just useful for your estate file — they also tell you, in plain language, what each piece is and why it has the value it does. Many families find this record useful in its own right, as a document of what the collection contained and what it was worth.

Frequently asked questions