You do not need to carry antiques to a saleroom or wait for a valuation day. Fair Vintage is a UK-wide postal buyer covering all of Scotland: request a free insured label, send your items when it suits you, and receive a written valuation from a specialist.
Silver, jewellery, coins, medals and small collectables — each item valued individually. Free insured postage. Written valuation per item. Paid in 72 hours.
Edinburgh and the rest of Scotland have a long-established antiques trade, from city auction houses and dealers to regional salerooms and valuation days. All of them are legitimate routes, and it is always worth comparing before you sell.
What a postal specialist changes is the effort and the pressure. There is no need to book a valuation day, drive to a saleroom, or wait weeks for a lot to come up. You request a label, send your items, and read a written valuation in your own time. If you decide not to sell, everything comes back to you, insured, at no cost. The service covers the whole of Scotland, so it makes no difference whether you are in the New Town or the Highlands.
Hallmarked and Scottish silver, flatware, salvers and small decorative pieces. Marks are read as part of the assessment.
Gold and gemstone jewellery, coins and sovereigns, and campaign and service medals, single or in collections.
Wristwatches and pocket watches, and small decorative antiques and objets that post safely. Larger furniture is not suited to postal sale.
If your silver was assayed in Scotland, it may carry the three-towered castle town mark of the Edinburgh Assay Office, one of four assay offices still operating in the UK. Older Scottish sterling silver often also carries a thistle, historically the Edinburgh standard mark. Alongside these you will usually find a date letter and a maker's mark.
These marks are genuinely useful: they confirm the metal, indicate where it was assayed and give a good indication of when. You do not need to identify them yourself. Photograph any marks as clearly as you can, and we read them as part of the written valuation.
A hallmark confirms the metal and where and roughly when a piece was assayed. It does not, on its own, set the value — maker, form, condition, rarity and demand all matter. We weigh the evidence together and explain what it supports in writing.
Every item is assessed individually rather than lumped into a single offer. The main things we look at are:
A few clear photographs make a preliminary view much easier before anything is posted:
Please do not clean, polish or restore anything before sending. Original condition is usually preferable, and we assess items exactly as they are.
Each piece, any hallmarks and marks, coins and medals, plus boxes and papers. Email us first if you would like a preliminary view before sending.
We email a free prepaid, tracked and insured label the same working day. Drop the parcel at any Royal Mail or DPD point in Scotland. Insured to £5,000 from the first scan.
Your parcel is opened and the items documented with photographs before any specialist handles them.
Each item valued individually, in writing. Accept what you want to sell; we return the rest free. Paid in 72 hours or +3%.
Call us on 01234 815116 or email support@fairvintage.co.uk.
Get your free label →No. Fair Vintage is a postal buying service, not an Edinburgh shop or saleroom. That is deliberate: instead of carrying items to a valuation day or auctioneer, you request a free insured label, post your antiques when it suits you, and receive a written valuation. There is no premises to visit and no appointment to book.
Yes. The postal service covers the whole of Scotland — Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Dundee, the Borders and the Highlands and Islands. Wherever you are, you drop your parcel at a local Royal Mail or DPD point, so distance from a saleroom makes no difference to how your items are handled or valued.
A three-towered castle is the town mark of the Edinburgh Assay Office, one of four assay offices still operating in the UK. Older Scottish sterling silver often also carries a thistle, historically the Edinburgh standard mark. Together with a date letter these marks confirm the metal and roughly when a piece was hallmarked. Photograph any marks clearly and we read them as part of the written valuation.
Large furniture is not suited to a postal service, so we are the wrong route for a wardrobe or dining table. Where we can help is with smaller antiques and collectables that post safely — silver, jewellery, coins, medals, watches, ceramics and objets. If you are not sure whether something is suitable, email a photograph and we will tell you honestly.
The same range we buy nationwide, provided it can be posted safely: hallmarked and Scottish silver, gold and jewellery, coins and medals, watches and pocket watches, and small decorative antiques and collectables. Single items and whole estates are welcome. If you are unsure whether something is worth sending, email a photograph first.
What it is, its marks, age, condition and demand all assessed. Written valuation per item. Opened and documented. Paid within 72 hours. No need to leave home.