A practical guide · US & UK
How to Pass On Your Jewelry and Its Stories, to the Right People, Without a Family Feud
Your mother’s pearls, your grandmother’s brooch, your own rings: know what you have, decide who gets what, put it in writing so it holds, and leave the story of every piece, in a few afternoons.
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By Crown Bequests · Instant PDF download
Why this book
Your mother’s ring. The pearls she wore to every wedding. A charm for every child. Your jewel box may be small, but it is full of meaning: a ring your mother never took off, a charm for every child, pieces you can’t tell from costume. And the same things go wrong in ordinary families every day. Two sisters want the same ring. A second husband keeps what was meant for the children. A brooch is sold for scrap by someone who never knew its story.
The Jewel Box Letter walks you through it, one afternoon at a time: open the box and record what is in it, find out what it is and what it is worth, keep it safe, decide who gets what, talk to your family, put it in writing the way the law in your country needs, and write the letter that tells each piece’s story.
What’s inside
Why the smallest things cause the biggest family fights, and how this book gets your jewel box settled in a few afternoons.
The inventory afternoon: lay everything out, sort it (worth money, worth memories, both, neither), photograph and number it, one record card per piece.
Hallmarks, karat stamps and maker’s marks in the US and UK, home checks and their limits, the three different “values”, and how to find a qualified appraiser.
Prompts that bring each piece’s story back, recording your own voice, old photographs, and what goes into the jewel box letter.
Storage, safes and bank boxes (and how a box can lock your heirs out), insurance on named pieces, pearls and repairs, and wearing it instead of saving it for best.
Fair versus equal, sets and pairs, sons, daughters and grandchildren, the piece two people want, and the people who want nothing.
Second marriages and step-families, what a surviving spouse can claim, the “he’ll pass it on to the children” trap, divorces, and lending versus giving.
Whether and how to ask, a family afternoon, fair ways to divide (taking turns, drawing lots, points), and handling hurt feelings.
What the law does with your jewelry when there is no will or list, in the US and the UK, and why “they’ll sort it out” so often ends badly.
Specific gifts, the residue, the piece that’s gone, the personal property memorandum (and which states allow it), trusts, executors, keeping it current.
Specific legacies, the letter of wishes, England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, executors, Inheritance Act claims, keeping your will current.
The joy of seeing it worn, and the rules that come with it: US gift exclusion, cost basis and the Medicaid look-back; UK exemptions, the seven-year rule and gifts with reservation.
Powers of attorney in the US and UK, jewelry in hospitals and care homes, who holds the key and the list, and what an attorney may and may not give away.
For the heir or executor: don’t divide in the first weeks, inventory before anyone takes anything, siblings and grief, and selling what nobody wants without being cheated.
Where to keep the letter and the cards so they are found, and the final checklist.
Nine printable pages: Jewelry Inventory, Piece Record Card, Story Prompts, Who Gets What, Family Conversation Planner, the fill-in Jewel Box Letter, Safe-Keeping & Insurance, Where Everything Is, and the Executor’s Jewelry Checklist. Plus a glossary.
Sample pages
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What you get
Questions before buying
A professionally designed PDF of 185 pages, 6 × 9 inches: 13 chapters, an opening and closing chapter, nine printable worksheets and record cards, and a glossary.
You pay through Gumroad, and the PDF is yours the moment the payment goes through: on the page, and in an email from Gumroad with your download link. You can download it again from that email at any time.
Yes. Every worksheet and record card is a page of its own, made to print at home on letter or A4 paper, as many times as you need.
Yes. The PDF opens on any phone, tablet or computer. To read it in the Kindle app, send the PDF to your Kindle library with Amazon’s free Send to Kindle.
It is written for readers in the United States and the United Kingdom, and it says where the rules differ: between US states, and between England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
No. It is general information that helps you get your jewelry, your wishes and your family ready, and it tells you plainly when you need an estate attorney, a solicitor or an appraiser, and what to ask them. Every rule and figure was checked against official sources, listed at the back.
No. It is about your jewel box. A few chapters open with a short true note on how the royal family handled the same problem, but the book is about your pieces, your family and your wishes.
No, it is a digital book (PDF). You can print it at home if you like.
Crown Bequests, an independent YouTube channel about royal jewels and the people who left them. It has no connection with the Royal Household or the Royal Collection.
Pass on your jewelry and its stories, without a family feud · $27
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The Jewel Box Letter