The antiques no-show

‘Keep it in the family’ was a mantra that used to be adhered to by Brits when valuable family items and heirlooms were passed down to them.

However, need often outweighs sentimentality, and new research from retirement specialist LV= has found that over 550,000 retirees have sold off valuable family items and keepsakes in the last five years, with a combined total value of at least £729 million, to help fund their lifestyles and supplement their pensions. As the figures suggest, these are far from low value trinkets and tit bits – the average value of items parted with by cash-conscious retirees is a hefty £1,309.

Of those approaching retirement – people aged 50 to 64 – 15% admit to having already sold off a high value item (with an average worth of £2,667) while a further 57% say it’s something they’re giving serious thought to. What’s more, looking further into the future, 48% of ‘grown up children’ say they’re expecting to inherit a high value keepsake from within their family that they could well sell on to increase their personal funds.

Whilst over two thirds of all items sold by retirees in the last five years were identified as family heirlooms (and that 57% would have been handed down to a younger family member had they not been ‘moved on’), almost half of entrepreneurial pensioners didn’t feel an ounce of sentimentality about the sale. This is despite the fact that the heirlooms in question had been in families for an average of 84 years, which suggests that people are experiencing a real need for additional money to help fund retirement.

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