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As Baby Boomers hand down everything from fine art to furniture, one category is poised to stand apart: jewelry.

According to a , older generations will pass down in assets to their heirs in the next two decades in a phenomenon known as the . Many heirs are bracing for the coming flood of family possessions, which can feel like an enormous sorting project. 

A generation’s worth of art, an estimated , will change hands, along with antique wood furniture that is no longer in style. Boomers also own about that younger generations may have little interest in keeping. 

Jewelry is different, Bloomberg asserts. Unlike most inherited belongings, gold, diamonds and other precious pieces have built-in value and a ready-made marketplace for turning them into cash.

Unvault, a jewelry tracking startup, estimated in a that the average U.S. household holds about $5,700 in un-appraised gold jewelry. This adds up to roughly $750 billion nationwide and does not account for silver, platinum, gemstones or the added value of a designer or collectible piece.

Jewelry also has an advantage because it is relatively easy to sell. Heirs can take it to a local jeweler or pawnshop or list it online. Digital valuation and resale tools can help people understand what they have before deciding what to keep or sell.

Additionally, unlike a painting, dining set or classic car, jewelry is easy to store and wear. For many families, a small piece of jewelry with personal history may be worth keeping. It’s not just the price; it’s also the connection it preserves. 

One family’s jewelry odyssey

is a product marketing manager at mental health technology platform Headway. In 2024, his mother, Nancy, died of cancer. About a year later, his father, Bill, passed away unexpectedly. 

Stinger and his brother worked together to handle their parents’ South Carolina home and the possessions accumulated over a lifetime, including family mementos and furniture. Much of it had to be distributed, donated or discarded.

“Neither my brother nor I were ever going to open the Bill and Nancy Stinger Museum,” Stinger told Bloomberg. 

Some choices were especially difficult. Stinger still worries that his mother might “haunt” him for letting go of her Dickens Christmas house collection, a set of hand-painted miniature Victorian London buildings. 

But amid the administrative burden and grief, jewelry offered a rare source of clarity.

Jewelry could be divided, worn and carried forward, unlike many possessions that lose their practical or emotional appeal across generations. 

Stinger’s mother had inherited some pieces from her own mother, and those could return to Nancy’s sisters and eventually their daughters. Her engagement ring has an equally clear future: It will go to Nancy’s only granddaughter when she is older.

“These things are part of our family lineage,” Stinger told Bloomberg.