Quick Steps to Sell Jewelry, Timepieces & Luxury Accessories Collectibles at Auction

Jill Burgum has dedicated the last two decades to the field of jewelry. After graduating from the University of Hawaii at Manoa, with a B.A. in Art History, she attended Bowman Tech and Stewart’s International, both for training in jewelry manufacturing and repair. Her studies then lead to the Gemological Institute of America in Santa Monica, California, where she completed degrees in both Graduate Gemology and Jewelry Design in 1994.  

Ms. Burgum began her professional career working for a private jeweler in San Diego, CA. She then moved to San Francisco as a jewelry cataloger for Butterfield & Butterfield Auctions in 1996, transferring to their Los Angeles Jewelry department in 1997 as lead specialist, which she eventually left to build two jewelry websites for start-up companies. She has also worked in retail jewelry sales and owned her own independent jewelry appraisal business. Ms. Burgum is USPAP compliant. She has been a contributor to Art + Auction, Brilliant, Eclat, Maine Antiques Digest, Modern Jeweler, MSN Money, and Rapaport magazines.  

Ms. Burgum has been a guest lecturer for the Los Angeles Natural History Museum, Gem & Mineral Council, the National Association of Jewelry Appraisers, and appeared as a specialist on HGTV, KTLA, CNN, FOX Business, and Antiques Roadshow.

Diane D'Amato is the Director of Luxury Accessories at Heritage. Diane made her name in the Luxury Accessories world following high profile positions working for Hermès of Paris and Louis Vuitton, where her buying trips to Paris were influential in setting market trends in the United States and she oversaw more than $12 million in annual sales. Her specialty is in creating exclusive marketing partnerships and forging loyal client relationships. Diane is based in New York, joining the talent-rich Heritage team stewarding the brand, where she assists consignors and collectors with appraisals as well as supervising the category's double digit growth.

Diane has used her talents to do extensive charitable fund raising,  including sales that have benefited FATE (Foundation for Autism Training & Education), Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

With work in the retail, auction and manufacturing sectors of the jewelry industry since 1989, Gina D’Onofrio’s experience encompasses jewelry design and production, appraisals, buying and selling of contemporary, antique and period jewelry, sales and management.

Prior to joining Heritage, Gina operated an independent gemological laboratory, appraisal service and consulting firm and has been catering to private individuals, banks, trusts, non-profit organizations, insurance companies, legal firms and the jewelry trade in the greater Los Angeles area. Gina received her Master Gemologist Appraiser® designation, upon completion of appraisal studies, written and practical examinations and peer appraisal report review with the American Society of Appraisers. In addition, she was awarded the Certified Master Appraiser designation with the National Association of Jewelry Appraisers. In 2013, Gina received Los Angeles Magazine's coveted “Best in LA” award for her Jewelry Appraisal Services.

She serves on the Accredited Gemologists Board, the Gems and Jewelry Education Committee for the American Society of Appraisers and is co-instructor for their Appraisal Report Writing for Insurance Coverage course. Gina conducts presentations and speeches about appraisal and jewelry related topics to private and corporate groups in the USA.

Before joining Heritage as a Jewelry Consignment Director in its Chicago office, Jamie Henderson spent nine years at Leslie Hindman/Hindman Auctions as an account executive, cataloguer and specialist for fine jewelry, timepieces and artisan silver jewelry. Additionally, she worked at Professional Gem Sciences Laboratory laser inscribing diamonds and at the Haifa Faisal Collection of Saudi Arabian Traditional Arts as a cataloguer. 

Jamie’s initial love of jewelry came from her mother, while an affinity for science was inherited from her father, who was an Air Force officer. Living overseas as a child, she experienced influential locales such as the salt mines in Austria; traveling throughout the US, she also visited places such as the petrified forest in Arizona and the diamond mine in Arkansas. These adventures, along with her experiences working at the Haifa Faisal Collection and the diamond lab, made her entry into jewelry auction industry easy and appealing.

Holding a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Jamie is a current GIA student and holds Diamonds and Colored Stone Essentials Certificates. In addition, she is a member of the Women’s Jewelry Association (WJA), Association for the Study of Jewelry & Related Arts (ASJRA), and National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors (NAWCC). Her personal collection jewelry collection includes a few hard-to-find silver Tiffany pieces and smaller Edwardian rings, and she is always on the lookout for an amazing silver artisan piece.

Prior to joining Heritage Auctions, Ana Wroblaski has been involved in the jewelry business on various levels since 1999. Born in Chicago and raised in Los Angeles, she joined John Moran Auctioneers in Pasadena during 2011 to take charge of their growing jewelry department. Previously, Ana spent five years at Bonham’s and Butterfield’s Los Angeles, first starting as assistant to the senior specialist before she was promoted to a specialist, appraising and cataloging jewelry that ranged from antique to modern.

Once Ana got a taste of working with precious metals on her own, she served as an apprentice with a master jeweler in the Downtown Los Angeles Jewelry District. Focusing on minerals and gems, she then went on to fabricate and design jewelry for her own line and others as well. Ana is a Graduate Gemologist, earning her diploma from the Gemological Institute of America (GIA), an Accredited Jewelry Professional (AJP) and is constantly continuing her education by attending workshops and seminars to stay abreast of treatments, new mine discoveries and current style trends in the jewelry world.  

Ana has earned and stays current with the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP), and is currently working on the accreditation curriculum with the American Society of Appraisers (ASA).