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Lea Koonce Ogundiran is the Midwest Regional Advisor and a Jewelry Specialist at Doyle. Based in Chicago, she works with collectors, families, advisors and fiduciaries throughout the Midwest providing Doyle’s full range of auction and appraisal services.
Mrs. Koonce Ogundiran is the owner of Lea Koonce Ogundiran, LLC, a jewelry appraisal firm located in Evanston, Illinois. Prior to moving to Chicago, she was an estate jewelry buyer, jewelry appraiser, and diamond wholesaler in Charlotte, NC for fifteen years. She is a GIA graduate gemologist with over 25 years of experience, working with luxury jewelry firms such as Harry Winston and Tiffany & Co.
She began her career in the Jewelry department at Christie's, first as a cataloguer, and later as an Associate Specialist and Assistant Vice President. In this capacity, her responsibilities involved appraising and collecting jewelry for auction, drafting insurance and estate tax appraisals, preparing condition reports for jewelry, lecturing, auctioneering at charity events, and organizing jewelry exhibitions.
Mrs. Koonce Ogundiran is a graduate of the Gemological Institute of America in New York, where she earned both Diamond and Colored Stone certificates and a Graduate Gemologist diploma. She is a licensed auctioneer in the state of North Carolina. She also holds a bachelors of arts in Biology with a specialization in Marine Science from Boston University.
She has appeared as a Jewelry Appraiser on the PBS series, Antiques Roadshow.
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