Lea Koonce Ogundiran S’90: The Provenance of a Distinguished Jewelry Appraiser
Distinguished jewelry appraiser, Lea Koonce Ogundiran S’90, shares her career path in gemology and discusses how her studies at TMS show up in her work today.
Lea Koonce Ogundiran, S’90, 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.
Written by Lucy Pakurar S’23
“I get to tell people what they have and what it’s worth.”
A customer walks into a jewelry store holding a piece of jewelry they've had in their family for generations. They may assume it’s costume jewelry and worthless, but still, they’re eager to figure out the provenance of this piece that’s been part of their family for as long as they remember. “I get to tell people what they have and what it’s worth.” Lea Koonce Ogundiran went to the Mountain School in the spring of 1990 and then went to Boston University to study biology. Only after graduating did she find her true passion: gemology.
Lea grew up in Cleveland and welcomed a semester away from city life at the Mountain School. While in Vershire, she met her best friend, had some run-ins with the sheepdog, and immersed herself in nature. To this day, she is particularly proud of herself for completing solo – something she didn’t know if she could finish.
As a young adult, Lea developed a long-term interest in rocks and auctions. She pursued her passion beginning with a part-time job as an auction assistant at an auction house in Boston after college. It was there that she realized that gemology was a field she wanted to pursue, and went on to get a degree from the Gemological Institute of America (GIA).
While pursuing her Graduate Gemology degree, she landed a job at an auction house in New York City. Since then, she moved to Chicago, IL, and currently runs her own jewelry appraisal business and works as the Midwest Regional Advisor at Doyle. Additionally, she appears as a jeweler appraiser on the Antiques Roadshow. Lea’s favorite parts of her job are “getting to meet people from all walks of life”, and getting to uncover the hidden backstories behind beautiful pieces of jewelry. She has met many amazing people throughout her career and has gotten a lot of help along the way.
Lea stresses the importance of a liberal arts education and still carries lessons from the Mountain School with her today. She recalls reading Thoreau and Walden in English class and explains how the majority of her work today involves English and history skills. Although she did not end up becoming a marine biologist, the science she studied in college greatly helped her in studying the chemical composition of gems while at GIA. Her love of uncovering the backstory behind the things around her, though, all began at the Mountain School when tasked to understand the backstory of a tree. Nature, she says, plays a huge role in a lot of the jewelry she encounters, as many artisans are often inspired by nature. While in Vermont, Lea spent her time admiring the beauty in her surroundings and continues to appreciate the beauty of nature when studying jewels and gems.
One of the most important skills Lea learned in the Mountain School community was problem- solving. She remembers how, especially on solo, students had to figure out how to solve problems that don’t even have a correct solution. She carries these values with her as a jewelry appraiser while she uncovers the mysteries behind pieces of jewelry and is in a position to share with people the truth behind something they value so deeply. For Lea, her work is even more about the people wearing the jewelry than the jewelry itself. She adores helping people and seeing the looks on their faces when they find out the context, origin, and significance. To current and future Mountain School students, she advises them to “enjoy all the fabulous people,” stay curious and to immerse themselves in the wonderful community of the Mountain School.