July 10, 2021 Seminar Series 2: The Nuts and Bolt of Service, Marketing and Success
Official Seminar Program
Conference Location: LIVE STREAM in Your Home!
Program runs from noon to 4:00pm (EST)
Registrations: NAJA Members: $25 per seminar day
Nonmembers: $50 per seminar day
Register through PayPal here. Please put your email address in the notes section. Once you have registered, you will receive an email from us confirming your registration. Within 48 hours, you will receive a correspondence from LK Audio Production with the zoom link for the seminar.
12:00pm Noon Appraising Beyond Insurance Replacement – Martin Fuller
In this presentation, we will explore the fascinating areas of appraisal work and Valuation Services that exist beyond insurance assignments. From valuing museum collections, assisting with pre and post-sale consultations, conducting inventory appraisals for financial institutions or reviewing documents for litigation support, there are vast opportunities awaiting well-informed and experienced appraisers. The speaker will discuss some of the more interesting assignments of his career, how he came to be retained for them and why you should consider appraising beyond insurance replacement.
Martin Fuller, GIA GG, started in the jewelry business when you had to wind your own watches. You tested diamonds by scratching glass and pearls by biting them. He still tests pearls by biting them. After several years in retail, he worked for a Norwegian Master goldsmith, learning that he would never be one, because he was not Norwegian. Ultimately, preferring a microscope to the front counter, he left retail, specializing in gemology and appraising. He started his own company in 1984, which means he should be retired by now, but Martin says you retire to do what you love, and he feels he has been retired since he started his business. In this webinar, he will share some of his adventures and the opportunities that await jewelry appraisers who are ready to stretch their wings and take their skills and knowledge to the next level.
1:00 PM Forming Rewarding Relationships—How to Work with Colleagues and Authenticators – Jill Burgum & Stuart Robertson
By recounting real life examples, this presentation will discuss useful strategies for seeking and obtaining assistance with an assignment. Pointers covered include: Knowing when to reach out for help from either colleagues and/or authenticators and knowing when to decline an assignment; Learn the etiquette for how to approach peers for assistance and what is reasonable to expect from those peers. In what circumstances should the assistance be disclosed in the report. The presenters will also provide some helpful resources and explain how to search them.
Jill Burgum, GIA GG, 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, Éclat, Maine Antiques Digest, Modern Jeweler, MSN Money, and Rapaport magazines.
Stuart Robertson, GIA GG, is an award-winning gemologist and appraiser. He is currently vice president of GemWorld International, Inc., and serves as research director for the company’s publication GemGuide. Stuart is a Senior Member of the National Association of Jewelry Appraisers, and was appointed Conference Program Content Advisor to NAJA in August 2020. He is also the immediate past-president of the Accredited Gemologists Association. Stuart received the prestigious Antonio C. Bonanno Award for Excellence in Gemology in 2011, The AIJV Valuer of the Year Award in 2014 and The Scottish Gemmological Association’s Catriona Orr McInnes Award in 2019.
2:00 PM Developing Your professional Focus: Appraisals, Insurance law and the Jewelry Appraiser – Steven Pollack, Esq.
Understanding how insurers handle losses under homeowner insurance policies will inform jewelry appraisers when to use replacement cost value versus actual cash value, and depends if the appraisal is being used to set coverage limits or is a valuation following loss. Also covered is when actual cash value is based on market value, based on replacement cost minus depreciation, or when the broad evidence rule allows consideration of both.
Steven Pollack, is an Illinois attorney practicing in the area of insurance claims and related litigation. Prior to becoming an attorney, Steven was a custom jeweler for 18 years, designing and manufacturing one-of-kind designs in his retail store.
3:00 PM Working with the Public-Appointments, Travel, Office and $$$$ – Sherlene Bradbury
The talk will highlight the many aspects of setting up the office and preparing for business, setting appointments, the pros and cons of travel to client’s homes vs. a home/outside office and fee collecting. It will include practical tips and suggestions on how we started and how to avoid the pitfalls of trying to “do it all”!
Sherlene Bradbury, GIA GG, has been in the jewelry industry for 43 years, starting while studying music in college. Her love of gems and jewelry won over music and she headed for Santa Monica to earn the Graduate Gemologist-In-Residence diploma in 1982. From there, she worked for a small, but fine, family-owned jewelry company in the DC area where she was fortunate to gain experience in not only fine jewelry but antique and estate buying, selling and appraising. At the encouragement of her husband, fellow gemologist Robbie Bradbury, she retired from retail and opened YBA in 2003 and never looked back! Throughout the years she has been an active participant in and held various officer’s positions in the DC chapter of the GIA Alumni as well as a speaker and writer. In 2018, she earned the coveted CMA title from NAJA and is currently your Vice-Chair of Education.
About NAJA
The National Association of Jewelry Appraisers is the largest membership association specializing exclusively in gem and jewelry appraising and related appraisal issues. It offers education and networking opportunities with knowledgeable appraisal professionals. For more information, please visit www.NAJAappraisers.com.
