Heritage Auctions Inc.

04/20/2021 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 04/20/2021 10:45

Brett O’Connor Joins Heritage Auctions as Senior Director, Private Sales Jewelry and Timepieces

Press Release - April 20, 2021

Role will include focus on expansion of private transactions

DALLAS, Texas (April 20, 2021) - Heritage Auctions has announced that Brett O'Connor, a leading expert with more than 27 years of global experience in jewelry and timepiece auctions, has joined its Dallas office as Senior Director, Private Sales Jewelry and Timepieces.

O'Connor will work with Heritage Auctions' Jewelry and Watches & Timepieces teams on their auctions and with a focus on expanding Heritage's platform for private sales.

'We are thrilled that Brett is joining us,' stated Steve Ivy, Co-Chairman of Heritage Auctions. 'He brings a wealth of global experience to Heritage Auctions, and we are delighted to welcome him to our Dallas headquarters, 500 employees strong.'

O'Connor brings extensive experience in executive leadership roles at auction houses around the world.

As Senior Vice President at Bonhams in New York, he led the North American Jewelry team and helped rebuild the Hong Kong division. Before that, he served as Senior Vice President at Sotheby's in New York, Hong Kong and Switzerland, providing strategic oversight of property collection and auction operations across multiple locations, and as a renowned auctioneer in the United States, Europe and Asia. As Assistant Vice President at Christie's in New York, O'Connor executed nearly a dozen auctions per year, overseeing a range of responsibilities including sourcing, valuation, catalog production and serving as a contributing editor to an antiques and collectibles book.

He has turned a childhood interest in minerals and stones into a career as one of the auction world's leading gemstones experts, studying at the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) en route to becoming a Graduate Jeweler Gemologist. Since the mid-1990s, he has utilized his wealth of knowledge as an appraiser and renowned auctioneer at the world's top auction houses.

At Heritage, he will help expand the portal for private transactions working closely with the directors of Fine Jewelry & Timepieces.

'The Jewelry and Timepieces department look forward to future growth opportunities,' said Jill Burgum, Senior Director of Fine Jewelry at Heritage Auctions. 'Brett has the knowledge and experience to drive the expansion. We welcome him to our team.'

He can be reached at 214-409-1650 or via e-mail at [email protected].

Heritage Auctions is the largest fine art and collectibles auction house founded in the United States, and the world's largest collectibles auctioneer. Heritage maintains offices in New York, Dallas, Beverly Hills, San Francisco, Chicago, Palm Beach, London, Paris, Geneva, Amsterdam and Hong Kong.

Heritage also enjoys the highest Online traffic and dollar volume of any auction house on earth (source: SimilarWeb and Hiscox Report). The Internet's most popular auction-house website, HA.com, has more than 1,400,000 registered bidder-members and searchable free archives of five million past auction records with prices realized, descriptions and enlargeable photos. Reproduction rights routinely granted to media for photo credit.

Steve Lansdale, Public Relations Specialist
214-409-1699; [email protected]