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About
Jill Waddell is an accredited appraiser and decorative arts specialist with more than twenty years of senior experience across the luxury marketplace, including leadership roles at Christie’s, Sotheby’s, Leslie Hindman Auctioneers, and One Kings Lane. Her practice focuses on the valuation of silver, gold, European and American decorative arts, and design objects, with particular expertise in provenance analysis, institutional comparables, and market context for high-value collections. Throughout her career, Jill has achieved benchmark results that reflect her deep market knowledge and valuation accuracy. She has handled numerous record-setting works, including the highest price ever realized for silver at Christie’s New York ($4.5 million), as well as the top two prices for American silver ($5.9 million, $1.1 million) and the highest price for silver by Paul Revere Jr., during her tenure at Sotheby’s. Her valuation work has supported significant single-owner sales, museum acquisitions, and private-collection deaccessions, consistently aligning scholarly rigor with real-world market performance. Jill is known for her research-driven approach and her ability to translate complex historical and market information into clear, defensible valuations for private collectors, estates, fiduciaries, and insurers. She has overseen thousands of appraisals, guiding clients through acquisition, estate planning, charitable donation, equitable distribution, and risk-management decisions. Her background spans both traditional and digital marketplaces: she helped lead Christie’s transition to online auctions and previously worked in online luxury retail at One Kings Lane, giving her a nuanced understanding of how shifting platforms and buyer behavior influence value. Jill also brings experience from the insurance sector, where she advises on fine art risk, contents valuation, and policy language for high-net-worth clients. She is also adept at guiding her clients through the nuances of private sales and third-party guarantees. Jill holds a Master’s of Art in the History of Decorative Arts and Design from the Cooper Hewitt Museum/Smithsonian and a Bachelor’s of Science in Biospychology and Cognitive Science from the University of Michigan. Her academic training, combined with decades of market experience, informs her balanced approach to scholarship, connoisseurship, and valuation. Committed to professional standards and ethical practice, Jill adheres to the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP) and is dedicated to advancing scholarship, transparency, and best practices within the field. She is based in the New York–Connecticut region and works with clients nationwide.