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Bringing the past into the future


Next-generation estate dealers share how they use technology, sustainability and personal attention to make their businesses appeal to today’s clients.

By Phyllis Schiller

Michael Magnotti
Founding partner and CEO, EraGem
Bellevue, Washington

From the age of 10, Michael Magnotti grew up appreciating antiques. His father ran an antiques store, eventually moving the business online and transitioning to selling jewelry on eBay. Considering himself a “rock hound,” Magnotti worked with his father after graduating college and educated himself about the gems and estate jewelry they were selling.

After his father sold the company, Magnotti worked in jewelry design but ultimately came back to selling estate pieces. He started his own company with partner Weston Macdonald in 2006. Originally called Weston Jewelry, the online business became EraGem in 2012. Its product offering is about half vintage and antique pieces, and half pre-owned estate jewelry, including a mix of bridal and fashion. Among its wares are engagement rings from 1915 through the 1940s, ’50s and ’60s.

The goal was never to have a showroom, just to be online, Magnotti says. But once they got established, “people would find us locally and wanted to come see items. So we built the showroom to satisfy the needs of people who just come across us.”

Attracting customers who have “gotten away from shopping at a traditional jewelry store,” Magnotti says he makes plentiful use of social media. “Trying to organically have good placement online was really important. Ten years ago, being ranked really high on a Google search engine was the pinnacle of where you would get all the traffic. But now it’s other places like Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, all the different social media.”

What sets EraGem apart from other e-commerce sites, according to Magnotti, is “selection and our photography — we take all the photos ourselves.” There’s also the firm’s overnight delivery, “as well as guarantees and just being readily available and following through on everything that we do.”

Offering vintage jewelry attracts customers trying to make a more conscious buying decision, he observes. “Our future branding is going promote the message that if you are going to purchase a diamond, this is the most responsible way to do it. Diamonds last forever, and enough of them are going to be coming through the estate marketplace. We are passionate about the benefit of buying something that’s previously owned, where basically all of the environmental costs have been paid. That’s not a hard sell for us, because it’s something that we are committed to and believe in. I think the growth potential is terrific.”


Allie Azrael Lopato
Director of estate jewelry, Samuelson’s Diamonds & Estate Buyers
Baltimore, Maryland

Turning a passion for jewelry into a career after college, Allie Azrael Lopato got her graduate gemologist degree from the Gemological Institute of America (GIA), then worked as a jewelry buyer in New York before joining Samuelson’s Diamonds & Estate Buyers in Baltimore in 2018. Hired as the nearly 100-year-old firm’s first director of estate jewelry, she used her background in signed pieces and higher jewelry “to contribute to opportunities to buy larger estates, not just gold and diamonds, and really understanding pre-owned luxury,” she says. The category wasn’t new to the firm, “but it’s something we definitely have expanded on, opening a third location in Tyson’s Corner in northern Virginia this October.” It joins the main branch in Baltimore and a second in Chevy Chase, Maryland.

Samuelson’s is more wholesale than retail, Lopato notes. Its wholesale business primarily focuses on diamonds — especially larger old European-cut stones — and its retail side on bridal. The product mix also includes signed pieces, older estate pieces and secondhand Rolexes.

The showrooms are by appointment, offering the “Samuelson experience” to clients who want to buy or sell. “We educate them about what they have and what we’re looking at, giving them all the information they need to make a decision that makes them feel good,” Lopato says. “It’s explaining everything to customers in a way that makes sense and sharing why we can’t pay more for some items. We might not have a market for it. For instance, it’s tough for diamonds under a carat right now, and the pearl market is relatively soft. We’re totally transparent about everything; there are no secrets.”

Lopato is optimistic about growth in the estate sector and the firm’s goal of becoming “the largest buyer of pre-owned luxury in the DC Metro area. I think growing our brand and focusing on sustainability and the secondary market of recycled diamonds is what we want to be known for, and having less of [a negative] impact on the world, with less of a footprint of mining new stones.”


Alexander Fearnley
Director of sales and operations, J.S. Fearnley
Atlanta, Georgia

Alexander Fearnley “caught the bug” of estate dealing while accompanying his father on a buying trip for the family jewelry business, J.S. Fearnley.

“We evaluated private jewelry estates, attended some of the most recognized auction houses...and exhibited at one of the many trade shows that we still do today,” he recalls. This firsthand experience made him fall in love with the industry. Previously in sales in the financial planning area, he decided “to pursue and continue the growth and expansion” of the family business. A GIA graduate gemologist and Swiss Gemological Institute (SSEF) advanced gemologist, he joined the company in 2012. He has since worked “to actively implement new and innovative ideas for purchasing and selling our products while ensuring we maintain our multi-generational business model, moral values, and reputation.”

His age plays a part in that effort. “As the youngest of our family, it is crucial for me to approach non-traditional avenues with an open mind and fresh eyes in order to keep up with the constant changes of technology and consumer trends. Whether it be social media, online presence, trade shows, personal visits with clients, buying/selling events, unique marketing tools, product research, [or] consumer trends, I try to treat it all as a portfolio and balance each category accordingly.”

Fearnley believes each of these elements is a “crucial part of the machine that keeps our business successful. I am constantly making sure that each part, even the smallest category, is maintained and updated frequently.” His goal as the next generation, he says, is to continue “curating fine and rare jewelry and gemstones while using the rapid changes of technology to our advantage. The major challenge that I anticipate for the future...is being willing to make drastic changes to any aspect of our operations to accommodate the next generation of consumers in a way that’s most convenient and consistent with modern technology.”

Article from the Rapaport Magazine - December 2019. To subscribe click here.
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