Author Bios
Danusia
Niklewicz, GG, FGA, ISA-CAPP, ASA – educator, appraiser, gemologist, jeweler, goldsmith. Ms. Niklewicz has been involved in the jewelry industry for over forty years. From retail bench jeweler to Graduate Gemologist (GIA), she earned her Fellowship from the Gemmological Association of Great Britain
(GA) while a part of the Gemological Institute of America domestic and international teaching staff. From there, Niklewicz
turned her focus to valuation by earning titles from the International Society
of Appraisers (ISA) and the American Society of Appraisers (ASA), to become
a respected independent jewelry appraiser to the antique and high-end jewelry
community in Los Angeles for over thirty years. Ms. Niklewicz continued teaching
and creating appraisal seminars for GIA, ISA and Insurance Education Association
(IEA). Currently, Danusia Niklewicz and William Whetstone conduct an interactive
lecture series on hallmarks of precious metals to industry professionals
and collectors across the USA, Canada and abroad. Niklewicz brings to this publication
her years of experience in jewelry, researching, course writing, international
relations, graphics, and visual arts to co-write these narrative publications with the goal of providing a better understanding of
hallmarking through methodology and imagery.
William
Whetstone - historian,
antiquarian jeweler, numismatist, educator, goldsmith. Mr. Whetstone has
been a dealer and collector of ancient and world coins, as well as precious
metal objets d’art for over forty years. A graduate with honors in
history from McGill University, Mr. Whetstone was a former director and twice
past president of the International Society of Appraisers (ISA), where he
wrote the first technical Canadian course for professional personal property
appraisers, lecturing on various topics in gems and jewelry, and residential
contents and fine arts, both in the USA and Canada. Whetstone, who has been
teaching the analysis of hallmarking for the past fifteen years, joined with
Danusia Niklewicz and Lindy Matula to bring his years of expertise as a historian
in analyzing, researching, and documenting world hallmarks to co-write
these comprehensive publications.
Lindy
Matula, GG, ASA – appraiser,
educator, gemologist, jeweler, goldsmith. Ms. Matula has been involved in
the jewelry industry for nearly thirty-five years. Matula worked as a goldsmith
prior to receiving her Graduate Gemologist degree from the GIA. Through the
years Ms. Matula has been involved in the jewelry industry as a goldsmith,
an investment diamond grader, wholesaler, appraiser, contemporary jewelry
gallery manager, and instructor at the Revere Academy. Following her position
as head gemologist for Butterfield's & Butterfield’s auction
house, she aligned professions with Danusia Niklewicz in 1990 to create the
networking appraisal group, Paradise Associates. Matula
is currently the top independent appraiser of antique, contemporary and fine
high-end jewelry in the San Francisco Bay Area. Co-writer Lindy
Matula brings orchestration to this massive, multi-year project that has been
vital to the completion of these publications in a series of volumes designed to
lift the veil of complexity on modern and historic hallmarks.
Niklewicz, Whetstone,
and Matula are the Founding Directors of the Hallmark Research
Institute (HRI), and dedicated to furthering the understanding
of precious metal hallmarks from around the world. Along with their research,
HRI conducts lectures and educational seminars on hallmarks and are advocates
for the promotion of global hallmarking.