Tessa Parry FGA, DGA

Specialist: Jewellery & Luxury Accessories

Tessa Parry has worked in the auction business for 18 years. She was introduced to antiques by her Grandfather, and from an early age developed an interest in jewellery – the stories behind the pieces, the lives they touched, and the reasons how and why an item came to be made she finds particularly compelling.

Tessa completed her degree in Antiques, History and Collecting at Solent University, and whilst working for another high-profile auction house she turned her passion for jewels into formal FGA and DGA gemmological qualifications.

Tessa joined Dreweatts in June 2013 and is responsible for valuing and cataloguing the Fine and mid season jewellery sales.

Her own interest lies with antique jewellery, especially early jewels and mourning pieces, where you can trace the person that the item is linked to, and the archaeological revival jewellery created by Giuliano and Castellani, through to Art Deco jewellery of the 1930s.

Amongst many items of Jewellery, she has handled since 2013 Tessa counts a sapphire-set quatrefoil brooch by Castellani as one of her most interesting finds, the client had bought the piece for £1 at a car boot sale, and it sold at Dreweatts for £1,600.