Aurélia Turrall

Aurélia Turrall has over twenty years’ experience in the auction industry. She started her career in Business Development and Client Services at Christie’s and Sotheby’s Paris. She went on to obtain her Graduate Gemmologist degree from the Gemological Institute of America (GIA). Relocating from Paris to London, Aurélia joined the Jewellery department at Bonhams, dealing with client valuations and auction preparations.

Aurélia has a Bachelor of Arts degree from King’s College London and a Baccalaureate in Economics and Literature. She speaks English, French being her native language, and some Spanish. Aurelia has also had experience of working with specialist lenders Borro and working for SYMEV (French Association of Auctioneers) in Paris where she was Head of Communications.

In her spare time, Aurélia writes feature length screenplays and children books. Being able to value clients’ jewellery is what she loves to do and she has been privileged to handle some unique pieces.

Learn more about Aurélia:

What sparked your interest in valuations, and how did you get started in this field?

I love to travel and I wanted a job that would allow me to do just that, work from anywhere in the world. It’s all about freedom! Jewellery knows no border and gems are sourced in every corner of the planet. Whether I am valuing jewellery or discussing the origin of a piece, the geographical importance is not to be neglected. I started to specialise in this field whilst I was working at Sotheby’s, drawn to it when I presented jewellery auctions, prior to that, at Christie’s.

If you could own any piece of jewellery/artwork, what would it be and why?

I wished I owned a Cartier Art Deco brooch or jabot pin, with a perfect Tutti Frutti colour combination. You could wear it with everything! The diversity of gems, from exceptional quality to semi-precious is a true reflection of jewellery making at its finest and chic. Not too shouty, but definitely a statement.

What’s the most challenging item you’ve ever had to appraise?

A pink diamond from the Argyle mines in Australia. Due to the mine being closed, it makes the diamond irreplaceable in terms of sourcing it. However, the colour displayed in the diamond could very well be found in diamonds from other mines. It was a fine balance of trying to put all the variables together, acknowledging the stone’s uniqueness, limited availability but also the wider implications of finding a replacement diamond with the same colour and clarity.