Jewelry Judge - The Nation's Jewelry Appraisers

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Joel Lackey, GG
Graduate Gemologist Appraiser

Jewelry Judge of Las Vegas, LLC
8425 W. Flamingo Rd. #5
Las Vegas, Nevada 89147
phone: 702-275-6204
fax: 702-364-2243
email:

Hours: By Appointment Monday through Saturday.

Summary of Qualifications
Joel Lackey has been actively involved in the jewelry industry since 1971. His experience in the jewelry business began as an opal cutter working with his father and his business associates who bought huge crates of opal rough from Australia. Once he completed the opal cutting project , he was sent to New York City to work as a diamond cutting apprentice at the old Diamond Club Bldg at 30 W. 47th St. in NYC. This later led him to a retail position at Balogh Jewelers in Miami Beach, Fla. where he was first exposed to the appraisal business. Joel remained there for 6 years, performing the majority of their appraisals and estate evaluations for the major auction houses like Sotheby's and Christie's. Since he was only in his mid-twenties, he was able to sit for long periods of time and count and evaluate diamonds without eye fatigue. Without realizing it, he was receiving a million dollar education and a slant on the business that would never leave him.

In 1978, Joel co-founded Kravit Estate Jewelers in Hallandale, Florida. The company later became one of the largest estate jewelry companies in the country. It was during this same year that Joel was included in the very first issue of Who's Who in the jewelry business, published by JCK magazine.

While he kept certain loyal customers, Joel left the business for a few years after the Hunt Bros silver debacle and the diamond investment craze of the early 80's. He again got recharged about the jewelry business working for Dana Schorr in the loose stone business and started to recover his value sense away from the retail business.

His encounter with The Jewelry Judge founders at the JCK show in Las Vegas encouraged him to make the move to join an association of elite jewelry appraisal professionals and establish his own Jewelry Judge center in Las Vegas. He has since served as president of the Las Vegas chapter of the GIA Alumni Assoc., and even though he passed the written and practical exams for the CGA title offered by the American Gem Society, he decided to set his sights on the American Society of Appraisers titles and service marks and is now aiming for the Master Gemologist Appraiser's service mark which he feels to be the most prestigious in the appraisal industry.