By Appointment | hello@spoletodesigns.com
Fine Jewelry Advisory | Estate • Inherited • Significant Collections
Because jewelry is often the most meaningful and least understood asset a family owns.
We help individuals, families, and trusted advisors make informed decisions about estate, inherited, and significant jewelry collections.
About Spoleto Designs
Our Story
Spoleto Designs was founded on a simple belief:
Jewelry is often the most meaningful and least understood asset a family owns.
While financial assets are carefully documented and planned for, jewelry is often overlooked until an inheritance, estate settlement, family transition, or significant life event brings it into focus.
Spoleto Designs was created to help clients understand these collections, evaluate their options, and make informed decisions about pieces that carry both financial and emotional significance.
Whether a client is preserving a family legacy, documenting a collection, considering a redesign, evaluating a sale, planning for future generations, or acquiring something new, our role is to provide thoughtful guidance before decisions are made.
Who We Are
Spoleto Designs is an independent fine jewelry advisory specializing in estate, inherited, and significant jewelry collections.
We work with individuals, families, attorneys, wealth advisors, and other trusted professionals to help navigate the decisions that arise when jewelry carries both financial and emotional significance.
Our work may include collection documentation, valuation guidance, appraisal and insurance coordination, family distribution planning, legacy documentation, resale strategy, redesign opportunities, and the sourcing of exceptional estate, vintage, custom, and contemporary fine jewelry.
The approach is intentionally advisory rather than transactional, emphasizing thoughtful decision-making, discretion, and long-term stewardship.
Who We Help
- Individuals and families navigating inherited jewelry
- Executors, trustees, and beneficiaries
- Attorneys and wealth advisors
- Professionals supporting aging, downsizing, and life transitions
- Professionals supporting families after a loss
- Collectors and jewelry enthusiasts
- Individuals seeking exceptional estate, vintage, custom, or contemporary fine jewelry
Our Services
Spoleto Designs provides advisory support for estate, inherited, and significant jewelry collections.
Whether clients are organizing a lifetime collection, navigating inherited assets, preparing for future generations, evaluating a potential sale, or searching for the right piece to acquire, our role is to help them understand their options and determine the most appropriate path forward.
Services may include:
• Collection documentation and organization
• Valuation guidance
• Appraisal and insurance coordination
• Estate and family distribution planning
• Legacy documentation
• Resale and private placement strategy
• Redesign and restoration guidance
• Trusted referrals to specialists when appropriate
Looking for Something New?
While much of our work involves helping clients understand and make decisions about jewelry they already own, we also help clients acquire exceptional estate, vintage, custom, and contemporary fine jewelry.
Whether you’re searching for an engagement ring, a milestone gift, a future heirloom, or a one-of-a-kind piece, we provide thoughtful sourcing and acquisition guidance tailored to your goals, style, and budget.
Clients often contact us when:
- They have inherited jewelry and don’t know where to start.
- A parent is downsizing or moving into senior living.
- An estate contains significant jewelry assets.
- A collection needs to be documented for insurance or planning purposes.
- Family members need help understanding distribution options.
- Jewelry is being considered for charitable gifting.
- They are evaluating whether to keep, sell, redesign, or pass pieces on.
- They are looking for a meaningful piece to acquire.
Our Process
Discovery
Understand the collection, goals, and circumstances.
Documentation
Organize, photograph, and inventory the collection.
Evaluation
Assess value, significance, condition, and opportunities.
Recommendations
Develop options and decision pathways.
Implementation
Coordinate specialists, acquisitions, redesign, resale, or next steps as needed.
What Clients Receive
- Jewelry Collection Inventory
- Digital Jewelry Asset Portfolio
- Valuation & Insurance Review
- Estate Jewelry Assessment
- Legacy Documentation
- Family Distribution Considerations Report
- Resale & Placement Recommendations
- Acquisition & Sourcing Recommendations
- Custom Design & Redesign Guidance
For Attorneys, Advisors & Trusted Professionals
Spoleto Designs serves as an independent jewelry resource for attorneys, wealth advisors, fiduciaries, trustees, family offices, professional organizers, senior living professionals, clergy, funeral professionals, donor and foundation professionals, and other trusted advisors when jewelry becomes part of a larger estate, wealth transfer, charitable giving, downsizing, caregiving, loss, or family transition.
We provide collection documentation, valuation guidance, decision support, family distribution considerations, resale strategy, and coordination with qualified specialists when needed.
Whether the appropriate path is preservation, family distribution, resale, redesign, charitable gifting, or acquisition, our role is to help clients and advisors evaluate the options and determine the best path forward.
Our Founder
Krista Cavanaugh is the founder of Spoleto Designs, an independent fine jewelry advisory focused on estate, inherited, and significant jewelry collections.
Before founding Spoleto Designs, Krista spent more than two decades in corporate Human Resources and Recruiting, executive coaching, and conflict resolution. She holds a master’s degree in Dispute Resolution and Conflict Management from Southern Methodist University, is a Texas-trained mediator, serves on the board of the Women’s Jewelry Association DFW Chapter, and is a member of Jewelers of America and the Texas Jewelers Association.
That experience continues to shape the firm’s approach today. Significant jewelry decisions often involve family dynamics, competing priorities, deeply personal stories, and meaningful financial considerations. Krista helps clients understand what they have, evaluate their options, and make informed decisions with discretion, thoughtful judgment, and a long-term perspective.
Explore select pieces from our estate jewelry collection
Contact Us
By Appointment Only
Schedule a Consultation
Whether you’re navigating inherited jewelry, organizing a collection, planning for the future, considering a sale or redesign, or searching for the right piece to acquire, we’re here to help you understand your options and determine the best path forward.
Curated inventory sales and acquisition opportunities are facilitated through our trusted partner network when appropriate.
Spoleto Designs
Keep in Touch
Stay informed on upcoming sales and events!
Proud Members
INDUSTRY AND COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT
FEATURED & RECOGNIZED
Families often overlook jewelry as an estate asset until problems emerge.
Redirecting: “Choosing Joy as a Compass” by Lexy Martin
Pivot Spotlight: Krista Cavanaugh
Choosing Joy as a Compass
After interviewing more than 100 people about successful career and life redirections, I see some pivots begin with a layoff. Some begin with retirement. Others begin with an opportunity.
Krista Cavanaugh's began with a question. Where had the joy gone?
Krista spent more than twenty-five years building a successful recruiting career. Then she made one life-changing decision: if there wasn’t joy in her future, she would find a different path. That choice led her to create a fine jewelry advisory service preserving both the financial and personal legacy of estate jewelry. She built her life intentionally and redirected her talent and values. But, the jewelry isn’t the real story. The real story is what happens when joy becomes your compass.
As I continue this research, I'm finding that successful redirection has many drivers and many measures of success. It's not always about position or salary.
Sometimes it's about having the courage to follow #joy.
https://www.redirecting.work/redirecting-pivot-stories/choosing-joy-as-a-compass
Voyage Dallas
Entreprenista League
LOCAL STORIES FEBRUARY 5, 2026
Community Highlights: Meet Krista of Spoleto Designs
Entreprenista League
WJA-DFW Member Highlight
Entreprenista League
Spoleto Designs: Estate Jewelry Curated by Krista Cavanaugh
January 26, 2026
WJA-DFW Member Highlight
WJA-DFW Member Highlight
WJA-DFW Member Highlight
January 2026
How We Work
Please reach us at hello@spoletodesigns.com if you cannot find an answer to your question.
Start by documenting and understanding what you have before making any decisions. Many inherited collections contain a mix of pieces with financial, historical, and emotional significance. We help clients organize, evaluate, and understand their options before determining whether pieces should be kept, gifted, redesigned, insured, or sold.
The answer depends on the question being asked. Insurance replacement value, resale value, auction value, and retail value can differ significantly. We provide valuation guidance and help clients determine when formal appraisals or additional expert review may be appropriate.
Not always. Some situations require a formal appraisal, while others may only need valuation guidance or collection documentation. We help determine the most appropriate next step based on your goals and circumstances.
Yes. Collection documentation is one of our core services. We help clients create organized inventories, photograph pieces, assemble supporting documentation, and develop digital records that can be useful for insurance, estate planning, family distribution, and future decision-making.
Yes. While we do not provide legal advice, we often work alongside families, attorneys, trustees, and wealth advisors to help document collections, provide information about pieces, and support thoughtful family distribution discussions.
When selling is appropriate, we help clients understand available options and may facilitate resale, consignment, private placement, or introductions to trusted buyers depending on the collection and the client’s goals.
Yes. Many clients wish to preserve the meaning of a piece while creating something that better fits their lifestyle or personal style. We help evaluate redesign opportunities and connect clients with trusted designers and craftspeople when appropriate.
Yes. While much of our work involves estate and inherited collections, we also advise clients on the acquisition of estate, vintage, custom, and contemporary fine jewelry. Because our approach is advisory, recommendations are guided by the client’s objectives, taste, and long-term goals rather than inventory requirements.
Yes. We frequently serve as an independent jewelry resource when collections are part of estate administration, wealth transfer planning, trust management, divorce proceedings, charitable gifting, or family transitions.
Yes. Spoleto Designs serves clients nationwide through a combination of virtual and in-person engagements, depending on the scope of the collection and client needs.
The process begins with a conversation. We’ll discuss your collection, your goals, and any questions or concerns you may have. From there, we’ll recommend the most appropriate next steps and level of engagement.
If you’d like personalized guidance for your jewelry collection, we invite you to schedule a consultation.
Email us at hello@spoletodesigns.com or call/text 214.494.0646
Effective Date: 08/01/2026
Spoleto Designs (“we,” “our,” “us”) values your trust and respects your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and protect your personal information when you visit our website, make a purchase, or interact with us online.
1. Information We Collect
We may collect the following types of information:
• Personal Information: Name, email address, phone number, billing/shipping address, payment details, and any information you voluntarily share with us (e.g., through forms or emails).
• Usage Data: IP address, device information, browser type, pages visited, and referring site data, collected via cookies or analytics tools.
• Cookies & Tracking Technologies: We use cookies and similar technologies to enhance your browsing experience, analyze traffic, and personalize content. You can manage cookies in your browser settings.
2. How We Use Your Information
We use your information to:
• Process and fulfill orders
• Communicate with you about products, services, and promotions
• Improve our website and offerings
• Prevent fraud and comply with legal obligations
3. Legal Basis for Processing (GDPR)
For visitors in the European Economic Area (EEA), we process personal data based on:
• Contract: To fulfill your orders and provide requested services
• Consent: For marketing communications (you may withdraw consent at any time)
• Legitimate Interests: To improve our services, prevent fraud, and secure our site
• Legal Obligation: To comply with applicable laws
4. Sharing Your Information
We do not sell your personal information. We may share limited data with:
• Service Providers: Payment processors, shipping companies, IT/marketing partners
• Legal Authorities: When required by law or to protect our rights
5. Your Privacy Rights
Depending on where you live, you may have the following rights:
• Access & Portability: Request a copy of the data we hold about you
• Correction: Request correction of inaccurate data
• Deletion (“Right to Be Forgotten”):Request deletion of your personal data
• Restriction/Objection: Restrict or object to certain processing activities
• Do Not Sell My Personal Information:California residents may opt out of “sale” or “sharing” of personal information (as defined under CCPA/CPRA)
To exercise any of these rights, contact us at hello@spoletodesigns.com. We will verify your identity before fulfilling requests.
6. Data Retention
We retain your personal data only as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes described in this policy or as required by law.
7. International Transfers
If you access our site from outside the United States, your data may be transferred to and processed in the U.S. We take steps to ensure appropriate safeguards are in place for such transfers (e.g., Standard Contractual Clauses for EU users).
8. Data Security
We implement technical and organizational measures to protect your information from unauthorized access, alteration, or misuse. However, no transmission over the Internet is 100% secure.
9. Children’s Privacy
Our website is not directed to individuals under 13 (or under 16 in the EU). We do not knowingly collect data from children.
10. Third-Party Links
Our site may link to other websites. We are not responsible for their privacy practices or content.
11. Updates to This Policy
We may update this policy periodically. The “Effective Date” above reflects the most recent version. We encourage you to review this policy regularly.
12. Contact Us
For questions about this Privacy Policy, data requests, or opt-outs, contact us at:
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