Jonathan Snellenburg has been fascinated by antiques since childhood. Before becoming a dealer, he studied history and geology at Dartmouth College and received a Ph. D. in Geochemistry from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. This led to a post-doctoral fellowship at the American Museum of Natural History, New York and then a position as staff gemologist for the Gemological Institute of America.
In 1979, he entered the antique business full time, joining Christie's, New York. His first position was the head of the Jewelry and Silver Departments at their new gallery, Christie's East. There he encountered antique watches for the first time. By the time he left Christie's in 1993, as a Senior Vice President and Head of the Watch and Clock Department, he had organized sales in a variety of fields and cataloged numerous items including watches, clocks, jewelry, silver, scientific instruments and books.
Dr. Snellenburg has participated as an appraiser in the PBS television series "The Antiques Roadshow" since its first season. He is also a member of the Vetting Committees for the two most prestigious antiques fairs held in New York, the Winter Antiques Show and the International Fine Art and Antique Dealers Show, held each year at the 7th Regiment Armory, New York City.
Among his scholarly contributions is the chapter on 17th and 18th century enamel watches for the Catalogue of European Decorative Arts at the Taft Museum, Cincinnati, published in 1995. He helped organize a millennium exhibit, "The Art of Time" at the Bruce Museum, Greenwich, CT in the fall of 1999. He has also catalogued the Proctor Collection of watches at the Munson Williams Proctor Art Institute, Utica, New York. The catalogue was published in 2001. From time to time he also lectures on material culture and Decorative Arts.
He is on the Board of Directors of the National Antique & Art Dealers Association of America, a member organization of the Confederation Internationale des Negociants en Oeuvres d'Art (CINOA), the Antiquarian Horological Society and the National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors.
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