Seeing Diamonds in a Different Way
“Becoming a gemologist is not something that your guidance counselor points you to,” said Martin D. Fuller, master gemologist and owner of Martin D. Fuller Appraisals.
Yet, Fuller has not only made a career out of being a gemologist, but he is renowned throughout the area for his gemology and appraisal expertise.
The Smithsonian often calls him to appraise items, including the Hope Diamond. He also spent three years helping to appraise Madeleine Albright’s pin collection.
Fuller became interested in gemology when he worked part-time for Melart Jewelers. At the time, he was studying Science at Northern Virginia University (NOVA). He started thinking, “What a great way to apply Science. By becoming a gemologist, I could incorporate all of the facets of science – mineralogy, geology and chemistry.”
Becoming a gemologist would not be an overnight process. Fuller realized that he needed to learn the art of making and repairing jewelry so he left Melart to work for a goldsmith named Trygve Nupen, the goldsmith who did all the repair work for Melart.
Whereas jewelers now do many of their own repairs in house, all of the repair work in the 1980’s was sent out to a goldsmith. Nupen came to the United States for the last step in the European training to becoming a Master Goldsmith, wherein one leaves their country and works in another country for a year. Nupen worked in New York and fell in love with the States. When the time came that he could bring his family here, he did so, opening a shop in the Willston Center
in Falls Church.
At first, Fuller was designing jewelry and helping with the shop. As the only English-speaking worker in the store, Fuller became the liaison between the customers and Nupen.
When Fuller first started in the business, the industry was in a tizzy because cubic zirconia had just been introduced into the market.
“You couldn’t tell the difference between the two,” said Fuller. Some jewelers were switching out diamonds with cubic zirconia and the customers didn’t realize.
“It took a few years to come up with the machinery to test the stones,” said Fuller. “We started using thermal conductivity testers.”
Fuller said that Nupen loved “toys” – as such, his shop was well equipped with the latest microscopes and other items.
It bothered Fuller that it took so long to get appraisals done, and after a while he asked Nupen if he could help with the appraisals. And so he started developing expertise in appraising. He also occasionally got some bench time to design and repair jewelry.
While working with Nupen, he heard about how beautiful Norway was. After 10 years of working with Nupen, he packed up and traveled in Norway for two years.
Fuller did not go back to college, saying, “That was my school,” referring to his 10 years of working with Nupen. However, when he returned from traveling, he got his certification from the Gemology Institute of America.
“Being a gemologist doesn’t make you an appraiser,” said Fuller, who also studied valuation science with the American Society or Appraisers.
He then opened his own appraisal business. He traveled throughout Virginia and Maryland appraising jewelry at the larger jewelry stores. He carried a portable lab and wrote up his appraisals on a Memory Typewriter.
His first office was 25 square feet – located in the back of a bakery in Reston, VA. He moved to the space that he currently occupies on Jones Branch Drive in Tysons Corner 27 years ago and has been there ever since.
Over the years, customers started coming directly to him and he was referred by many of the jewelry stores for whom he had done work. This allowed him to eventually give up his work at the larger stores and focus on his own business.
Fuller continues to keep up to date with the latest equipment and said that technology has more and more impact. An appraisal that used to take 20 minutes now takes an hour and costs a couple hundred dollars – compared to $35 in years past.
Another thing that has changed over the years is that the testing for color, cut, clarity and carat weight is much more standardized. Years ago, this wasn’t standard and jewelers and customers worked on ‘Old World Trust’ but that didn’t always work so well.
Fuller said that the Washington area was very mobile and diamonds came in from all over the world. With people moving so much, there was even more demand for appraising.
With his expertise, Fuller has become the ‘go-to’ person for appraisals. He studied the Hope Diamond on three separate occasions. The first time he was asked to determine if the Hope Diamond was related to two other blue diamonds that had come available (they were not). He was also called upon to remove the Hope Diamond from its original setting when Harry Winston had a contest to replace the setting for the 50th anniversary of the Hope Diamond. One other time, he was asked to make sure that the Hope Diamond was indeed the same one that turned up in London after it had been stolen from French King Jean Louise XV.
A few years ago, Fuller was asked to analyze Madeleine Albright’s pin collection. Fuller said that it took about three years to analyze her immense collection, which ranged in value. About 200 of them are currently on display in a special selection – and a book, “Read My Pins,” has been written about the famous pins.
Fuller said that synthetically grown diamonds are the latest threat to their valuation. “It requires very special equipment to detect these [fake] diamonds.”
The price of rubies has risen due to the ban of Burmese rubies and jade. When asked about the recent popularity of brown diamonds, he said, “Those used to be used as cutting stones, but somebody renamed them and figured out how to make them more valuable.”
The color of the rarest diamonds in the world – red.
Martin Fuller Appraisals is located at 7921 Jones Branch Drive, Suite 311. To schedule an appraisal, call 703-442-6690.
