Mauricio Minotta/GIA Ron Schwager, owner of International Cultured Pearls, donated a round brilliant cut, 25.68-carat, fancy black diamond to GIA during the JCK show.

The large, red and white sign hanging in Ron Schwager’s booth at the JCK Show in Las Vegas explains the swarm of people crowding his glass cases.

After 24 years in the gem business, Schwager is getting out, thus the sign, which reads: “50 Percent Off.” But before selling all his merchandise and packing up for good, Schwager, owner of International Cultured Pearls, felt the need to do one last thing. He donated a round brilliant cut, 25.68-carat, fancy black diamond appraised at $51,360 to GIA during the show. 

“Aside from the tax benefit, I just thought it would be nice to leave some sort of legacy for my dad and I with GIA,” Schwager says. “It was my dad who bought the rough and had the stone cut.”

The exact origin of the rough is a little murky, but Schwager says he remembers his late father, Robert Schwager, saying he purchased a lot of the black diamond rough in the 1960s from a mine in South America.

The diamond remained with the family until Schwager decided to donate it to GIA’s Museum collection. Schwager has no major plans after he retires from the business, he says.

“I’ve always lived very modestly, I’m just looking forward to selling the business and doing what I’ve been doing for 30 years, teaching yoga.”