HARD TIMES AND HARD ROCKS

It is reassuring to know that even in these hard times some millionaire is prepared to buy his sweetheart a nice present."One of the world's largest diamonds, a pear-shaped 110.3-carat yellow rock, will go under the hammer in Geneva in November expecting to fetch about $15 million, an auction house said Thursday. The Sun-Drop diamond, discovered in South Africa last year, is billed by Sotheby's as the "world's largest known pear-shaped fancy vivid yellow diamond." (Calgary Herald, 7 October) $15 million is a large price tag especially when you know that millions of workers are trying to survive on $1.25 a day. RD