A rare and flawless blue diamond is to be offered for auction¹ in Hong Kong.

一颗罕见的、无瑕疵的蓝宝石将在香港被拍卖。

The blue diamond is rare, flawless and "fancy vivid"

The diamond, originally from the De Beers（德比尔斯） Millennium² Collection, is expected to sell for between $4.6m and $5.8m (£3m and £3.8m) at Sotheby's.

It is one of 12 in a collection the diamond company says took decades to put together.

Brought together to celebrate the new millennium, the collection was displayed in London's Millennium Dome³ in 2000.

An attempt to steal the diamonds was thwarted⁴（反对，挫败） by Metropolitan⁵ police.

The blue pear-shaped diamond is the first piece from that collection to be auctioned⁶, and according to Sotheby's is currently owned by an important private buyer.

The collection has 11 blue diamonds, polished by the Steinmetz（斯坦梅茨） Diamond Group.

Out of the 11, nine - including the one up for auction later on Wednesday - are what are called fancy vivid（鲜明的，生动的） , the highest grade level for a colour diamond.

It is no surprise that Sotheby's has chosen Hong Kong to sell the De Beers Millennium Blue Diamond.

As the Chinese economy grows, buyers have shown an increasing appetite for high-end（高端的，高档的） luxury goods.