That day was Saturday, and he went to the Panjiayuan Market after school. He looked around as usual, hoping to do some private work to earn some pocket money. Although his savings were enough to last for a while, he couldn't sit in the classroom every day and have nothing.
.At this time, the PHS phone in my trouser pocket suddenly rang. I took it out and saw that it was a strange number that I had never seen before.
The call was from Wu Pingtung. When we first met a year ago, You Fang gave him his PHS number. Unexpectedly, the old man still kept it. On the phone, Mr. Wu asked him what he was doing.
No time? You Fang quickly replied: "Nothing, just hanging out. If Professor Wu has anything to do, just ask him."
Wu Pingtong politely asked You Fang to come to his home. He wanted to ask him for help with something, and told him the detailed address on the phone. You Fang picked up the phone and left immediately, took a taxi, took the subway, and finally took a taxi.
He rushed to Mr. Wu's residence near Yanyuan as quickly as possible.
Wu Pingtong lives alone in Beijing. His wife was also an accomplished cultural relics worker. They were college classmates when they were young, and their relationship was very good. Later, his wife went to the United States to study, and then she found an opportunity to stay.
After arriving in the United States, I got my green card a few years later. With my rich professional knowledge and the savings left by my ancestors, I engaged in the antiques industry and my business became better and better. I opened an antiques store in New York more than ten years ago, called
Yuchong Pavilion.
As the saying goes, distance creates beauty, but if the distance is too far and the separation time is too long, the beauty will disappear. His wife repeatedly asked Wu Pingtong to go to the United States to develop a career with her, but Wu Pingtong insisted on staying in Yanyuan. The couple's
They both have strong personalities and are very independent. They are not willing to give in to anyone. When the wife officially became an American citizen and Yuchong Pavilion was successfully opened, the couple divorced. They broke up peacefully and there was no quarrel. It was just their fate.
It’s come to an end. Wu Pingtong also has a daughter who grew up and received education in the United States. She is a typical banana person.
Wu Pingtong's home was elegantly decorated, but a little messy. There were books and various pictures everywhere. Wu Pingtong opened the door and welcomed him in. At a glance, You Fang saw two antiques on the coffee table in the living room, one with black glaze.
A porcelain jar and a bean green glazed porcelain bowl. You Fang was stunned for a moment, instinctively feeling that there was something wrong with these two items, so he went straight to the coffee table as soon as he entered the room.
Mr. Wu sat down on the sofa and asked with a smile: "I am really an antique bug. I rushed towards them as soon as I entered the house. Did you see anything? Is it true or false?"
You Fang was very cautious this time and did not speak easily. He put on a pair of white gloves on the coffee table, held two things and looked at them carefully, and then said: "You can't simply say it's true or false. One piece of porcelain is true and the other is false."
The other one is a half-truth and a half-fake."
Wu Pingtong said: "Speak clearly, I am all ears."
You Fang pointed to the black glaze jar and said: "This is something from the Yaozhou kiln of the Northern Song Dynasty. It is not a fake, but its shape is rather strange, with a round bottom and a narrow top, which does not conform to the style of the vessel at that time. In fact, it is not a porcelain jar, but
It may be a porcelain bottle with a neck and rim. The rim of the bottle-shaped vessel is most easily damaged during the circulation. It was cut off from the neck and reground, turning it into a seemingly intact porcelain jar."
Then he pointed at the bean green glazed porcelain bowl and said: "Only the ring at the bottom of this bowl is real. The bowl body above is modern splicing. The technique is very clever and there are no traces of splicing on the surface. But I have seen this kind of sticking method."
.If you don’t believe it, if you boil it in alkaline water overnight, then take it out and bake it on the fire, the whole circle at the bottom of the bowl will fall off.”
Wu Pingdong looked at his watch and nodded slightly in surprise: "You are absolutely right. It only took a minute and a half, and it was only done with eyes. No instruments were used, not even a magnifying glass!"
You Fang smiled shyly: "Actually, it's not all about using your eyes. With experience, you will become more proficient. If the shape of the jar is wrong, it will be a flaw. The sole of the porcelain bowl is the thickest, and it is also the easiest to preserve among the remaining porcelain pieces.
Counterfeiters usually like to use it, because the bottom has real markings, which is easy for even experts to spot.”
Wu Pingtong asked: "You just said that the splicing method of this bowl is very clever, and there are no traces on the surface. How did you see it?"
You Fang stretched out his middle finger and flicked the edge of the bowl: "Although the traces of splicing are not visible, the glazes on the bowl body and the bottom of the bowl are still slightly different. If you gently flick the edge of the bowl with your nails, there will be a tapping sound.
It’s also different from the real thing.”
Wu Pingtong was really surprised this time. He sat up and leaned closer and asked, "You can also listen to the voice! Why can't I hear it?"
You Fang smiled: "Most people can't hear it, just look at the glaze. This requires repeated experience and comparison with a large number of genuine products, and it not only requires a particularly keen hearing, but also a proficiency in music." When he said this, he remembered inexplicably.
After his father You Zuming's death, his father became proficient in guqin music. He was not only a hobby, but also a "professional" skill. He continued: "Professor Wu invited me here not to see these two things, right? With your level, you can't
As for being blinded by them, if you accidentally missed it, tell me what happened, and maybe there is a way to recover the loss."
Wu Pingtong shook his head: "Do you think I got it from Panjiayuan? You're wrong. Not long ago, the police busted a cultural relics counterfeiting and smuggling gang and confiscated a batch of real and fake things. These two
I got this piece of porcelain from the warehouse of the Cultural Relics Bureau by writing a note. It was intended to be used for teaching purposes and to help the graduate students I brought with me to practice their eyes... Although the protection of cultural relics is not the same as the appraisal of antiques, it still requires this.
knowledge and experience.”
You Fang was a little confused: "Then what does Professor Wu want from me?"
Wu Pingtong stood up: "You don't have to always call me Professor Wu. I'm much older than you. If you're polite, just call me Mr. Wu. Come with me and I'll show you a few things."
Walking into the study, Mr. Wu turned on the computer and called up a series of pictures and English information. The picture showed photos of Fangtian's green jade seal from various angles. The top was a double dragon twisted carving, and the bottom had a six-character "Eight Signs" carved in straight seal.
"Treasure of Cang Nian", there are traces of cinnabar on the surface of the inscription, which turned out to be a jade seal once used by Emperor Qianlong.
You Fang frowned and asked in confusion: "Mr. Wu, what do you mean? There are too many areas where the pictures on the computer can be artificially processed, and the color and patina cannot be seen at all. Do you want me to identify them?"
This? This won’t work, we need something in kind.”
Mr. Wu explained: "I invited you here today not to appraise the cultural relics. This thing does not need to be appraised by you or me. I just want to ask you something. Last time you mentioned a quack method of 'rolling balls in the plate', I
You also mentioned that the Old Summer Palace animal head auction in the first half of the year was a trap set up by Christie's, and Mr. Cai Mingchao interfered with the auction in order to break the situation, which answered some of my previous doubts."
Hearing this, You Fang immediately reacted and couldn't help but interject: "Is someone going to auction this jade seal?"
Wu Pingtong nodded with admiration: "In the middle of next month, Sotheby's London auction house will auction this square jade seal, which has attracted a lot of people's attention. As far as I know, there are several big buyers in Hong Kong and Macao who want to
I took a photo of it and presented it to the national cultural relics department... After hearing about this incident, I suddenly remembered a series of events in recent years, and thinking about what you said that day, I felt there was something fishy in it."
In October last year (note: the conversation between the two was at the end of October 2009, 'last year' here refers to 2008), Sotheby's Hong Kong auction house sold a Qianlong double dragon in a special auction.
The twisted white jade seal "Qianlong Imperial Brush" miraculously fetched a sky-high price of HK$63.38 million, which is the highest transaction record for ancient Chinese white jade artifacts. It is said that this jade seal was snatched away by the British and French allied forces, and various disputes and discussions continued.
It caused great concern and sensation.
Most Chinese people know what the emperor's jade seal symbolized in ancient times. It will definitely arouse people's great interest. If it is a trap, then this trap was very successful, because in the next short period of time, China
Ancient jade seals appear one after another in the international auction market, and all of them are Qing Palace jade seals——
In April 2009, a year later, a jade seal from the Qianlong Emperor of the Qing Dynasty "Treasure of the Qing Banquet of Jiuzhou" was auctioned in Paris and was bought by a Chinese for 16.8 million yuan.
Not long ago, in September 2009, a Qianlong Tian Huang Jade Seal from the Qing Dynasty was auctioned in New York, and it was said to have been sold for more than 40 million yuan.
Not long after, in mid-November 2009, the Tian Qing Jade Seal, the "Treasure of the Eighth Expedition" of Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty, appeared and was to be auctioned at Sotheby's London auction house.
When Wu Laogang said this, the tourist interjected and reminded: "You missed one thing. In June last year, a 'Treasure of Emperor Kangxi' Panlong Jade Seal was auctioned in France for 5.6 million euros, which is equivalent to nearly 6,000 yuan.
Wan, suddenly created an astonishing sky-high transaction price. That was the so-called "first surprise" in the "intra-market ball rolling game" of quackery... The "threshold" was set, and then in October last year,
The 'Qianlong Royal Brush' white jade seal you mentioned just now was put up for auction in Hong Kong and sold for HKD 63.38 million. It has already begun to take advantage of the situation. Next, one after another took turns to go out, and one
The jade seal drove the whole auction, and all the other lots were borrowed, and the total turnover was huge."
Mr. Wu nodded and said: "I have an impression when you mention it. I have only paid attention to the Qianlong Jade Seal these days. The blue and white jade seals are fried, and Christie's and Sotheby's take turns. They are multinational art management giants, and they are very different from Western museums.
, private collectors, and even major financial groups and families are inextricably linked. The boss behind the scenes has a very complex background and there are many tricks."
You Fang sneered: "It's just such a trick anyway, it's easy to see through."
Mr. Wu shook his head and said: "It's not simple at all. It involves too many things. You specifically mentioned last time that Cai Mingchao interfered with the animal head auction in Huang Yuanmingyuan in order to break the situation. But Mr. Cai refused to take the photo.
The losses in terms of payment, economy, reputation, and image will be huge. This method cannot be used again and again. I called you here today just to ask if there is any other way to break the situation, just to disrupt the auction in the middle of next month?"
You Fang was stunned. He never expected that an archeology professor from Peking University wanted to meddle in the London auction. In his impression, intellectuals like those who teach in universities, the only way to meddle in their own affairs is to write
Writing an article with emotion and appeal is just a gentleman's talk without taking action. But according to Mr. Wu, his intention is not to talk with words but to take action, disturbing Qianlong's "Treasure of the Eight Symbols" at Sotheby's in London.
"Is it possible for this round of auction to be based on just the young and old of them?"
Seeing that You Fang didn't speak for a long time, just staring at the photos on the computer screen, Mr. Wu sighed: "It's really difficult for a child like you to ask this kind of question." The implication is that there is no way to leave it alone, this kind of thing is indeed too difficult.