Chapter 5 Microwave Ovens in the Ming Dynasty
Tianyi Auction and Appraisal Company!
Lin Ye carefully carried his suitcase and followed the address on the Internet to arrive at this auction and appraisal company. A beautiful receptionist wearing a cheongsam was sitting at the front desk.
"Sir, what can I do for you?" The receptionist smiled professionally.
"Hello, I have made an appointment online with an expert for appraisal."
"Okay, please follow me."
The girl at the front desk was leading the way in high heels. Lin Ye was looking at the girl's beautiful figure wrapped in the cheongsam from behind, and he had only one feeling.
Really smooth.
"Teacher Yang has a seminar at the museum today, and Teacher Zeng has been invited to attend a cultural exchange meeting abroad. I will arrange for Teacher Xu to meet you, and you can go in directly."
The girl at the front desk stopped in front of an appraisal room and introduced the situation to Lin Ye. Lin Ye nodded and walked into the appraisal room.
Sitting in the appraisal room was a middle-aged man in his forties wearing a Tang suit, with 108 wooden beads hanging around his neck, exuding an artistic aura from head to toe.
"Oh, it's a young collector. My friend, please take out your collection."
Lin Ye put down the suitcase, opened it carefully, and then took out a porcelain bottle from a pile of clothes. He did not bring both, but only one.
"It's a very exquisite two-handled ceramic vase. My friend, where did you get it?"
"Passed down from my ancestors." Lin Ye grinned.
"Put it on the table."
Lin Ye wanted to hand over the ceramic, but Teacher Xu did not take it. Instead, he gestured for Lin Ye to put the ceramic bottle on the table.
"My friend, I guess you don't know much about the antique business."
"I don't really understand these things. I've kept this bottle at home for many years, so I wanted to ask an expert to identify it."
"It's about the same as I guessed." Teacher Xu nodded, and while observing the porcelain vase with a magnifying glass, he explained: "In the antique business, things can't be passed from hand to hand. One is to worry that they will be broken if they are not properly received. Second, if there is a problem, it is better to divide the responsibilities."
Lin Ye was stunned for a moment, then he understood what Teacher Xu meant.
If an antique breaks when two parties are handling it, whose responsibility should be assumed, was it because the antique was not handled properly or because the antique was not handed over properly?
If you put it on the table like this and it breaks, it will be the responsibility of the person who handled it.
If someone with bad intentions deliberately loosens his grip before handing it to you, it will be even harder to explain.
Because antiques are difficult to price, something may be worth only 20,000 yuan, but someone may ask for 100,000 yuan. After all, money can’t buy love.
Thinking of this, Lin Ye's recognition of Mr. Xu's expertise increased a bit.
Ten minutes later, Teacher Xu put away the magnifying glass, looked up at Lin Ye and asked, "How long has this porcelain bottle been passed around?"
"I'm not sure, but it has been in my grandfather's hands. I heard that my grandfather bought it from someone else during my great-grandfather's generation." Lin Ye lied.
"Is that so? Then your great grandfather made the right choice. Although there is no inscription on the bottom of this porcelain vase, the glaze and the painting, including the blue and white pattern on it, are all in the style of the Ming Dynasty. This is a Ming Dynasty blue and white dragon and phoenix movable ring double-eared vase. Although it was not fired in an official kiln, it is still considered a fine product in folk songs."
Lin Ye was a little nervous at first, because he knew that ancient official kiln porcelains all had engravings, indicating that they were made in a certain dynasty, but the vase he brought back did not have them, so he was worried that it would be difficult for experts to determine the age.
It seems that Teacher Xu is really capable.
"Teacher Xu, how much is this worth?" Lin Ye asked a concerned question.
"A few years ago, at an auction in Beijing, a pair of blue-and-white dragon-and-phoenix double-eared vases from the Jiajing period were sold for 16.4 million yuan. Yours is not an official kiln, so its value will be much lower, and there is only one, but conservatively speaking, two or three million yuan is no problem."
Lin Ye's eyes lit up. One was two or three million, and he already had one at home. If they were a pair, the price could go up a bit, at least five million.
"If you can, you should keep this kind of good stuff. But if you want to sell it, our company will hold a porcelain auction next month. You can let our company auction it on your behalf."
“Are there any requirements for the auction?”
"Haha, my friend, what you said is true. You are helping our company to gain fame by handing over such a good thing to us. The appraisal fee can be waived for you, but you have to sign an agreement to confirm that it will be auctioned by our company, and then you only need to pay a deposit of 50,000 yuan."
"Another 50,000 yuan?"
Lin Ye was a little hesitant because he didn't have so much money on him.
"Teacher Xu, can't you wait until this porcelain vase is sold at the auction?"
"This is a company rule. Some collectors suddenly regret not bidding before the auction begins, but the company has already publicized it. This will affect the company's reputation, so a deposit is required."
Teacher Xu explained very carefully and Lin Ye nodded. He didn't know much about the specific operations of the auction house, but what Teacher Xu said still made sense.
"Teacher Xu, I don't have that much money on me right now. I'll go back and think about it."
"Go back and think about it?" Teacher Xu frowned and reminded: "According to our company's regulations, if you don't make a decision now, you have to pay the appraisal fee. Even if you decide to hand the item over to our company for auction later, the appraisal fee is not refundable."
"I can accept."
Although he couldn't come up with 50,000 yuan, Lin could still afford the 2,000 yuan appraisal fee. Besides, he would soon get several million yuan, so 2,000 yuan was nothing.
After putting the bottles back into the box, Lin Ye carefully carried the box out of the company. When he reached the elevator entrance, he saw a man holding a wooden box standing there.
Lin Ye and the other man looked at each other, and the man smiled and said, "Little brother, are you here to appraise antiques as well?"
"Yeah, but it's a fake."
Lin Ye deliberately showed an annoyed expression. He still understood the principle of not showing off one's wealth. Although society is relatively stable now, one must still be on guard against others.
"That's a shame, but in the field of collecting, besides having a good eye, you also need background and experience. I have been dealing with porcelain for more than ten years, and I have missed many times, until this time I had a good eye and received a good item."
The man's face was filled with uncontrollable joy. Without waiting for Lin Ye to continue asking, he said, "Some time ago, I went to an antique stall and saw a piece of porcelain. The stall owner didn't know the goods, but I did. There is an identical piece in the Forbidden City, and I only spent a thousand yuan to buy it."
The man narrated how he battled wits and courage with the stall owner, but Lin Ye began to wonder in his heart, how could he come across antiques of the level of the Forbidden City on a street stall?
"You don't believe it? Teacher Chen just authenticated it for me. It is undoubtedly authentic. He said I am knowledgeable. Of course, luck also played a role. Those experts who thought it was a fake are not knowledgeable enough."
Upon hearing this, Lin Ye became a little curious. Other experts identified it as a fake, but this side identified it as a real antique. This kind of face-slapping plot is very attractive.
"Brother, can you tell me?"
"Of course." The man was obviously relieved because other experts had identified it as a fake, but this time it was identified as the real thing. He couldn't hold back his words any longer.
"To collect, you must first visit various museums to broaden your horizons. Over the years, I have visited museums all over the country, especially the collections of the Palace Museum. I can recall them with my eyes closed."
"I was once in an antique street and saw a porcelain bowl that was exactly the same as the one in the Forbidden City. The ancients couldn't have made porcelain one by one, they all made them in batches, especially porcelain bowls. I suspected at the time that this might have come from the palace."
"Later, I bargained with the stall owner and he sold it to me for 1,000 yuan."
"Brother, since it is used by the royal family, it must be very exquisite. Has the stall owner never authenticated it himself?"
"The stall owner didn't know the goods. He saw the words on the base and decided it was a modern handicraft."
Lin Ye was a little curious and asked, "What's engraved on the base?"
"For microwave use only."
Lin Ye's mouth twitched. It is only for microwave ovens. No wonder the stall owner thought it was a modern handicraft. Oh no, this is a modern handicraft.
"Could it be that this base was added by later generations? In fact, the real base is covered?"
Lin Ye thought of the plot in the novels he had read before, where some precious famous paintings were hidden in fake paintings. If that was the case, this big brother really got a big bargain.
"How could it be so mysterious? The base has those words on it. Teacher Chen just said that this is a porcelain bowl used by the imperial family of Emperor Wei Gaozong of the Ming Dynasty. What the experts don't know is that Emperor Wei Gaozong didn't like being an emperor, so he chose to abdicate the throne the day after he ascended the throne and became a monk. His Buddhist name was Bo Lu."
"Think about it, if an emperor becomes a monk, then that must not be spread to others. There is an example in the Qing Dynasty. Didn't Emperor Shunzhi become a monk? There is no record of that in history books. And this batch of porcelain was secretly fired for this Emperor Gaozong by JDZ at that time."
"You see, normally the imperial kiln would have the year of manufacture engraved on it, but the Microwave Emperor Gaozong had to keep it secret, so he couldn't use the year of manufacture, so he could only have it engraved as "for microwave ovens only."
"This incident is not mentioned in history books. Teacher Chen only knew about this incident by chance when he saw an ancient book from the Ming Dynasty."
Lin Ye: ...
Can we still play like this?
Even though he didn't understand history, Lin Ye knew that this guy had been fooled.
Damn, I met a scammer.
Lin Ye also reacted. There were actually many flaws in Mr. Xu's words, the biggest flaw being his decisive distinction between generations.
The vase he was holding was from a parallel world, so how could it possibly match that of the Ming Dynasty? It was just that he had been blinded by the huge profits and ignored this point.
You need to reflect on this!
