Chapter 57: Wrong Appraisal, Tenfold Compensation (Part 2)
【Restoration Points: 106!】
【Damaged Han Dynasty bronze mirror; can be restored. Requires 1 Restoration Point!】
【Damaged Qin Dynasty bronze ge; can be restored. Requires 1 Restoration Point!】
【Damaged Qing Dynasty straight saber; can be restored. Requires 1 Restoration Point!】
【Damaged Yuan Dynasty gilt Buddhist statue; can be restored. Requires 1 Restoration Point!】
【Qing Dynasty gilt Buddhist statue; cannot be restored!】
As one notification after another appeared in his mind, Su Xiaofan identified more and more objects.
Most of them were modern handicrafts, but as time passed, a number of genuine antiques also emerged.
They say that true experts can be found among the common people, and this was absolutely true.
The items brought out today by private collectors had really opened Su Xiaofan's eyes.
Although the damaged bronze ge from the Qin Dynasty was not particularly valuable on the market, to collectors who specialized in bronze artifacts, it was definitely a rare and exquisite piece.
The Qing Dynasty straight saber only had a little rust on its handle, and its overall condition was quite good. Anyone who liked collecting ancient weapons would definitely want to add it to their collection.
Several of the bronze artifacts brought by the collectors even met the standards for first-class national cultural relics.
Take that Qing Dynasty gilt Buddhist statue, for example. It had definitely been produced by the Imperial Household Department's workshops, and it had been preserved in excellent condition throughout its transmission.
Items like this were usually treasures kept in major museums. No one would have expected to encounter one in a private collection.
As for the Yuan Dynasty gilt Buddhist statue, although it was somewhat damaged, it had even greater research value in the study of Buddhist culture.
If those two gilt Buddhist statues were put up for auction, their starting prices would both be above three million yuan, and there was even a very high possibility that they could sell for more than ten million yuan.
Su Xiaofan appraised the objects extremely quickly, basically finishing one item per minute.
Whenever he encountered a genuine antique, Su Xiaofan would write down its name and age. If it was damaged, he would indicate that as well.
However, for modern handicrafts that had been artificially aged to look antique, Su Xiaofan would simply return the item with both hands and verbally announce the appraisal result. He would not provide anything in writing.
Although many people were dissatisfied, there was camera footage as evidence. As long as they obtained an appraisal certificate from an institution recognized by Su Xiaofan, he would accept the result and pay the compensation.
Therefore, those people had nothing more to say.
Some turned around and left the venue. Others left unwillingly, cursing and grumbling as they declared that they would take their items to professional appraisal institutions.
There were also some who remained at the venue, demanding that after today's preliminary selection was over, Jing Shizhen conduct another appraisal for them.
After asking Jing Shizhen for his opinion, around seven or eight people stayed behind. All of them firmly believed that the items in their collections were genuine.
These people did not affect Su Xiaofan's appraisal speed at all.
From two-thirty in the afternoon until five-thirty, over the course of three hours,
Su Xiaofan had actually appraised more than two hundred items on the spot, essentially taking care of every bronze and iron artifact brought to the venue.
Apart from Su Xiaofan, the person who had appraised the most objects was Jing Shizhen. He had examined just over sixty items in total—less than one-third of Su Xiaofan's number.
"Uncle Jing, have some tea..."
Su Xiaofan finished earlier than Jing Shizhen. When he saw that Jing Shizhen had finished his work, he quickly handed him the cup that had been refilled with water.
The staff also brought over hot towels and busied themselves serving the experts. The several experts had been exhausted after working all afternoon.
"You brat, were you really doing serious appraisals just now?"
While Jing Shizhen had been busy with his own work, he had occasionally glanced toward Su Xiaofan's table. After seeing Su Xiaofan's appraisal speed, even he had been badly shocked.
"Uncle Jing, when it comes to objects like bronze artifacts, I can get a feeling for them as soon as I handle them."
At this point, Su Xiaofan was not being modest at all. Otherwise, he would have had no way to explain the speed at which he had been making his appraisals.
"Brother Jing, your disciple has quite a talent. He's remarkably compatible with bronze artifacts."
An expert nearby came over and said, "Anyone who can develop this kind of feeling must have handled an enormous number of bronze artifacts. Little Su is going to be extraordinary in the future. He has the potential to become a master!"
There was a saying in the antique trade: the more antiques you saw and handled, the more intuitive you became when appraising them. Eventually, you could develop a kind of instinct that allowed you to determine whether an antique was genuine or fake.
There had once been a calligraphy master who had passed away. He had been born into a prominent family and was a descendant of the imperial family, with countless antiques in his household.
Later, he became the disciple of a renowned master and studied the knowledge of antique appreciation. Throughout his life, he handled an incalculable number of antiques.
When he later appraised antiques for others, he basically relied on his first impression after handling the item.
If his feeling told him it was right, it was genuine. If the feeling was wrong, it was a counterfeit.
He had never made a mistake in several decades.
"There's no need to praise him so much. We don't even know if he made a mistake."
Jing Shizhen pointed at the people waiting nearby and said, "If he were really a master, these people wouldn't refuse to believe his appraisal results."
"Teacher Jing, we still hope you can take a look."
A middle-aged man holding a bronze vessel about the size of his palm spoke up.
"I bought this item at an overseas auction. There's no way it could be fake."
The bronze vessel in the man's hands was not a teapot for drinking water. It had three legs and a lid, making it look somewhat like a ritual ding vessel.
"How much did you pay for this vessel?"
Jing Shizhen glanced at it and casually asked.
"I bought it at an auction in London. Sixty thousand pounds!" the middle-aged man replied.
"It wasn't purchased through one of the four major auction houses, was it?"
"No. It was part of the private collection of an English earl."
The middle-aged man shook his head and said, "One of his ancestors once came to our country and took away quite a few things. I bought this back because I wanted to bring a national treasure home."
"Your intention is good, but your method was wrong."
Jing Shizhen waved his hand and looked toward Su Xiaofan.
"You tell him."
"Everyone's tired. I'll say a few words, and let's try to get home early."
Su Xiaofan nodded. He pointed at six of the people and said,
"The objects you're holding all came from the Bronze Ware Village.
"Someone used various methods to remove the marks from our village, but there's absolutely no mistake about where they came from.
"As for this bronze vessel, it was made no more than twenty years ago. If you don't believe me, you can have it tested using carbon-14 dating.
"If I'm wrong, you bought it for sixty thousand pounds, right? I'll compensate you six hundred thousand!"
Su Xiaofan paused, then pointed at the remaining two people.
"As for the items the two of you brought, one of them is genuine, but it's been damaged so badly that it has no market value.
"The other one is an artificially aged fake. You can have it tested as well. If I'm wrong, I'll compensate you."
The latter two people had brought ancient coins, also known as ancient cash.
One of them was actually an extremely famous and precious type of ancient coin, one of the Fifty Rare Treasures—the Xiantong Xuanbao.
The Xiantong Xuanbao was a Tang Dynasty coin. It was cast in the eleventh year of the Xiantong era by Wang Tong, the official in charge of the Guiyang mint. It was quickly discontinued and barely circulated at all, making surviving examples extremely rare.
However, Su Xiaofan had determined the identity of this ancient coin through the Restoration System.
The coin itself had been worn down so severely that there was no longer any visible trace of the characters or features identifying it as a Xiantong Xuanbao.
If there had been even the slightest recognizable feature, Su Xiaofan would have classified it as a treasure.
Of course, if this ancient coin could fall into Su Xiaofan's hands, he would be able to restore it, and it would only require one Restoration Point.
The completely worn-down ancient coin gave Su Xiaofan an idea.
In the future, he could search for ancient coins whose condition was impossible to identify, restore them, and then sell them.
There were simply too many copper coins in the antique market, and a huge number of them had suffered severe wear.
Su Xiaofan believed that as long as he was patient and visited enough antique markets, he should be able to find some good pieces.
"Teacher Jing, we still hope you can take a look."
After spending so much money on their items, being told that they were fake was difficult to accept—especially when the person saying it was such a young man.
Those people simply refused to believe him.
"All right, I'll take a look."
Jing Shizhen picked up the bronze vessel and examined it for roughly seven or eight minutes before putting it down.
He did not comment on it. Instead, he picked up the other bronze artifacts one by one and examined each of them.
"Actually, I have intuition too, but I still need to handle an object and observe it for a while."
Jing Shizhen took off his gloves and said,
"These items are all counterfeits. If you don't believe me, go have them tested. If I'm wrong, I'll take responsibility!"
"This... This is impossible. I bought it overseas."
The owner of the bronze vessel looked completely incredulous.
"Ah, so this is what they call 'exporting something abroad only to sell it back domestically.'"
Jing Shizhen sighed.
"A few years ago, quite a number of collectors from our country went overseas to purchase antiques. This also gave some unscrupulous merchants an opportunity to exploit them.
"Those people sent counterfeit antiques made in China overseas, then fabricated various stories about them or organized small auctions specifically targeting Chinese collectors.
"Essentially, this was another kind of scam—a trap designed to fleece people."
Jing Shizhen paused, then looked at the man.
"You went overseas to bid on this collection because a friend introduced you, didn't he?
"And it was probably a complete one-stop service, even helping you transfer the money overseas..."
"This... Damn it! That bastard actually cheated me!"
Clearly, Jing Shizhen had hit the nail on the head.
The man's face turned bright red, and he raised his hand, about to smash the bronze vessel onto the floor.
"Don't smash it. When we collect antiques, getting fooled and buying fakes is common. Keep it as a lesson."
Jing Shizhen stopped him.
"This bronze vessel was actually made quite well. Among modern handicrafts, it's considered a fine piece. You should keep it."
"Thank you, thank you, Teacher Jing, for your guidance."
The man was completely convinced by Jing Shizhen's explanation.
However, when he looked at the bronze vessel again, the affection he had previously shown toward it was completely gone.
"Don't thank me. Xiao Su was the one who identified it. If you want to thank someone, you should thank him."
Jing Shizhen couldn't help laughing when he heard that.
"Uncle Jing, I can only distinguish between genuine and fake. I can't explain things the way you can."
Su Xiaofan humbly said a few words.
He had already demonstrated his ability today. It was better to stop while he was ahead.
"All right, do any of you still have any objections?"
A staff member standing nearby spoke up.
"All of the teachers have worked hard all afternoon. If there are no objections, let's let them go and rest for a while."
Those people could question Su Xiaofan, but they all knew Jing Shizhen's reputation.
His conclusion was the final verdict, so no one dared to keep making trouble.
After the collectors had all left, Jing Shizhen and the others also got into the program team's vehicle.
It was already dinnertime, so naturally, everyone would be taken back only after dinner.
"Teacher Su, the three days' worth of work was finished by you in a single day!"
At the dinner table, the two experts also praised Su Xiaofan highly.
What Su Xiaofan had demonstrated that day had completely stunned the two of them.
After reading the update, go have your New Year's Eve dinner, haha! I'll wish everyone a Happy New Year a little later!
(End of Chapter)
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