British society has been using silver for hundreds of years, especially after the Industrial Revolution, as long as the family has a certain economic strength, they will basically buy a few sets of silver products such as tea sets and tableware, not to mention those big merchants, factory owners and aristocrats. Pen Fun Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

The popularity of silver in British society is much higher than that in China, which is related to their different historical and cultural backgrounds, so British silver collection is also a very representative collection project with a broad social foundation.

Of course, this is limited to Western societies, and British collectors have largely used these antique silverware not only as ornaments, but also as utilitarian objects.

This is very different from the porcelain collection in China - porcelain is fragile, and probably only Zhang Nan will drink with a chicken cup.

Moreover, the silverware handed down in Britain from various periods, according to the purity of the silver, has different patterns of seals, but it is not simply marked with a percentage of purity, it is very complicated and obscure.

There are also different coats of arms of silverware produced in different ages and regions, if Zhang Nan wants to learn to collect British antique silverware, it is estimated that it will take some effort to reach the level of a little understanding!

The stall owner said that if he was interested, he might be able to buy a book specializing in British silver heraldry by finding a few more bookstores, but the book was big, heavy and expensive enough!

Books aren't cheap, and there's no piracy here.

In the UK, shops generally do not bargain, but they do not include the 'car trunk market', which is where bargaining can be made, so the stall owner feels that Zhang Nan is refreshing.

"Well, buy one before you go back, and look at it when you're free. ”

Xiang Weirong can't understand the fast English conversation yet, but fortunately, there is a Guan Xingquan who can be a translator: Zhang Nan is shopping, and these two are not idle, just watching the strangeness nearby.

The things on the stalls in Britain are obviously different from those in China, and they are also a little different from those in the United States.

Xiang Weirong bought a set of silver tea sets, making black tea: a teapot with two silver cans with lids, and a matching silver tray, but no teacups.

The British do not generally make teacups out of silver, preferring to use porcelain.

But this is not a problem, next door is a stall selling porcelain, and the two went to buy 6 identical porcelain cups.

The silverware that my brother-in-law likes is also a bit old, and it is not expensive anyway, Zhang Nan calculated it according to the weight of the silver price, so he didn't go to participate in his brother-in-law's procurement action.

Those teacups cost 50p per pound, and Xiang Weirong and the two also returned the bargain, and a set of 6 was finally sold for 8 pounds, obviously without the talent for bargaining.

Because the three of them will also go around several countries, it is obviously inconvenient to carry these items when they pass through customs, but they can already be mailed and shipped to Huaxia, as long as they are packaged.

The four of them planned to leave the market after a little more wandering, but soon they stopped in front of a stall: the stall owner had put out a lot of miscellaneous things, silverware, porcelain, wood, toys...

It's a bit of a mess of everything.

The porcelain is all old goods, basically the "Western goods" in the eyes of Zhang Nan and the three of them, and they are full of exoticism in terms of style and pattern, but the sharp-eyed Guan Xingquan saw a large number of Western goods with a Chinese style vase in the middle.

"Anan, there's a bottle. With that, Guan Xingquan walked to the stall.

As long as it is a slightly valuable and easily damaged item, the seller will generally put a small price tag on it. As long as they see such items, buyers can directly pick them up and look at them without worrying about problems.

Guan Xingquan saw that the vase had a label of "20 pounds" on it, and picked it up casually.

Zhang Nan took it and took a look, the character vase, "Guangcai vase, export porcelain." ”

"Guangcai?" Guan Xingquan asked.

"Well, Guangcai, also known as 'Guangzhou weaving gold color porcelain', is the abbreviation of overglaze colored porcelain art in Guangzhou, referring to the weaving gold color porcelain fired in Guangzhou and the low-temperature glaze color decoration technique used in this type of porcelain. In the middle and late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China, it was popular, and it was basically something that was specially burned for export, and there was basically no one in China, which did not conform to our aesthetics at that time. ”

As he spoke, Zhang Nan pointed to the vase and said, "You see, the pattern of the whole bottle is very tightly composed, especially the colors are bright and brilliant, and it looks like ten thousand strands of gold are painted." Because most of them were used for export, they were designed and fired to cater to the preferences of the gringos of the time. ”

Zhang Nan speaks the dialect of Yanxian County, even if someone here understands Chinese, he can speak it unscrupulously, absolutely no one can understand it, a proper super password.

But when John also leaned over, Zhang Nan changed to English out of politeness, "Look at the style at the bottom of the bottle." ”

Speaking of turning the bottle upside down, the bottom paragraph is written vertically in blue "Qianlong Year", but what is particularly interesting is that there is a circle of English in the outer circle of four Chinese characters: madeinchina.

Fiddling with the details of the bottle again, he said: "The export of Guangci basically started in the Qianlong year, but this bottle is rich in color, using the pigments made by the craftsmen of Guangzhou in the late Qing Dynasty, which is much more colorful than the imported materials used in the Qianlong period."

This should be a bizarre combination of the late Qing Dynasty sustenance money and the standard English of export porcelain, which is not common, but it is not rare, and the painting is good. ”

This sentence is in Chinese, so that the stall owner will not hear it.

The counteroffer was made with the stall owner, and the vase was sold for 18 pounds.

"Good stuff?"

It was Xiang Weirong who asked the question.

Zhang Nan shook his head: "It's a bargain, it's not very valuable." But it's beautiful, and it's perfect for a house on Long Island. The number of these export porcelains in Europe and the United States is very large, and the collection value of this will not be high, but it is estimated that many of them will return to China in a few years and become a tool for some people to make money. ”

Although this vase is good, even if it is a price of one or two hundred thousand after more than 20 years, most of the refluxed export porcelain vases are even a few hundred thousand dollars, and only a few of the fine products can be hundreds of thousands of dollars.

As for in Europe and the United States, this thing is really common, and although the price is no longer a stall price, it is also hyped up by the Chinese people. The Chinese export porcelain in the antique stores of European and American countries can be said to be specially prepared for the Chinese people, and very few Europeans and Americans buy and collect them themselves!

But this vase is the first export porcelain vase that Zhang Nan encountered after his rebirth, and even if the mailing fee may be more expensive than the purchase price, he still bought it.

After paying the money, I took the vase that the stall owner was wrapping in a cardboard box, and was about to leave, when I saw the stall owner take out a wooden box from the box under the folding table and put it on the vacant spot after the vase was sold.

"This gentleman, I almost forgot, I still have a small box here that is also Huaxia's things, can you take a look?"

List price 50 lbs.

This is a mahogany-clad copper buckle jewelry box, 30 centimeters high, with two small doors on the front, as soon as it opens, it reveals the first 5 layers of small drawers: several drawers are used to put jewelry space.

As soon as Zhang Nan saw this wooden box, he only glanced at it, and picked up the box from the stall without saying a word.

Guan Xingquan was faster, and he was ready to pay for it, but when he heard what Zhang Nan said, he stopped for the time being.

"It's just this one box? ”

Zhang Nan is boring foreigners, Guan Xingquan can hear it, this is a cliché.

When the stall owner heard this, he was really fooled: "It's just such a box, I bought it in a market a few days ago, and I will make you a difference." ”

Yes, it's out of stock, so what's it going to do!

Guan Xingquan paid immediately, that hand and foot were nimble!

"Gone John, to see the house. ”

Regardless of the stall owner with a fifty denomination, withdraw!

As soon as he arrived at the car, Guan Xingquan, who was sitting in the passenger seat, asked: "Anan, it seems to be a good thing!"

"Haha, I didn't go to Hotan in vain, Brother Guan!"

Zhang Nan can't understand the wood, but the value of this jewelry box does not lie in the wood material of the box at all, but in the 6 Hetian jade pendants inlaid on the left and right sides of the box, the top, the back and the two small doors!

How can a jewelry box that looks like a jewelry box that looks like a few decades be inlaid with Hetian jade pendants on several sides, and it also appears in the United Kingdom?

In fact, the process and reason in this are not bizarre at all, Zhang Nan knows it clearly.

It's all about exporting to earn foreign exchange!

This is not a centuries-old antique at all, but a product of the early days of liberation. The workmanship is first-class, and the wood material Zhang Nan calls it mahogany, but the color is black, and it may also be small-leaved red sandalwood!

However, even if it is the wood of the small leaf red sandalwood, more than 90% of the value of the box is on those few pieces of Hetian jade!

Zhang Nan will take a closer look, a total of five pieces of nearly No. 1 white Hetian jade jade pendant, the top one is a Zigang card, it seems to be a work of the late Ming Dynasty.

The length and width of the two jade plaques on the left and right sides have reached almost 12 by 7 centimeters, the bas-relief technique, the age is estimated to be in the middle of the Qing Dynasty, the theme of the two pieces are Fu Lu Shou, the volume is very large, and it is even more rare to be in pairs! )