After Yu Yao responded to 3,000 yuan, the man shopkeeper not only gave him the 1991 edition, but also gave him two more old magazines.

The payment was cleared, and the man sent Yu Yao out of the store. Yu Yao stood at the door of the store and suddenly stopped, "Boss, I shouldn't ask a question, I'll be clear, I see that the pen on the brown paper attached to the inside of this book cover is very beautiful, so I want to ask this version of "Mao Xuan", where did you get it from?"

The source of goods really shouldn't be asked, but there is a difference between old books and antiques after all, and Yu Yao has already bought them, even if it is a casual chat afterwards, the shopkeeper will say it if he wants to, and he won't mind too much if he doesn't want to say it.

"I see that you are young, but you seem to be a learned person. The man nodded, "It doesn't hurt to tell you." ”

Since he was outside the store, Yu Yao handed the man a cigarette, and the man happily took it, "It's really a coincidence, the two versions in your hand, one from 1948 and one from 1991, as well as those Qing Dynasty bulk books, were collected from the same household." Nearby, it is an old building to be demolished, and the residents are an old couple, saying that these books are left by the old man's father. ”

"Oh. Listen to this, they have a lot of books!"

"There are a lot of books in their house! When they are about to move, they have only sold some of them, but the rest are even better, and I think there are still Ming Dynasty engraved copies! However, I am a dry eye, and people do not sell them! Among the old books, only these few Qing Dynasty line-bound books have been sold to me, and the price is still discussed separately. The other binders are the ones that kick the shot. ”

"One kick, there is this 1948 version of "Mao Xuan" in it, and you have earned it!"

The man said twice, "We're also making eyesight money, aren't we?"

Yu Yao didn't talk much and left. It's almost enough to know this, which shows that there is still a great possibility that something is hidden in the kraft paper!

Because their family has ancient books from the Ming and Qing dynasties, the old man's father, after that special period, died in 1995, but he has preserved so many ancient books, which must be good at preserving.

If there was something hidden in the brown paper, then the old man must not have known about it, otherwise he would not have sold the book. As for why he didn't know, whether his father forgot to tell him, then it is impossible to guess.

Of course, it's just speculation that it's very likely, and other possibilities are not impossible, including this book and maybe the old man's father got it.

Anyway, Yu Yao had already made up his mind to take it apart and take a look.

Before returning to the hotel, Yu Yao went to a nearby supermarket to buy tools such as razor blades, and dismantled them as much as possible not to destroy the book.

After closing the door, Yu Yao sat down at the table in the room, starting with the brown paper on the inside of the cover, and carefully scratching through the gaps with a blade.

This piece of brown paper is all attached to the inside of the cover, not just the four sides of the glue, but fortunately it has been long enough and not too difficult to get.

Yu Yao finally peeled off a piece of brown paper in its entirety, with only a few minor damages in the book cover.

As a result, there was nothing inside!

It's the paper that should be on the inside of the cover.

However, since you have done it, you must also remove the kraft paper on the inside of the back cover to take a look. If you don't have it, then you can't help it, you can buy this book at the market price, but fortunately, it's genuine.

After the kraft paper on the back cover was also removed, Yu Yao's eyes lit up!

The inside of the back cover is the same as the inside of the cover, which is normal, but in the center of the vellum paper, there is a small round thin piece of white paper. It's the thinness of carbon paper, but it's just colorless.

This small piece of thin white paper has a diameter of seven or eight centimeters, although the back is also glued and pasted on the inside of the back cover like kraft paper. But on the inside of the white paper, only the edge is pasted on the kraft paper, and because the middle is transparent, not only can you see that it is not pasted, but also it seems to be a postage stamp!

No wonder it feels very smooth! Such a thick kraft paper, all coated with glue and flattened, this thin stamp and piece of paper must not be touchable!

Yu Yao gently picked off the white paper, and the stamps inside were intact!

Toothless, black, 12p denomination, with the motif of Queen Victoria's head.

Black Queen!

The Queen Victoria stamp, issued in 1851, is known as the Black Queen because of its black background. The world's first stamp, the "Penny Black" issued by the United Kingdom in 1840, was also named because the background color was black.

Yu Yao doesn't collect stamps, but he still knows about Queen Black stamps, because they are very famous and expensive.

The reason why it is expensive, of course, is because of the rarity.

On June 14, 1851, Canada issued a black 12p stamp featuring the head of Queen Victoria, inspired by the painter Chalon's depiction of the Queen. However, the original painting is not a portrait of the Queen, but a scene of the Queen visiting the British House in the summer of 1837.

At that time, the Black Queen stamps were printed with 200 sheets, and at the beginning 255 sheets, or 51,000 pieces, were printed.

If this number had been issued, the Black Queen stamps would not have been so expensive.

Although so many copies were printed, less than 1,400 copies were sold in the long three years that followed.

There are three reasons for this.

First, it was the first time that stamps were printed on straight paper, and as a result, the post office and users were dissatisfied because the paper was inferior and it was difficult to stick to the envelope.

Second, 12 pence is a high face value, and can only be used for long-distance letters.

Thirdly, the Black Queen stamps are only available at less than 20 post offices, and the scope is limited.

Three years later, the Black Queen stamps were declared out of use, and nearly 50,000 stamps that were not sold were destroyed.

Only more than 1,000 stamps went to the market, and after more than 100 years, it is now in existence, although it is impossible to have exact statistics, but it can be imagined.

Some estimates put the number of surviving pieces at about 150, and seven envelopes were also found.

Among the 150 or so Black Queen stamps, there must be a few that have not been used for sending letters, and among these few, there are certainly a few that are well-preserved and unfolded.

Therefore, a few years ago, there was a high-quality black queen stamp, which was auctioned at an auction in New York, at a high price of nearly 500,000 US dollars, equivalent to more than 3 million RMB.

Yu Yao didn't expect that there would be a stamp hidden in it, and he didn't have tweezers, so he had to carefully pinch it with a tissue, and after checking and appreciating it, he folded and wrapped it with the sticky notes in the room, and finally sandwiched it in the book.

However, this black queen, strictly speaking, is not in excellent condition, and it is very good everywhere else, but there is a tiny yellow spot on the adhesive.

This is not a big problem, even if it is discounted, referring to the auction price in New York a few years ago, it is worth three million for a fraction.

Spent three thousand, earned three million.

A thousandfold profit. Of course, it's a big leak.

And this leak actually has little to do with eyesight, it is purely a "whimsy" based on "experience".

As soon as Yu Yao cleaned up, his mobile phone rang, and when he picked it up, he saw that it was Lin Fengcao calling.