You Minqiang continued: "However, I don't have so much money in my hands for the time being, I have a few jade artifacts here, please help me take a look." Pen %Fun %Pavilion www.biquge.info"

Meng Zitao asked, "Are you planning to transfer your jade, or what?"

You Minqiang said: "It's better to be able to mortgage, I can get together the money in a week at the latest, and then I can transfer it directly to you." If you don't think so, these jade pieces can also be sold to you. ”

Meng Zitao was noncommittal: "I'll look at the jade first." ”

"Okay. ”

You Minqiang opened the box he brought, only to see that there were several small pieces of jade inside, the most obvious of which was a pair of jade cicadas.

Because, judging from the back of the cicada, this is a typical "Han Eight Knife" technique, the knife technique is concise, the lines are strong, although there are few knives, but a chilling cicada is carved vividly, vivid and realistic.

Speaking of which, everyone generally believes that the "eight" character of Han Badao does not refer to the fact that this jade cicada is made with only eight knives, which is like the "three" of "one and again, again and again", and the "three" of "three people must have my teacher", which is not a definite reference, but just a symbol, and the description is repeated.

Most of the people and experts who play jade understand this truth, and they believe that such a jade cicada knife process is "simple and ancient" and "extensive", which is because funeral jade is often more urgent, so it is necessary to achieve the most effective result in the simplest form, so this is the meaning of the word "eight".

However, Mencius thinks that he does not think so, for example, the traditional habit of "three" is already a vague and repeated symbol, "nine" is a very large number, so "eight" is because jade is "simple"?

So what is the reason, Mencius felt that he had found a possible answer from a story he had seen earlier.

Most people who study calligraphy know the story of the invention of Lishu. During the reign of Qin Shi Huang, there was a county magistrate Cheng Miao who committed a crime and was imprisoned for ten years. Cheng Miao is talented, does not waste creation in loneliness, and simplifies the small seal characters to make it easy to write, which is what was later called Lishu.

Qin Shi Huang was busy with the country's military affairs, and the writing speed of the small seal could not keep up, and the writing of the official script appeared, which could be compared to today's computer entry at that time, and it soon became popular. As a result, Cheng Miao was pardoned and became an imperial historian.

As we all know, the appearance of Lishu is very close to the Chinese characters used today. Later, there was a way of writing that was closer to today's characters in the official book, called "eight-point characters".

What is the meaning of "eight" here? It means "back", which specifically refers to the separation of the left and right strokes of some characters.

Let's take a look at how Xu Shen's "Shuowen Jie Zi" in the Han Dynasty interprets "eight". He said, "Eight, don't." Elephants are opposites. ”

Writing this, I think everyone should be clear about the meaning of "eight" in "Han Eight Knife", if we understand it as "simple and simple", it would be wrong. It is not a number, and it has nothing to do with any quantity.

Specifically, the "Han Eight Knife" should refer to the kind of Han Dynasty burial jade that only applied the process on the back of the cicada. More strictly speaking, the jade cicada with labor on both sides of the back and abdomen is also the "Han Eight Knife", because regardless of single or double-sided, the belly and back of the jade cicada are applied to the carving of the wings with both eyes and wings, which means the eternity of the dead and the living.

It's a pity that the Han Eight Dao has been lost, which has to be said to be a pity, but because it is lost, it is very helpful to the Han Eight Dao Dynasty, and it is precisely because of this that Meng Zitao noticed this pair of jade cicadas at a glance.

Meng Zitao took the pair of jade cicadas in his hand, and immediately felt that something was wrong, he turned the jade cicada over and took a closer look, and found that the back of the jade cicada was lined with neat drum nail patterns, not the Han Dynasty jade cicada had Han Eight Knife.

Meng Zitao observed carefully, the eyes and mouth on the back of the jade cicada could see a circular arc, and the outermost edge was slightly reduced.

Therefore, a comprehensive judgment shows that this pair of jade cicadas should have been originally a drum nail pattern jade, probably because it was accidentally broken, and the owner was reluctant to throw it away, so it was remade into the appearance seen today.

As mentioned above, this kind of modified jade is actually not uncommon, and this pair of jade cicadas is indeed a craft of the Han Dynasty from the perspective of craftsmanship and other aspects. It's just that because the jade cicada is restructured and there is no double-sided work, the value is worse.

In addition, the surface of the jade cicada still has a color, although the color can increase the beauty of the jade, but once it is too much Qin, it will be affected.

In the ancient jade world, in the early years, there was a saying of "heavenly remnants, earth remnants, and human remnants", the so-called "heavenly remnants" mainly refer to the innate deficiencies brought by the jade and the defects that already existed during the original processing, the flaws do not cover up, so the heavenly remnants are not discounted; the so-called "earth remnants" mainly point out that the soil jade is eroded by the relevant components in the soil underground, and the formation of the color of the jade, etc., the predecessors thought that the beauty of the jade was excessively affected by the Qin, so the land remnants were half price; and the jade was artificially damaged, it was "human remnants" is worthless.

Up to now, due to the rarity of ancient jade, some people feel that "half price of land remnants" can no longer keep up with the times, and "ground remnants" should not be discounted, but in Mencius's point of view, the value of antiques should also be judged by beauty, and the value of a thing cannot be diagnosed by rarity.

Meng Zitao believes that although the value of "ground remnant" jade is not discounted by half as before, the value should also be estimated according to the color and the degree of damage.

In addition, Meng Zitao also saw that the unearthed time of this pair of jade cicadas should not be long, and there are not many traces of the surface of the plate, so it must be in the ranks of the discount, he estimated, the value should be about 60,000.

Since this pair of jade cicadas was unearthed not long ago, and it was sent by You Minqiang, Meng Zitao didn't know much about You Minqiang at all, so this pair of jade cicadas was not in the ranks of Meng Zitao's consideration.

Meng Zitao took the jade cicada aside, and then he carefully observed several other jade objects. However, he found that although the material of these jade pieces was good, they were either restructured jade, or there were more serious "ground remnants", and even a "ground remnant" jade, which had been artificially repaired and covered up, such a thing, of course, could not be accepted by Mencius.

Meng Zitao silently put the jade back in the box, pushed it in front of You Minqiang, and said, "Mr. You, I may have to say sorry, there is nothing I like among these jades." ”

When You Minqiang heard this, his brows couldn't help frowning: "What do you mean?"

Meng Zitao smiled and said nothing, You Minqiang brought seven or eight pieces of jade over, either restructured jade, or jade such as "earth remnants", which inevitably made him think more. Besides, now that he has enough troubles, and there are many people who think he is unlucky, it is better for him to be careful when he sends it to the door.

You Minqiang was a little dissatisfied with Meng Zitao's attitude, and said, "Boss Meng, can you tell me clearly, do you think my things are not good?"

Meng Zitao said: "Mr. You, I'm sorry, I personally don't like to make pits?"

"What do you mean?" You Minqiang was a little puzzled.

Meng Zitao saw that You Minqiang's expression was indeed not like an insider, and said, "I take the liberty of asking, don't you know much about jade?"

You Minqiang said: "I don't know much about jade, and the one that needs to be repaired is my family's ancestral, and these jade pieces were all transferred to me by my brother-in-law two years ago. ”

When Meng Zitao heard this, combined with what You Minqiang said before, he knew that this person was not very sincere, because You Minqiang also said that the antique market in Ling City and Jinling could not be compared, which proved that he had more or less some understanding of the antique markets in the two places.

Moreover, You Minqiang was able to accurately tell the value of the jade that needed to be repaired, although it may have been known from other sources, but in general, it could not help but make him suspicious.

Meng Zitao didn't care about him, and said directly: "Let's put it this way, Shengkeng jade refers to the fact that it was dug out of the ground not long ago, according to the law, this kind of jade will be confiscated, and I don't want to and won't take this risk." ”

You Minqiang's face changed: "Ah, you mean to say that these jade artifacts of mine were all dug out of the ground?"

"Isn't this ......" Mencius briefly explained the "earth cripples" and "human cripples".

"This ......" You Minqiang listened to Meng Zitao's explanation, his face was a little ugly, and then asked, "Boss Meng, how much can I pay for these jade pieces?"

Meng Zitao said: "For me, the value of these jade pieces is about 200,000 yuan. ”

"Two hundred thousand, are you not mistaken?" You Minqiang was a little stunned.

Meng Zitao said: "It's okay, you can find someone else to take a look." ”

"No, I'll have to go find him. ”

You Minqiang hurriedly packed up his things, and was about to leave, just about to turn around, maybe he didn't feel very polite, and thanked him again.

Seeing You Minqiang walk out of the store, Hu Yuanliang said with some disdain: "This person is full of lies, which is not a good thing. ”

"Why is he lying so much?" Zhu Xinyue obviously didn't understand.

Hu Yuanliang said a few very suspicious points, and said: "Do you think he is a lie?"

Zhu Xinyue scratched his head a little embarrassed: "Well, I really didn't expect it." ”

"You, you still have to learn a little more in the future, otherwise, you will be sold and count the money for others. ”

Speaking of this, Hu Yuanliang suddenly had an idea and said, "Boss, do you think he will deliberately come to inquire about the price?"

Meng Zitao smiled: "I didn't estimate it just now, but I just said that those things are worth so much to me." ”

Hu Yuanliang immediately understood what Meng Zitao meant and laughed.

"Okay, I'll go first, if there's anything, you can call me. Meng Zitao picked up his things and prepared to leave.

"Okay. ”

Meng Zitao walked to the parking lot to pick up the car, and before he had gone far, he saw an elderly customer in front of the old cow stall, and the two were arguing about something.

At this time, Lao Niu raised his head and saw Meng Zitao, and hurriedly called him over.

Meng Zitao walked to the stall and said, "Old Niu, what's the matter?"

"Shopkeeper Meng, you come to help me evaluate the reasoning. ”

Lao Niu's words were a little angry: "This old man bought a jade pendant from me yesterday, and he came over today to return it, not to mention that we didn't return it in this line, he actually told me that this jade pendant is not good, there are too many impurities with a strong flashlight, and the quality is extremely poor, it is not a good jade, what is this called?"

A flashlight with a strong light is a sharp tool for appreciating jewelry and modern jade. Nowadays, the old jade collectors almost everyone has a strong flashlight, using it to shine on the old jade to see whether the jade is cracked, whether there is a separate road, whether there is dirt (impurities), and even the number of flocculent jade flowers. In short, as soon as the strong light flashlight shines, the inner texture of the jade can be seen at a glance.

"Isn't it?" The old man picked up a strong flashlight and shone at the jade pendant: "Look at it, there are so many flocculents in this jade, is the quality still very good? Isn't this talking nonsense with your eyes open?"

Lao Niu said: "I don't know how many times I have said, I am an old jade, how can we use the modern tool strong light flashlight as a standard to judge the quality of old jade? You think about it, where did the strong light flashlight come from in ancient times? Under the strong light, the perfect texture of ancient jade is simply rare, if this jade pendant has such quality, I only sell people for 2,000 yuan, are you crazy for me?"

Meng Zitao nodded, Lao Niu's statement is completely correct, the ancient jade workers relied on natural light to visually inspect, at most under the sun, to determine the quality of a piece of jade. And we modern people have to use modern tools such as microscopes or strong flashlights to detect and judge old jade. It's like looking at a beautiful woman with a microscope, and it's as ridiculous that there will be no more beautiful women in the world.

A strong flashlight is an important tool for Xiangyu, which can observe the microscopic state inside the jade, but it is not a standard for judging the quality of old jade. Being too demanding will miss out on many collection opportunities.

Moreover, if this is used as a standard to evaluate the quality of jade, then under the illumination of strong flashlights, there are very few impurities in modern Russian materials, green materials, flocculent jade flowers, etc. Under such a standard, the vast majority of old and Khotanese jade will be under the general modern Russian material and green material, isn't it funny?

Therefore, the strong light flashlight is a tool for appreciation, but if you only rely on it to identify the quality of old jade, you will fall into a misunderstanding of old jade appreciation.

The old man said unhappily: "The thing is yours, of course you said so, tell you, this jade pendant must be returned, otherwise I will sue you." ”

"Sue me?" Lao Niu was angry and sneered: "If you have the ability, go and sue!"

"The two of them will dissipate their breath first. ”

Meng Zitao persuaded him to reconcile, and then said to the old man, "Uncle, can you show me the jade pendant?"

"Give. The old man didn't embarrass Meng Zitao, and directly handed the jade pendant to Meng Zitao.

Meng Zitao said: "Uncle, I'm sorry, according to the rules of our industry, we can't directly take the things in your hands. ”

"And such rules?" the old man was a little puzzled.

"I don't even know the rules, and I'm here to buy things, who's who. The old cow drank a little wine at noon and talked a lot, and muttered when he heard it. (To be continued.) )