Meng Zitao appraised a piece of jade, and after finding that there was no problem, he looked at the list in his hand, and then walked towards the next target, a jade owl of the Hongshan culture.

The owl, commonly known as the owl, has always given people a sense of mystery because of its nocturnal characteristics, so it has become a totemic image commonly recognized by the early ancestors, and is considered to be a divine animal. Yangshao culture has pottery owl, Shang Dynasty has bronze owl, the sacrificial vessel is made into the shape of an owl, is expected to use the owl to reach the gods. The jade owl is also one of the typical utensils of the Hongshan culture.

Meng Zitao walked over and found Zhang Jingqiang and Lao Yang standing in front of the Jade Owl booth together, so he stepped forward and greeted him with a smile: "Brother Zhang, Yang Lao." ”

As he spoke, Meng Zitao glanced at the jade owl on the booth, and suddenly felt slightly stunned in his heart, and had some wrong thoughts.

Zhang Jingqiang and Lao Yang also greeted Meng Zitao, and the two sides exchanged a few words, and Meng Zitao asked with a smile: "Old Yang, are you also interested in jade now?"

Lao Yang smiled and said, "I've always been interested in jade, but I just don't buy it." However, this red mountain jade owl is my friend's favorite, and he can't come over today because of something, so he asked me to help take a look. ”

Meng Zitao smiled: "What do you think?

Lao Yang nodded again and again: "I have already taken a photo just now for Mr. Zhang to pass it on to my friend, and he feels very satisfied." What he is most worried about now is that there will be too many people to look at at at that time, and he is afraid that he will not be able to grab it. ”

Meng Zitao smiled, this jade owl is indeed different, its wings are erect, the beak is hooked, the claws are opposite to grasp, and the engraved lines depict the ornamental characteristics of the owl's body. The owl's body, wings, and tail are concave and convex arcs, which are typical characteristics of jade craftsmanship in Hongshan culture.

Compared with the jade owl found in the past, it is very distinctive, one is the huge size, generally, the jade owl in the major museums is about 2-5 cm, and this jade owl is nearly 6 cm high, which is very rare. The second is that the shape is vivid and clear, not only the ornamentation is complicated, but also the head of the jade owl is carved out of a pair of upright ears, which are quite rare.

Because of these two points, it will definitely be sought after by Hongshan culture lovers, and it is likely to fetch a high price at that time.

Everyone laughed a few words, Meng Zitao took a closer look at this jade owl, used the ability, and sighed in his stomach.

Originally, he thought that there was no problem in appraising nine lots, thinking that the remaining six should be genuine, but he didn't expect that there was an accident, and it was such an influential lot.

It is conceivable that if someone finds out that something is wrong, if there are people with ulterior motives behind it, the impact on the auction company can be imagined, and at the same time, it will also make Meng Zitao and them embarrassed.

Although he knew that there was a problem with this jade owl, Mencius did not act rashly, because if he removed the thing, it would cause unnecessary misunderstanding among the participants present. Besides, he already had an idea in his heart, if this was an accidental incident, it was okay, if there was another hidden story behind it, he might be able to let the other party steal chickens and rice.

After looking at this jade, Meng Zitao and Zhang Jingqiang said hello, and then went to appraise the remaining few lots, which were no problem.

After that, Meng Zitao made a phone call to Zhang Jingqiang and called Zhang Jingqiang upstairs.

"Brother, is something wrong?" Zhang Jingqiang came to Meng Zitao's office and asked a little nervously, it was really at this time that Meng Zitao called him upstairs, which made him can't help but think more.

Meng Zitao said bluntly: "There is something wrong with that Red Mountain Jade Owl. ”

"What! How can there be a problem?!" Zhang Jingqiang couldn't help but exclaim, his face full of consternation.

As soon as Zhang Jingqiang's words fell, someone knocked on the door, and the army went over to open the door and found that it was Shu Ze and them.

Shu Ze walked in with Lu Baocheng and them, and then asked, "I heard Lao Zhang startled just now, is something wrong?"

Meng Zitao nodded: "I found a problem with a lot just now. ”

Shu Ze frowned slightly: "Which one, was it added later?"

Zhang Jingqiang nodded and said, "It's the Red Mountain Jade Owl, which was indeed added later." ”

Lu Baocheng was surprised: "That thing? I think it's good, it doesn't look like there's a problem." ”

Zhang Jingqiang said: "If it can escape the eyes of the three palms of our company, it must not be a shoddy thing." ”

Shu Ze opened his mouth and asked, "Zitao, what's going on?"

Meng Zitao said: "I have a red mountain jade owl, which is exactly the same as the lot. ”

Hearing Meng Zitao say this, everyone understood, and they listened to Meng Zitao continue: "Actually, if this matter is accidental, the problem is not big, the key is if someone is making trouble......

Zhang Jingqiang said with some hesitation: "It shouldn't be someone who is making trouble, I also inquired about the owner at the beginning, and he said that it was ancestral." ”

Shu Ze said angrily: "Aren't you talking nonsense? There is something wrong with everything, will it still be an ancestral heirloom?"

Zhang Jingqiang reacted immediately and said nonsense to himself: "Uh...... I'll send someone to investigate right away. ”

Shu Ze waved his hand: "I'll investigate this matter, we can't wronged a good person, and we can't let a bad person go." ”

The owner is the antique collection department, a relative of an employee, and Shu Ze immediately ordered to investigate.

The next time is to wait, of course everyone can't wait, Shu Ze said: "Zitao, Brother Lu wants an inkstone of 10,000 yuan, do you have it?"

Meng Zitao asked, "What kind of inkstone do you want?"

Lu Baocheng said with a smile: "I don't have to be the four famous inkstones, as long as they can be worth the money, they are mainly used to give them to my father-in-law for daily use, and the inkstones that are too expensive are reluctant to use." ”

Meng Zitao said with a smile that it is, like tens of millions of inkstones, it is definitely not suitable for use all the time, in case it bumps into it, it will not be distressed to death.

"It's simple, I've got it in my store. ”

"Then let's go sit in your shop for a while. ”

"Row ......"

Meng Zitao and the others took a car to the antique street, and Zhang Jingqiang did not go together because there was always a person in charge here.

Since the army was the first to set off, and the group got there, the army had already cleaned up the antique shop and boiled the water.

After making tea for everyone, Meng Zitao went upstairs and took a few suitable inkstones down, and it happened that the jade owl mentioned earlier was also placed here, and he took it down together.

Everyone is now most curious about the jade owl, so Meng Zitao opened the box containing the jade owl.

Seeing Meng Zitao's jade owl, everyone was very surprised, because not only did the shape and size of the instrument look the same, but even the color on the surface was only a small difference.

In this case, it is obvious that one of the two jade owls must be fake, and as for which one is fake, Shu Ze certainly believes in Meng Zitao's judgment.

Shu Ze looked at the jade owl and asked with some curiosity: "I said, where did you get this jade owl, why have you never heard of it?"

Meng Zitao shook his head and smiled: "It's you who are forgetful, I went to Jinling in December last year to buy goods, and after I came back, I mentioned to you that when you encounter a police arrest, have you forgotten?"

Shu Ze thought for a while, and immediately reacted: "Oh, I remembered, it turned out to be that meeting, I really forgot about it." ”

In December this year, Meng Zitao went to Jinling to buy goods, and after completing the task, he wandered around the antique market as usual.

As Mencius was about to reach a shop, five men suddenly sprang out, two of them against a sturdy middle-aged man, and the other against another skinny man one-on-one, and the struggle was going on in the narrow aisles of the antique market.

At this time, the first thought in Meng Zitao's mind was whether the two groups were fighting, and soon, the customers and owners in the market formed a circle around the scene, but no one dared to step forward, and some people guessed the identities of these five people from time to time.

"They were murderers, they killed two people, and we were the police who captured them. In the chaos, one of them shouted loudly, but no one dared to come forward to help, because it was too chaotic, and no one was wearing a police uniform, so it was impossible to tell who was the good guy and who was the bad guy.

At this time, another police officer came to reinforce them, and the two men saw that something was wrong, and one of the men took advantage of the chaos to break free and prepared to escape into the crowd.

At this time, everyone can also tell who is a good person, but the other party is a murderer, and ordinary people really don't dare to come forward to arrest him, so they scatter one after another, but the road is already narrow, and there are so many people around the scene, which makes it even more chaotic.

Seeing that the man was about to escape, Meng Zitao made a move, he kicked a small stone at the man's leg, only to see the other party scream "oops", and immediately fell to the ground, and the ending is needless to say.

Originally, the police were still looking for someone to help, but because it was too chaotic just now, everyone didn't see clearly who did it, and Meng Zitao didn't want to trouble, so he simply walked into an antique shop next to him.

This shop mainly deals in miscellaneous items, and there are several Song Dynasty hand-copying inkstones on the counter, as well as some scattered old ink and seals, copper coins, hookahs, etc.

Meng Zitao looked at it and found that what he was interested in was just some things that obviously had traces of excavation, and it didn't make much sense to look at them. Inadvertently, he found a piece of dusty jade in the corner of the counter, so he asked the boss to take it out and take a closer look.

While looking, Meng Zitao asked the shopkeeper, "When is this thing?"

"It's probably the old three generations, fidelity. The shopkeeper said categorically.

Then, Meng Zitao casually asked, "What is this carving?"

"Who knows, I've been with this thing for four or five years, and I don't know. ”

Meng Zitao carefully observed this jade, and found that the surface decoration did not have the thin lines that came out, all of them were wide yin lines grinded out by grinders, one side was slightly upright, and the other side was obliquely grinding slopes.

Then observe the elephant trunk piercing at the top, the traces of many times of drilling are still left in the hole, and the remaining spiral lines on the hole wall are irregular, which must be oblique holes made by hand-rubbing the tube with a very slow rotational speed. However, the orific beams of the elephant's nostrils are polished to a fairly smooth finish, and the craftsmanship even goes beyond the labor of the jade ornamentation itself.

The orange-red spots on the surface of the jade are finely fragmented, and the color table is rich and active, which can form a flat and externally inward variation. The front and back sides of the jade are shaped by the abstract shape of an owl flying from above, and the bottom tile groove is the owl's tail. From the quality of the jade, the spots and the shape, Meng Zitao immediately determined that it was the identity of the Hongshan jade, and also affirmed that it was relatively rare.

After that, Meng Zitao asked the store price, and he offered 400 yuan. Meng Zitao did not bargain directly, but put down the thing lightly and turned around decisively to leave, thinking that if the store didn't stop me, he would turn around and come back again, as long as he stopped him, this thing would be his.

Sure enough, the shopkeeper called me and asked Meng Zitao to make a price.

As soon as Meng Zitao looked at the dust of this piece of kodama, he knew that there were not many people who took a fancy to it, and it might have been on the counter for several years, in this case, of course, he did not express a strong purchase**. He said lightly and bluntly that this thing is only worth 100 yuan, and he won't buy any more. However, the store refused to agree, and in the end, after a few rounds between the two, he added another 50 yuan to the deal. (To be continued.) )