Chapter 1057: The Perfect Combination of Art and Technology
The store has not only Chinese antiques, but also Egyptian antiques, Greek antiques, and some knick-knacks from all over the world, all of which are very exquisite.
It can be seen that the bottom layer is placed with many European medieval cold weapons and armor, including the Roman Empire, the British period, and even earlier.
There are many types, such as spears, stabbing swords, war hammers, chain hammers, battle axes, etc., which are basically genuine, but because of the age, many of them have rusted, but even so, things are also very well maintained, and there are some weapons Zhang Tianyuan thought they were new when he first looked at them, and after careful observation, he came to the conclusion that they really have a long history.
Of course, most of the things are only about one or two hundred years away from now, and compared to Zhang Tianyuan's Yin Tianzi Three Swords, there is no comparison at all. But as long as it is an antique, it has its unique charm in it, whether to buy it or not is one thing, but whether to see it is another thing, even if you feel that it is not on the level of the purchase, but it will not take a few minutes to watch it.
Looking up further, there are some sandwich glass cabinets, and there are many categories of things in them, including ancient Chinese dressing boxes, folding fans, jewelry, and some gold and silver jewelry in ancient Egypt, the price of these things is inflated, and Zhang Tianyuan does not plan to buy them. But it's still okay to take a look.
The most blushing thing is that there are some ancient sex toys in it, although Zhang Tianyuan is also a warrior on the bed, but when he saw those things in it, he couldn't help but turn his head over, that thing is too much. Alas, it's still not a sign. It's a forbidden word anyway.
In addition to these antiques, there are naturally some special daily necessities from the past one or two hundred years. For example, very old firearms, even cigarette pouches and pots, a model of a steam engine that is said to have been invented and perfected by Watt, the first gramophones, etc., there is really everything.
Of course, these things are also genuine, but the price is still too high, although it is not a problem in terms of Zhang Tianyuan's purchasing power, but his purchase concept does not allow him to buy these things, of course. If Liu Mengxun likes it, then he will not hesitate to spend money to buy it.
Although the level of counterfeiting in Europe is also superb, and some of them do not even have to hide from the king, but these things are also divided into places, most of them are in the stalls outside and in the flea market, and in such antique shops, there are almost no fakes, unless the shopkeeper himself has seen it.
Because the European team, an antique shop, has very strict management of counterfeiting and selling, and is often punished for fraud. If China could also make this great effort to rectify the entertainment market, so many people would not be deceived.
We must accept the merits of others with an open mind, as for those unwarranted accusations. Just fart it.
There are also many beautiful paintings in the antique shop, and even works by Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Picasso, Repin, Monet and others, but the prices are frighteningly high. Estimated to be more expensive than what was at auction, it seems that Lancelot is not lying. There are a lot of genuine items in this antique shop, but the prices are also frighteningly high. Because there is a question of responsibility involved.
He probably took a look at one of Picasso's paintings, and the price tag was 80 million pounds, and such a painting is estimated to fetch about 70 million pounds at auction.
"Boss, aren't you afraid of being stolen if you put such a good thing here?" Zhang Tianyuan asked in wonder, this antique shop is not a museum after all, and the museum's anti-theft measures are very perfect, but the antique store is different, after all, you are private, if you really encounter robbers, it will be troublesome.
"Don't worry, these things will be put away at night, and during the day we are next to the police station, unless the robbers really dare to risk the fire and rob it, then I will take it, and even if I rob it, it will be difficult to leave this place, there are cameras everywhere, and it is difficult to escape. The boss said confidently.
Zhang Tianyuan nodded silently, too, there is no foolproof possibility in these years, if something really happens, no one can stop it, isn't the museum still stolen?
"Boss, don't you have that kind of cheap and good stuff here? Hehe, I don't have much money on me, but I hope you can understand my pursuit of art. Zhang Tianyuan said with a smile.
He doesn't have any money?
The snake and Lancelot on the side were stunned, if he didn't have any money, then they would be beggars.
"Well, there are some things in my store that have been sent by others, but some may have been bitten by rats, some have been accidentally broken, and some things I don't know what they are, if you are interested, you can go and see, it's in the warehouse over there, but I tell you, things don't bargain, a hundred pounds a piece, you want to buy it, don't talk nonsense if you don't want it, I'm still busy taking care of other customers, so I won't bother you." "This look of contempt for people is very much like the watchdog of many ancient nobles.
But Zhang Tianyuan doesn't care, as long as there is something to pick on, he won't care what the other party thinks.
"Over there, I'll go take a look. As Zhang Tianyuan spoke, he walked in the direction of the warehouse, and from a long distance, he could see a bunch of things thrown there, placed in a mess, which was incompatible with the neat layout outside.
"What's this, enamel or a clock?"
When passing by a glass cabinet, Zhang Tianyuan saw a thing, the price was not expensive, but the shape was very beautiful, so he liked it at a glance, so he asked, but he didn't show a strong interest, lest the boss see it and raise the price.
The shopkeeper glanced at Zhang Tianyuan with the eyes of a layman and said: "This is enamel and a clock, if you don't know so much about antiques, obviously those stalls outside are more suitable for you." β
"How do you talk, is this hospitality?" Liu Mengxun was a little angry and couldn't help but say.
"Boss, you are an English gentleman, this minimum civilization should be able to do it, can you take this thing out for me to see?" Zhang Tianyuan was not angry, but asked with a smile.
The more the other party looks down on him like this. It's a good thing for him, if you think too much of him. Then he didn't know what to do, after all. These profiteers will definitely raise the price very high, and now the situation is fine, and the other party does not need to pay too much attention to himself.
The boss actually didn't want to show things to Zhang Tianyuan, to be honest, at the beginning, when Zhang Tianyuan stepped into this antique shop, he was still very happy, from Zhang Tianyuan and Liu Mengxun's clothes, it can be seen that they should be rich people, and he doesn't care if they are connoisseurs. Of course, it's better not to be an expert, so he can open his mouth widely.
As a family that has been running an antique store for more than a century, this boss is very good at business, he looks down on Zhang Tianyuan, not because Zhang Tianyuan has no money, but because this guy is rich and pretends to be poor, such a person is the most picky, so he doesn't want to serve.
His family has always been in the antique shop, who has never seen him? He was very young and visited the shop with his grandfather. People from all over the world have seen that the number of Chinese has suddenly increased in recent years, and he feels that these nouveau riche in China are very fond of spending money, so he has always been grateful to these people.
Well, after all. Of course, I should be grateful for the money that people spend.
But he didn't expect such a stingy person to come today, and he felt a little unhappy. How can you, as a Chinese nouveau riche, be as shrewd as us British?
So how do we still have that feeling of being on top?
"Boss. You can't understand English, do you?" Zhang Tianyuan said again.
At this time, Zhang Tianyuan was not the only one in the store, so many people looked at this boss. Although he had all kinds of helplessness and unhappiness in his heart, he finally took out the key, opened the glass cabinet, carefully took out the thing inside, and put it on a table.
This is an enamel bell from around 1855. An old man next to him looked at it and said.
Enamel was invented in 1446 in the French border town of Flanders (Flanders), about the Kangxi year of the Qing Dynasty, and was introduced to China by Pierce, a descendant of the French Rodin family. Because of the splendid and colorful enamel color, and maintain the characteristics of not fading for hundreds of years, Westerners are very fond of enamel art, and after the 16th century, it is widely used in a variety of decorative crafts, of course, it is also reasonable to use it in clocks and watches.
On pocket watches, it is mainly metal enamel, because the pocket watch cases are almost all made of gold, silver, copper, iron and other metals. The bell is basically placed where it does not move, and it is not easy to break, so the porcelain enamel process is also applied to the decoration of the bell shell and clock face, mainly to leave a vacant space when making the metal frame of the bell, and fix the porcelain enamel color piece on the bell shell, and fix it from the inside of the bell shell with cement or wire.
As we all know, enamel painting was painted directly on metal at the beginning of the West, and was later carried forward by the Chinese, painting enamel on porcelain, this porcelain enamel was used by Westerners on the decoration of bells, most of these bells in this shop are porcelain enamel paintings, which were very popular in the West in the 19th century.
Zhang Tianyuan heard the words of the person next to him, but he didn't squeak, of course he knew what it was, but he just deliberately pretended not to know, ordinary shops bid very high for connoisseurs, because he thinks you understand this.
So Zhang Tianyuan didn't speak, just looked at the clock thoughtfully.
This table clock is about a foot high, and the surface is silver-plated, so it is still very well preserved, only a small part of it has lost some color because of the bumps, but it does not affect the overall beauty of Cheng DΓΉ, but because of this flaw, it looks more historical.
Although the clock has stopped turning, but listen to the boss said that this is the earliest mechanical clock, all the structure in it is still good, as long as the winding is tightened, you can still continue to walk, although not as accurate as the current electronic watch, but it is very beautiful.
"It's a little expensive, can this thing be worth ten thousand pounds?"
In fact, 10,000 pounds is not expensive, although the price of such clocks is uneven, the cheap one may be 20,000 RMB, and the expensive one may be 100,000 pounds, you may not be able to buy it, but Zhang Tianyuan is looking at this piece now, and the estimated price is about 20,000 pounds, 10,000 pounds is really not expensive, but the profit is a little small.
Zhang Tianyuan didn't speak rashly, he also came to the conclusion that if this thing was cheaper, maybe he would buy it, whether it was to give it back to others, or to play with it himself, it was all good gadgets. (To be continued......)