If we want to say that people who have studied Chinese antiquities, the first thing we think of is naturally those domestic appraisal masters and collectors, but in fact, there are many foreign countries. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

Moreover, these foreign appraisers, especially collectors, have another advantage that is difficult to compare with those in China, that is, strong financial resources and excellent market awareness.

Needless to say, financial resources are all those who can casually push an oil painting to hundreds of millions of dollars, as for market awareness, it can be seen from the Guiguzi Xiashan Yuan blue and white jar and the head of the beast in the Old Summer Palace, it is your national complex, you have to buy it.

In fact, the antique fever in China in recent years is certainly due to economic development and the improvement of people's living standards, but it has also been affected by foreign speculation of Chinese antiques.

Things are valuable, naturally everyone wants to mix in them, and to be honest, the Chinese antiques that can be taken out and circulated abroad do not seem to be much less than those in China, and the number of fine products is more.

However, China has indeed become strong in the past two years, due to some political factors, the momentum of this speculation has been suppressed to a certain extent, and some friendly people have taken the initiative to return and donate some Chinese antiques, but in fact, all kinds of Chinese antiques traded openly and secretly, the total amount has not decreased much, but because the Chinese people are rich, because there are always people speculating on the concept of cultural relics returning, and its overall price is still stable and rising.

If there are interests, there are people involved, therefore, the cultural relics of China will never be secretly invested abroad, although there are few people staring, but everyone who is staring is basically a super predator.

Since this hunting pattern bronze mirror is so precious, it is natural that no one will know it, and even, because of the circle, some people know the origin of these antiques better than some experts in China.

The hunting pattern bronze mirror was taken out, although there were only three or four people over, but these people came prepared, at least Li Yi looked at their expressions, and no one seemed to question the authenticity of this bronze mirror, so he knew that there should be something behind this that he didn't know.

Although it is not clear what these people are trying to do, sometimes, the opponent only needs one, and it is enough for a headache.

"In the history of ancient bronze mirrors in China, the Warring States, the Han Dynasty and the Tang Dynasty bronze mirrors can be called three artistic peaks, this bronze mirror is the representative work of the Warring States Period, as far as I know, in addition to the hunting pattern bronze mirror of the Yongqing Library, this is the only living other figure pattern Warring States bronze mirror, Mr. Okita, can I ask, the origin of your bronze mirror?"

The name of the man who spoke was Adams. Thatch, about thirty or forty years old, according to Shi Qiba, should be an important member of the famous British collector Thatch's family, who has been quite active in the antiques market in recent years, and is a very powerful antique broker, a frequent customer of Sotheby's and Christie's.

Obviously, Okita knew this person, and because Li Yi was also here, his answer seemed a little cautious,

"At the beginning of the last century, someone in my family served as a diplomatic envoy in China, and you should know that China would be more chaotic at that time, so my ancestors were fortunate enough to obtain a number of precious Chinese cultural relics, and for the protection of these cultural relics, we transferred them to Japan, including this Kanemura bronze mirror......"

This answer is actually equivalent to not saying, but Thatch didn't mean to get to the bottom of it, he asked, it was just equivalent to provoking a conversation, and then, an old man in Chinese clothes talked about the price very cooperatively,

"The wisdom of the ancient Chinese people is really amazing, it is indeed amazing that there can be such exquisite craftsmanship thousands of years ago, but it is just a bronze mirror, Mr. Okita quoted 3 million euros, this price, it seems to be a bit ...... High? ”

As the old man spoke, he glanced at everyone, and Li Yi nodded cooperatively.

"Mr. South, under normal circumstances, no matter who owns this level of treasure, it is definitely not for sale, and you know that the similar hunting pattern bronze mirror of the Eicheong Bunko is now a national treasure of Japan, so if we want to take out this bronze mirror for trading, our family will be under a lot of pressure, so I think that the price of them, including that pastel bottle, is not too outrageous."

Soth nodded and said no more, while Thatch got up, handed Okita a small note, and then turned away in style.

Li Yi's heart jumped suddenly, someone made an offer?

Seeing that Okita silently stuffed the note into his wallet without saying a word, Li Yi directly turned on the perspective, and then raised his eyebrows, what the hell is this guy doing, the price is only 1.8 million?

What surprised him was not just Thatch's offer, because the few people who studied the bronze mirror with him next, until they left, none of them made any more bids, which couldn't help but make him a little baffled.

If according to the current trend, this salon is really a bit of a bottom-up meaning, but Li Yi, who had just been warned by Shi Qiba, didn't dare to be so big, he hesitated for a moment, and decided to honestly quote according to his own ideas, these things, Thatch missed it is nothing more than one less opportunity to make money, if he misses it, it will be a pity.

After thinking about it for a while, Li Yi decided to report 2.69 million, although the price was lower than Okita's 3 million, but compared to Saatchi's 1.8 million, it should still be able to let him see his sincerity, so that even if someone is really higher than him, Okita should still give him a chance.

Handed the price to Okita, Li Yi did not rush to ask to see the pastel bottle, compared to this bronze mirror, Okita's 20 million euro pastel bottle is the highlight, although he does not think that the pastel bottle can really be worth so much, but, before the Guiguzi down the mountain can is fried to 230 million, there should not be many people who will guess the price, the value of antiques has its own rules, but competition is definitely an important factor that cannot be ignored.

And he believes that even this bronze mirror should not be so simple, if Okita is not sure and has not communicated in advance, he will definitely not bring these two things to this occasion, and he will also give such a high price. Because his presence in this salon was an absolute surprise to one or more of the would-be buyers.

After a shallow sip of red wine, Li Yi walked towards the crowd not far away, where the autumn leaf necklace from Van Cleef & Arpels was displayed, judging from the current situation, there should be many people who want it.

As soon as he walked to the periphery of the crowd, he heard the hearty laughter of Shi Qiba, who was surrounded in the middle of the crowd,

"Thank you very much Mr. Arnault for your support, this autumn leaf necklace is yours, but if you want to get it, I'm afraid you will have to wait for another half a month, until the end of the exhibition......"

Li Yi raised his eyebrows, he did it so quickly?

"Mission accomplished, how's your side?"

The crowd dispersed, and Shi Qiba beckoned to Li Yi and motioned for him to sit beside him.

"I don't know, it seems like it's just me and Thatch making an offer."

"Oh, don't be in a hurry, be patient, after all, not everyone will spend a lot of money like Arnott, of course, if you directly smash a price that is difficult for him to refuse, you can sit back and relax now, you have the strength, don't you?"

Li Yi smiled bitterly and shook his head, it is easy to smash a bronze mirror, but it is difficult to smash a pastel bottle, even if you add the 40 million euros he just got from Van Cleef & Arpels, the money on him does not exceed 150 million, and it costs one-seventh to buy a porcelain vase, no matter how you think about it, it feels a little worthless.

"Hehe, whether it's worth it depends on how to understand it, just like this autumn leaf necklace, 1.8 million euros is actually a more reasonable price, but who would have thought that Arnault would directly smash out a 2.84 million?"

"What do they mean by design manuscripts?"

"Oh, just now Dennis took out his design manuscript and sold it with the necklace, and then Arnault didn't give anyone else any chance, this price is close to a million euros higher than the highest price we expected, what a rich guy......"

Li Yi smiled bitterly and shook his head, he is not afraid of money, he is afraid of spending money indiscriminately!

"Oh, no, Li, you're miserable, Arnott seems to have taken a fancy to those two Chinese antiques......"

Li Yi was sitting with his back to him, so he couldn't see the scene on the other side of the booth, and when he heard Shi Qiba say this, he hurriedly turned around, and sure enough, the booth with the pastel bottle had been opened, and Arnault was standing next to Okita, and the two of them were whispering something.

"I know the Qianlong Emperor of China, that is a suave guy, and in his dynasty, almost all porcelain is extremely elaborate and gorgeous, I like ......"

As they spoke, they walked to the side of the sofa with the porcelain and sat down, and Li Yi and Thatch walked to them almost at the same time.

"Is this a blue-glazed pastel porcelain from the Qianlong Dynasty?"

Thatch asked as he gestured to Okita, he wanted to get his hands on it.

Okita spread his hands, pointed at Arnott with a smile and said:

"This ...... It seems that you should ask Mr. Arnott for advice, this pastel vase, including the bronze mirror just now, now belongs to Mr. Arnott......"

With a bang, Li Yi only felt dizzy, what is the situation with this Nima? It's only been a few minutes since Arnault, and that's more than 20 million euros!

Apparently, Thatch was also surprised, he smiled and glanced at Arnault and asked:

"Mr. Arnott, it is nothing short of a tragedy to be in a salon with you...... Excuse me, could you easily tell us how much you spent on these two antiques from the East? ”

Arnott smiled and nodded at Thatch, and said slowly:

"I didn't spend a penny on these two things, so as for what's going on, let Mr. Okita explain it for me."

"No problem, although Mr. Arnault didn't spend any money, he gave me something more precious, a figure painting of Yang such as Xuezhou......"

Xue Zhou and other Yang's figure paintings? Li Yi rubbed his eyebrows vigorously, and he finally understood Okita's intentions.

According to Xue Zhou and other Yang's status in the Japanese calligraphy and painting world, let alone exchange these two things, he is afraid that he will be willing to let Okita take out two more pieces. And the Japanese will never accuse him of exchanging these two things that can be called national treasures for a work by Yang such as Xuezhou, because even if they are both national treasures, there are also national differences, and it is obvious that in the eyes of the Japanese, the things of their own ancestors are supreme.

It's really a bit difficult to do now, the things are in Arnott's hands, and this guy is not short of money at all, and even if he is short of money, he will not let him open his mouth......

"Mr. Li Yi? Hello, Earl Bob is a good friend of mine, I have always said that if you have the opportunity, please be sure to introduce you to me, I did not expect to meet you here, what a great honor. ”

Li Yi was stunned for a moment, and hurriedly held Arnault's outstretched hand and shook it, his heart was still a little unturned, it was not strange that he knew Earl Bob, but why did he have to know him?

"Hehe, Mr. Li Yi, please come here."

Arnault chuckled twice, led Li Yi to a sofa where no one was, and after the two sides sat down, he said straight to the point:

"I have every reason to believe that Mr. Li Yi should have a missing world famous painting in your hand, it's very simple, I collect Chinese antiques just to get it!"

"Huh?"

For a while, Li Yinian was like an electric turn, and several world-famous paintings passed through his mind one by one, which one is this guy talking about? How would he know this?

"Hehe, Lavender Mist! Mr. Li, I admire your vision and decisiveness very much, I learned from a friend what happened at that time, and I also saw the photos they took back, I believe that the two works you bought should be a complete "Lavender Mist" together, and by chance, I learned from Earl Bob that that person is you, and I also know that if the conditions are right, you may be able to sell this work......"

Exhaled a deep breath of turbidity, Li Yi smiled bitterly and shook his head, at that time, when he bought "Lavender Mist", someone did take pictures, but this guy was able to find him so accurately, and it seems that he has worked hard behind his back, and he really doesn't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing to be targeted by such a person.

"Mr. Li Yi, please don't worry, I'm definitely not investigating you on purpose, I'm just tracking the whereabouts of that painting. Of course, in order to make sure that I can get my hands on that painting, I also want to get to know you better, I mean, if you are really committed to the return of Chinese cultural relics, I believe that I should be able to give you a little help. ”

"Oh? Is Mr. Arnault referring to the porcelain I got from Dean? ”

"Yes, but I believe that in addition to today's two items, I may have another thing in my hand that you are more interested in, Mr. Li Yi, I wonder if there is such an honor to invite you to my manor?"

More interested in something? Has this guy known about him to this point? However, even he didn't know what else would interest him more! (To be continued.) )