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Sosby attaches great importance to this collection that may be worth hundreds of millions of dollars, and the lineup is just as large, and the team is also led by a vice president, an American Jensen in his 40s.

Sosby's oil painting appraiser, who is actually an appraiser, also gave a conclusion about the authenticity of the oil paintings after seeing 6 oil paintings, and gave each oil painting a minimum price. Next, when talking about the seller's commission and tax payment, Sotheby is worthy of being an international group, and Jensen first said:

"We are going to auction these works at the London auction."

Xiao Yifei wondered, now he is talking about the tax burden, which involves the amount of money he has in hand, which has something to do with the auction in London.

After Jensen's explanation, Xiao Yifei knew that where to auction is also a science.

London is a center of art trading, in addition to the UK's frenzied collection of art from all over the world, another reason is that the UK gives tax incentives to the auction industry, such as the fact that there is no VAT on art auctions.

This means that sales in London do not incur a significant portion of the tax, while in other European countries such as France and Germany, there is a tax to pay. Because there is no tax in the UK, the seller can get a higher percentage of the price at auction. In France, for example, the seller's actual pocket is slightly more than 60% of the buyer's total purchase price; In London, the figure can reach 90 per cent.

"You don't have to worry about any other fees, we guarantee to pay you 90% of the auction price."

"But will it be the dollar or the pound sterling, or the euro?"

"What do you want?"

So Xiao Yifei said that he was preparing to immigrate to the United States and buy a winery in Napa, California.

"No problem, we deal with Napa Winery a lot."

No, you're an auction company, they're a winery, and that's not a boundary.

Jensen continued to explain to Xiao Yifei: "We auction precious red wines every year, and of course we have a lot of connections with the winery. Also, didn't you know there was a Sotheby International Real Estate company? ”

Khan, is your Soseby business too extensive?

"The real estate company has a winery for sale?"

"The real estate company is an intermediary business, specializing in high-end real estate agencies, looking at your hand, it is definitely not to buy a small winery, they are definitely willing to find high-quality customers like you."

Jensen gave Xiao Yifei a high hat by the way.

"Also, can I get a full green card or naturalize as soon as possible?"

"I'm going to have to consult an immigration lawyer for this question, but I don't think it's a big deal, by the way, you don't have a lawyer yet, right?"

"When I was in Germany, I had a lawyer, and he was the one who handled the auction documents this time."

"I suggest you choose another lawyer when you come to the United States. Because we don't have the same legal system as the German one. ”

"I know that, but you wouldn't say Sotheby has a law firm too, right?"

"No, of course there are law firms that work with our firm, and I personally have private lawyers who work for me, but they are all in New York. I'd like to say that my dad and brother both have law firms in California, so you can check them out when the time comes. ”

Xiao Yifei joked to him: "You are so enthusiastic to help them introduce, do you have intermediary fees?" ”

"Haha, you reminded me, I'll call them when I get back to the hotel."

"Alright then, I can work with you."

The parties re-sign the auction contract. But Jensen didn't leave, he continued:

"Mr. Xiao, can we enjoy the other 4 works?"

After careful consideration, Xiao Yifei finally sold 6 works, and "Sunflowers", "Water Lily Pond", Picasso and Renoir's fat models were deducted by him.

Obviously, Jensen has a certain level of oil painting appraisal, he looked at the oil painting carefully, and after reading it, he looked at Xiao Yifei with envy on his face.

"Mr. Xiao, can you let our experts take a look?"

"What's wrong?"

"I imagine Mr. Shaw recommending one of our Sotheby's businesses, Art Financial Services."

"Can you explain?"

"Yes, if you are a collector, you must know that art such as oil painting requires special preservation conditions, and it also involves anti-theft and other measures. First of all, we can help you provide these storage conditions, so that your oil paintings can be safely stored in the right space. ”

Khan, as if he didn't need to do this, the paintings of the Latour family in the space were just there, and there was no sign of mildew or damage at all.

"In addition, we can also provide it to museums or certain exhibition halls every year, so that you can not only get an income, but also allow the public to enjoy the works of the masters."

Xiao Yifei thought this seemed to be a bit interesting.

"Finally, since it is called financial services, that is to say, you can temporarily mortgage the oil painting to us, obtain a certain loan amount, and after you repay the principal and interest, the ownership of the oil painting is completely yours again."

"Isn't that the same as a bank?"

"It's different, it's different, if the bank mortgages, the approval and appraisal and so on all need to be processed, and for us, because the artwork has been in our custody, all the procedures are very fast, and the fastest can be approved in a few hours. And our interest rate is a bit lower than the bank's interest. ”

This seems to be good, I knew that there was this service, so what else would he auction off, and just get money from them to buy a winery.

"That, I can withdraw the 'Sunset Water Lily', let's use this kind of business operation."

Jensen's face was immediately suffocated to the color of pork liver:

"Mr. Xiao, this, this, can be, just, just ......"

Xiao Yifei thought about it for a while, forget it, anyway, he can't understand the sunset of water lilies, just keep the water lily pond.

"Haha, don't mind, I'm kidding."

He could clearly be heard breathing, and Jensen laughed embarrassedly.

"This service is good, but how can I ensure that my oil paintings will not be damaged or lost during the exhibition or storage period?"

"Please rest assured, we will definitely buy insurance business, if there is damage, there will be insurance companies to compensate, and those exhibition units will also have insurance, their insurance companies are also very nervous about these artworks, as for the bag you said, even if you don't believe in our reputation of Sosby, then you should also believe other experts."

"Alright, let your experts come."

These four paintings, these experts identified the experts more carefully than Nagao, tossed for an afternoon, they came to the conclusion that they are genuine, but they still have to go back to the United States for machine identification before they can give a final conclusion.

"I will bring these four paintings when I come to the United States, and I will not give them to you with those oil paintings this time."

"Then when is Mr. Shaw going to the United States?"

"You may not know that a visa to the United States is more difficult to get than a visa to Europe, and I need your help from Sotheby."

"That's no problem, our company still has some energy, and we will let you get to the United States as quickly as possible."

"Okay, I'll see you in California then."

"Yes, we also have a cooperative laboratory in California, where we can do the same identification."

"Thank you then."

Jensen happily returned to the United States with the painting.

According to common sense, a leading auction company like Sotheby would not be so laborious for an ordinary collector. The reason why he was so favored was because he had done Jensen a great favor, or because his paintings were very important to Sotheby.

Sotheby is having a very hard time right now, and this kind of hard life is also caused by the economic crisis.

Sotheby borrowed $300 million in 2005, and according to the company, $250 million of the $300 million was spent last year, mainly to cope with the sudden recession. For Sotheby, the problem is not limited to this, as he has lost a total of $52.6 million in security deposits in the last two months due to unsatisfactory auction results.

Based on this financial situation, Sotheby's stock price also suffered a sharp decline. At the end of October 2007, Sotheby's stock price was $55 per share, and the company's total market capitalization was $3.7 billion; By February 2009, the company's share price had fallen to $6 per share, and the company's total market value had shrunk by less than $500 million, a figure that did not include the debt they owed.

Now Sotheby is already in a deep quagmire, and the bank's reluctance to lend has left them with no way to continue borrowing.

Xiao Yifei's oil paintings are the most valuable oil paintings they can collect so far. When Jensen saw these paintings, he immediately decided to put them on the autumn auction in London in October. Perhaps the value of a single work is not high (not high is relative to the other 4), but these 6 oil paintings are all impressionist works, which can completely turn this autumn auction into a feast of impressionist oil paintings, which can definitely attract more buyers, and bring the turnover of this autumn auction to a peak, give some comfort to shareholders, give market confidence, and give a shot in the arm to the stock price.

Jensen has made such a significant contribution to the company at this critical juncture, and he is confident that he will impress the directors by doing so. Therefore, he agreed to some of Xiao Yifei's requests, and also offered to provide Xiao Yifei with art financial services. But in fact, if Xiao Yifei really borrowed money from the company with the mortgage of the oil paintings, then the company would definitely have to use the oil paintings to mortgage the cooperative bank, get the loan from the bank and then lend it to Xiao Yifei.

For Leonard, who was waiting at the hotel, Xiao Yifei gave up his cooperation with them and sent it to Sotheby for auction, which is out-and-out bad news. Xiao Yifei considered that he had cooperated with Nagao for so long, and Leonard had indeed put a lot of thought into this business, plus other reasons, so the relationship with Nagao could not be broken. In the end, he entrusted the silver candlestick on his desk and some European gold and silver objects that Hans had obtained to Nagao for auction, which was also several million euros. Leonard returned to Stuttgart with these consolation prizes.

(Why Xiao Yifei gave Nagao consolation, this other reason will be explained later.) ）

Thanks to the book friends for "Final-Fantasy", "Unforgettable Wounds", and "Shangshu Provincial Privy"

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