As the saying goes, people are in good spirits when they are happy, and Ji Xin's family is naturally no exception, before seven o'clock, the sleepy-eyed Ji Xin was woken up by his mother, and today he said that he would go to the city with his brother-in-law to make an appraisal of the things in his hand. Yawned, Ji Xin muttered in a low voice, "Get up so early, those antique shops, the auction company may not be open?" ”

"It's not all because of you, one thing makes the whole family uneasy, it's better to make sure it is safe as soon as possible. You see, your sister and they must have come early today" The mother who was cooking in the kitchen heard the voice and urged, "Hurry up and wash your face and brush your teeth, otherwise you won't be able to catch the morning train." ”

"Mom, you forgot, my brother-in-law and I took a taxi into the city today, it's an antique, a precious thing, don't bump it again" Thinking of the family's stunned pockets and disbelieving expressions last night, Ji Xin felt very funny, especially the sister who was worried about piercing her brother's dream as soon as she came home and urged herself to take out the Western clock, comparing it with the knowledge found on the Internet, but she couldn't find anything wrong, which made the old sister dumbfounded, is this true? Coupled with the fact that his younger brother was convincing, he almost swore by the sky. Unsure, it was decided to let the two of them go and give the expert a look.

Besides, here Ji Xin and his brother-in-law came to the antique street in the city early in the morning with a cardboard box, there are so many shops on the street, all of them say that they are not bullied, and they receive the goods at a high price, and the two of them who are not recommended by knowledgeable friends look around, but they can't make up their minds who to ask, and finally Ji Xin came up with an idea, "Brother-in-law, let's go to the largest auction company first, don't you say that an auction they organized last year excluded hundreds of millions of yuan, it should still be more credible, it's a big deal that we pay the appraisal fee."

"It's not good, if the auction company denies the thing, it's useless for others to say anything" Ji Xin knew that his brother-in-law was afraid that there would be a dispute over the matter, and then the buyer would definitely believe in the credibility of the auction company, and his own things would not be sold at a high price. This is because there are now a group of counterfeiters in China, and they will forge whatever is valuable, from bronze tripods that can be regarded as important weapons of the country to as small as a few copper coins, all-encompassing, and the technology is also refined and rough, and even the experts of the Palace Museum admit that they are sometimes slapped in the face? After all, some scammers have calculated that the materials of the imitations are also from that era, and even if they use machine detection, they cannot find flaws, and can only rely on the knowledge and sense of experts, which many collectors hate. In this case, unless you are 100% sure that it is genuine, almost everyone in the industry will tell you a sentence of "I can't see it" as a conclusion, you can understand that I think something is fake, or you can think that the level of experts is limited, and you really can't be sure, anyway, the appraisal party does not have to pay any responsibility, and the sentence like a panacea quickly became popular in the antique circles of the north and south of the country.

Of course, my brother-in-law is an honest man, so he naturally doesn't think about taking fake things and asking others to open an appraisal certificate, just in case, he still thinks that if he goes to a few small shops first, even if others can't get it accurately, it won't have much impact, which is also the wisdom of a layman. However, Ji Xin knew very well in his heart that the things in his hand were definitely not running, and the appraisal of those small shops was not only a waste of time, but also the price given was low, so he simply went directly to the big auction house to uncover the mystery.

Now that the main owner has an idea, the brother-in-law no longer persuades, and the two go straight to the goal. Of course, the headquarters of the auction company is not in Chengdu, but people have offices in various places for the convenience of receiving things, and then invite local appraisal experts as offerings, and only come to help temporarily when customers come to the door, which is also a practice, of course, the location will not be so good, after all, the rent is also very expensive. The two of them, who were thinking about testing the waters in the past, came to the auction company under the guidance of well-wishers, and were soon invited to the reception room after explaining their intentions.

"Brother-in-law, look at the process of other people's is magnificent, before the identification of it, serve tea and snacks first, and entertain you with delicious food and drink, so that no matter whether the thing is really or not, it is not easy to lose your temper"

"There is a doorway in a row, and this Wanxiang auction house must have its own characteristics when it does such a big business" The brother-in-law took a sip of tea and exclaimed, "This tea is good, anyway, if it comes, it will be safe, we will wait for them to arrange someone to come."

The two were leisurely drinking tea and chatting, and suddenly the door of the reception room opened, and a middle-aged man in a suit and leather shoes walked in first, followed by an old man wearing a long horse coat style, who should be an expert "Good morning to the two, my surname is Lin, I am the person in charge here, thank you very much for trusting us Wanxiang Auction House, our company has the best auctioneer, the most complete customer resources, as long as the thing is no problem, I believe you will be able to get the highest price in the industry" It seems that the people who understand the appraisal do not have much patience, Manager Lin didn't have too much politeness, and after a brief introduction, he turned to the main topic, "If I can, I want the company's master to take a look at things first"

Of course, Ji Xin pushed the box on the table to the middle, and raised his hand to signal the other party to take care of himself. Sure enough, the professionals are different, the old man didn't rush to get started, but first took out a pair of white gloves, "This is to avoid sweat stains and bacteria on your hands from corroding things, you know that these centuries-old cultural relics are always fragile" It seems to see the strangeness of the guest, Manager Lin explained on the side, which reminded Ji Xin, who was more bold yesterday, blushed a little, if it wasn't for his mother to let him take a box to put it, this person would have screwed it directly. Now that people are so attentive to the customer's things, they should be able to recognize the goods, right? When it came to the end, Ji Xin was a little unsteady and began to think crankily.

For a while, none of the three people in the room had the heart to speak, and they were all waiting for the appraiser's results. Ten minutes passed, and the old man unhurriedly checked the bottom of the clock, the structure, and even the jeweled diamonds set on it were carefully examined with a magnifying glass. "How?" Seeing the other party put down the work in his hand, the brother-in-law couldn't wait to ask, it seems that the brother is not the only one who is not calm.

"Very good things, it can be determined that it is a court boutique in the Ming Dynasty, it should be specially purchased by the officials of overseas trade at that time to pay tribute to the emperor, it is precious" Understanding that the two are pink rookies in terms of collection, the old man continued to introduce "Antique clocks carry rich history and culture, set a variety of unique crafts in one, and have high artistic value." In the early years, antique clocks also appeared sporadically in the auction market, but they were only classified as miscellaneous special items, and they were not systematic. Until 2010, Tian Lai Zhong Xing cooperated with Guangzhou Guardian at that time to launch the "European Antique Clock Sale" for the first time in Chinese mainland auctions, and then antique clocks slowly entered the field of vision of more and more collectors, and there were more and more special auctions, and some new collectors also went to the world to collect antique clocks. ”

Manager Lin next to him also added, "Antique clocks from several European countries have obvious style characteristics. The biggest feature of French clocks is that they are very artistic. Many of the clock dials are hand-painted by the artist, bearing the artist's signature. Many of the decorative castings on the outside were also done by sculptors. So most French clocks are the result of multiple people's joint creations, and I've seen a French clock with the signatures of four people. There were also famous clockmakers in France at that time, and the movements were particularly precise, and the movements of French clocks were generally round and small. ”

Taking a sip of tea, Wang Lao continued to popularize science, "Actually, in one of the four famous novels "Dream of Red Mansions", it was once said that a clock sold for more than 500 taels of silver, and Wang Xifeng said, "A total of 120 taels of silver a month, which is not enough for three or five days of use", the comparison of the two numbers can show that the clock is expensive. In ancient times, as long as the emperor, who had a strong interest in Western science, became a collector of Western clocks of various forms, then such things were not far from appreciating. The reason is also very simple, what the emperor likes, the ministers will also follow suit, and gradually buying a table clock has become a trend. In addition, the homonym of the bell "life" and the homonym of the bottle "peace" add to the meaning. ”