850 million dollars?

Ji Sheng was stunned when he heard that this once-lost world famous painting was so valuable!

Xiao Lizi was also incredulous, and he looked at Charlie with a look of consternation. Wayne, "Professor, can't be worth that much, can you? It's just a painting, not a Mona Lisa's smile."

"It's really not worth it in terms of the artistic value of the painting itself, and I personally evaluate the artistic value of the painting itself. H. Nicholas is about the same, more than $100 million, but it should be under $200 million, but ......" Charlie Nicholas. Wayne first affirmed Xiao Lizi's question, but halfway through the conversation, he said in an aggravated tone, "You didn't take into account the external factors that have greatly increased the collection value of this painting."

"External factors?" Xiao Lizi was puzzled.

Ji Sheng looked at Charlie with the same puzzlement. Professor Wayne.

"To understand these tremendous increases in additional value, we need to analyze Raphael as a person and the context in which the painting was created." Charlie. Wayne said slowly, "First of all, Raphael. As one of the three great masters of Renaissance Italy, Sansi is on a par with Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, and Raphael, as the youngest, most beautiful, quiet and elegant beautiful man, only lived for a short period of thirty-seven years, and all his works, including oil paintings, drawings, etc., have only survived to more than 300 pieces, so just from his personal fame and the number of works in the world, the works are not ordinarily expensive."

Steve. "For example, his sketch 'Head of the Muse' sold for £29.2 million at Christie's in London in 2009, which was worth about $50 million in US dollars at the time, making it the most expensive sketch ever auctioned."

Julia rarely took the initiative to talk about art: "In terms of artistic value, drawing is only the basic skill of oil painting, which can only be regarded as a study, and its value is much lower than that of oil painting, or it can be said that it is not valuable. In terms of skill and technical content, sketching is only a combination of chiaroscuro perspective and modeling, while oil painting is more about color control and creation time, sketches are often only one-tenth of oil paintings, you say that Raphael's "Head of the Muse" If it is an oil painting, how high can the auction price be?"

"Isn't that hundreds of millions of dollars?" Xiao Lizi estimated the price.

"It's about the same in terms of the value of oil painting and drawing." Charlie. Wayne nodded: "However, the price of oil paintings has always had limitations, and there is no special significance, even if the price is high, it will not exceed one or two hundred million dollars."

"Well, for example, the world-famous painting 'Woman in Algiers,' which I've always wanted to get my hands on, is by Picasso, and it only sold for more than $170 million a few years ago." Steve. "The main reason for this is that it doesn't add more value," Cohen lamented.

Ji Sheng listened quietly.

Charlie. Wayne continued: "It's hard to say if you add additional value, such as Leonardo da Vinci's Salvator Mundi, which sold for a staggering $450 million at Christie's in New York in 2017 and became the most expensive artwork in history. ….

Ji Sheng once heard Master Cheng and others talk about this.

The Salvator Mundi was first in the collection of King Charles I of England, and was later succeeded by Charles II to the Duke of Buckingham, whose son sold the painting in 1763, after which the Salvator was not traced until 1900, when the painting reappeared.

Over the past 500 years, the painting has been repainted many times, and the original painting was once covered in thick oil paint. In 19, "Salvator" sold for forty-five pounds at an auction in the United Kingdom. In 2005, a beautiful country buyer bought it as a knock-off for $10,000. After six years of cleaning and authentication, the painting was confirmed to be genuine, and it eventually sold for $450 million at Christie's in New York.

The creator is Ding

The famous Leonardo da Vinci, the collectors of Charles I, Charles II and the Duke of Buckingham are historical celebrities, plus the loss and recovery, all kinds of values add up to make this oil painting reach a sky-high price of 450 million US dollars!

Just when Ji Sheng was secretly pondering, Charlie. Professor Wayne also said all these things, and then said, "Now our topic is back to this Raphael's "Portrait of a Young Man", which may have an artistic value of more than 100 million to less than 200 million US dollars, but why does the outside world give a super high estimate of 850 million?"

Xiao Lizi asked, "Could it be that it has also been collected by historical celebrities?"

"It's not just a collection of historical figures." Charlie. Wayne describes the painting's "life" and says, "The penultimate owner of the painting before it was lost...... Or that the penultimate owner is Prince Zatoriski, who is recognized as the uncrowned king of Poland, and then, the painting was stolen by a ** element during World War II, which should be the penultimate owner, because this person is not very famous, and of course there is no increase in the additional value of the work, but its last owner is different......

"Who was the last master?" Xiao Lizi asked anxiously.

Ji Sheng had checked the information and knew who it was.

Charlie. Wayne spoke slowly, "Hitler!"

"What? It's him!" Little Plum was taken aback.

Steve. Cohen, Mr. and Mrs. Blake, and Mr. and Mrs. Merry. Zhu Xi, Henry. Kravis and the others were not surprised by Xiao Lizi's reaction, and they also smiled.

"In other words, this painting has witnessed all the ugliness and destruction of the ** elements, and this historical value alone is much higher than the painting itself." Charlie. Wayne sighed, "What's more, there is an unwritten rule in art collections that the value of any stolen art will skyrocket, and the fact that the painting was stolen before it was lost or successfully stolen from Prince Zatorisky has added a lot to the value of the painting."

Charlie. Wayne said unhurriedly: "Coupled with the fact that it disappeared for decades, many people thought it had been destroyed and could not reappear, and now it has really reappeared, and there are various film and television dramas touting it, such as in 2014's "Allied Raiders of the Lost Ark", this painting is described as the most prominent painting among the large number of hidden artworks stored in an unknown cave or mine, and then burned by the German army with flamethrowers, and countless people who don't even know about art know about it. But that's not the ultimate reason why the painting reached a super high estimate of $850 million." ….

"The ultimate reason?" Xiao Lizi asked.

Charlie. Wayne laughs, "The ultimate reason is that according to the traditional inference of many scholars, this painting is Raphael's self-portrait, and there are only six of his self-portraits, and this is the only one-man self-portrait at the height of his creative level at the age of 30, so it has a very high research value when it is combined with various historical factors and other factors, so the estimate has reached a terrifying 850 million dollars."

I see.

Ji Sheng doesn't know much about Western art, and he was really shocked when he first heard the estimate of $850 million. Professor Wayne's analysis of the painting's value revealed that the $850 million estimate was not high at all.

Of course, this is only an estimate, and it is really hard to say whether it will be sold for 850 million US dollars.

"Alright, we've got all the oil painting estimates done, Mr. Cohen, you can have someone estimate the other things." Charlie. Wayne said and couldn't help but sigh, "I didn't expect me Charlie. Wayne had the privilege of appraising Raphael's Portrait of a Young Man in his lifetime, thank God."

Ji Sheng couldn't cry or laugh, and said in his heart that you might as well thank me if you thank God, after all, I brought this painting.

Subsequently, several other experts made a series of valuations of the rest of the things that Ji Sheng had brought.

The conch bead necklace can be determined to have been made in the Victorian period, but experts are not sure that it was not worn by Queen Mary, so they have given an estimate of $3 million to $3.5 million.

The gloss-edged version of the silver statue of Constantine can be attested to be genuine, and because it is so well preserved, it is estimated to be between two and a half million and three hundred

between 500,000 US dollars.

The only thing that is certain is that it is a wood carving from the Edo period, and it does not look like a masterpiece.

"This wood carving has some artistic value, but I personally don't think it's high." Falsifier Sara shook her head and said, "A hundred thousand dollars should be worth it."

100,000 dollars?

Ji Sheng almost sprayed, but he had heard from several international thieves that this wood carving was worth $100,000 in 1900, and if it was calculated according to its value, it would be at least $100 million now.

He wondered why Sarah, an authoritative expert in 1900, said that the wood carving was worth $100,000. Is there something strange?

Ji Sheng doesn't think these Steve. The expert that Cohen brought in would have misquoted the price with himself, because if that was the case, Charlie had just been killed. Wayne and Julia would not have had such a high valuation of each of the world's famous paintings.

Maybe it's the wood carving itself.

Ji Sheng decided that this wood carving would not be sold, and went back to study it.

"Okay, now that we've finished appraising, let's start picking out our favorite artworks and then discuss with Mr. Ji about buying them, right?" Steve. Cohen said impatiently.

"Well, I do covet several of them." Leon. Blake excitedly.

Henry. Clavis laughed and said, "Leon, don't go too far, you want a few artworks in total?" ….

The two also quarreled over this.

Ji Sheng and Steve. Cohen and the others were amused by them.

Only Xiao Lizi sat there with a somewhat cloudy face, as if he was hesitating to take the initiative to buy Rembrandt's "Portrait of Jacob III" for 50 million dollars.

It was at this time that Steve. Cohen took the lead in hugging "The Painter on the Way to Work", "I want this painting, don't grab it from me!"

"Fake!" Leon. Blake directly burst into foul language, "Steve, if you don't take a woman like you to cheat, who here doesn't want Van Gogh's painting?" No, you can't keep it to yourself!"

Steve. Cohen really liked the painting "The Painter on the Way to Work" so much that he was afraid that it would be snatched away by others, so he hurriedly quoted: "Ji, Professor Wayne estimates that this painting is worth between $110 million and $130 million, and I'm willing to give you the highest price, $130 million, how about it?" Will you sell it to me?"

Although the final price of the auction may be higher than the estimate, and even some artworks are undervalued, and the final price may be several times higher, but normally, the general price will not be too far apart, and it is very likely to be in the valuation range. Cohen directly gave the highest price of the estimate, which can be said to be very sincere.

Several other people heard Steve. Cohen couldn't help but flinch a little when he came up to give such a high price.

MERRY. Zhu Xi was speechless and said, "Steve, do you need to open such a high price as soon as you come up?" We won't be given any chances, so let's compete."

At the moment Steve. Cohen didn't look like the world's richest man at all, like a child, and snorted, "I don't fall for you, if you really bid, who knows how high you will compete for this painting in the end."

"You...... Alas, forget it."

"This price is really high, I won't earn it with you."

Both couples shook their heads helplessly.

As for Xiao Lizi's current total collection value of only tens of millions of dollars, he must be reluctant to buy such an expensive artwork, and there is no offer.

Ji Sheng is satisfied with the price of 130 million US dollars, and it is true that although Van Gogh is famous, this painting is lost and recovered, it stands to reason that it is possible to sell for a higher price at auction, but the auction is risky, maybe the price is not so high?

It can be said that Steve. Cohen's offer is so high that he bears the risk that he may not be able to bid at a high price at the auction.

Ji Sheng didn't hesitate much, and directly agreed, "Okay, then this painting will belong to Mr. Cohen."

"Haha, good, good

。」 Steve. Cohen was overjoyed, and he said that his eyes were aimed at another world-famous painting.

But this time he didn't have time to speak, Merry. Jushi rushed ahead and said, "Michelangelo's "St. Francis and St. Lawrence with the Nativity" I want to ......."

She wasn't done yet, Deborah. Blake didn't give any face and quoted directly: "I want twenty-five million!"

MERRY. Zhu Xi was anxious, "I'll give 26 million."

Deborah. Not to be outdone, Blake said, "I'll give twenty-seven million!"

Ji Sheng didn't expect the second painting to be "fought" between the two world's top richest men, but think about it, Michelangelo, as one of the three masters of the Renaissance, has a relatively high value in the work itself, plus this "St. Francis and St. Lawrence and the Birth of Jesus" was stolen and is now re-reappeared, and the room for appreciation is very huge, and it is not unusual for the two to attract fierce bidding.

"Two Thousand Eight ......"

"Thirty million!"

Deborah. Blake said, "If you offer more than 30 million, I'll give it to you."

MERRY. Zhu Xi rolled his eyes and said, "Forget it, if I don't fight with you, I will let you."

Well, of course Ji Sheng knows about Mai Rui. Jush is not making Deborah. Blake, the painting for 30 million dollars is close to the price of the painting's appreciation space in the next few years.

"But ......" Mirry. Although Jush is a woman, her hand at buying art is very cruel. I can't give you Carlo's "Wounded Table", Ji, I'll pay 48 million dollars for this painting, what do you personally think?"

This price is in the valuation range, Ji Sheng is actually quite suitable, and he is about to say yes.

Suddenly, Steve. Cohen joins the fray, "I'll give fifty million!"

MERRY. Jush and Henry. Cravis finally saw a few of the world's top famous paintings, where is he willing to go back empty-handed, no, Merry. Zhu Xi quoted again: "Five thousand three million!"

It has reached the highest point of valuation again!

Ji Shengle blossomed, and he wished that everyone would compete fiercely.

In just a short period of time, three paintings were sold, and his heart was hot, and there were three paintings...... To be precise, two pieces, because there is a small plum "booked" at ten times the price, Ji Sheng hopes that the next bidding can be as fierce as just now, he really wants to say, let the bidding rain come more violently!.

Then smile