Antique Dealer

Chapter 31 Going to the Market

Li Mingchao looked at the things on the booth, and began to gear up: "What are you waiting for, let's go shopping!"

"Okay." Fang Hao chuckled lightly.

Since it was still early, they walked around slowly.

No more than Li Mingchao, Fang Hao has been in the capital for more than three years, and this is the first time he has come back to Daliushu Ghost City. This time, he came here more because he wanted to experience the atmosphere of the ghost market. , is likely to be missed.

After visiting a few stalls, the two came to a calligraphy and painting booth. They looked at a few pieces and found that the things were all good, but the authors were all unknown painters, and the prices were not expensive, so Fang Hao chose from among them. I bought a few that I thought were good, and opened an antique shop at that time, which can also fill the scene.

The stall owner probably thought that Fang Hao was quick to pay, so he said to Fang Hao, "I have a piece of Wen Boren's "The Picture of Streams and Mountains Opening Up". I wonder if you are interested?"

Fang Hao recalled that this Wen Boren was a painter of the Ming Dynasty, Wen Zhengming's nephew.He is also good at drawing figures and poetry.

Wen Boren's paintings are only slightly famous, and the transaction price in the auction market is not high, but since you can meet them, you must take a look.

"Okay, let's take a look."

The stall owner took out the painting scroll and put it in front of Fang Hao. After Fang Hao opened it, he looked carefully at it several times with a flashlight, then carefully took it back and put it on the stall: "Boss, take this painting back."

The stall owner said, "Why, no interest?"

Fang Hao said: "This painting is too expensive, I can't afford it."

They didn't even offer the price, so Fang Hao said it was too expensive, but he was already hinting to the stall owner that there was something wrong with the painting.

But the stall owner didn't know whether he really didn't understand or pretended not to understand, so he grinned and took the painting back.

Leaving the calligraphy and painting booth, Li Mingchao couldn't help asking: "I think that painting is good, what's wrong?"

Fang Hao said with a smile: "The silk paper used in that painting is 'boiled quilt paper', which was only invented in the early Qing Dynasty. You said that a painter in the Ming Dynasty used paper from the Qing Dynasty, isn't that ridiculous? ?"

Li Mingchao said with a smile: "Okay, brother, you even understand this, it's really admirable for three days after farewell."

Fang Hao had no choice but to pull his grandfather out again as a shield: "My grandfather taught me, but we were not very interested in antiques before, and we didn't expect to enter this line of work. Now, naturally, we have to do a line of work and love a line. Pick up some knowledge again!"

Li Mingchao nodded: "You are quite right. I hate those guys who have learned half-baked things and think they are great. There are five people and six people."

It could be heard that Li Mingchao meant something, but Fang Hao didn't ask much.

The two walked to a booth specializing in gourd ware, also known as gourd ware, which is a traditional handicraft that combines natural beauty and craftsmanship.

Pao utensils originated in the Ming Dynasty. In the Qing Dynasty, the craftsmanship of Pao ware was highly valued by the royal family. Emperor Kangxi Xuan Ye once planted gourds in the Fengze Garden in Yingtai and assigned special personnel to manage them.Under the supervision of the court, many clear and elegant molded gourds were produced. The craftsmanship is exquisite, the product types are diverse, the leadership is new, and the style is unique.

Of course, the gourds at this booth are not that old, but they are all quite exquisite. Li Mingchao picked out a few gourds specially for raising grasshoppers.

"You still raise grasshoppers?" Fang Hao was a little curious when he saw it.

Li Mingchao said with a smile: "Why should I raise that thing? I have to keep it in my arms in winter, but my grandfather raises grasshoppers, so I'll buy some for him."

Grasshoppers are afraid of cold as well as heat. They don't bark when the temperature is too high or too low. They only bark when the temperature is right, and the right temperature is exactly the normal body temperature of a human being.Therefore, if you raise a grasshopper in winter, you should keep it in your arms, and when you hear the grasshopper calling in winter, to others, this call is also very pleasant because it is rare in winter.

Therefore, rarity is the most expensive thing, and a grasshopper that sells for 5 yuan in autumn can be sold for more than ten to dozens of yuan in winter.Of course, this is the price of Fang Hao when he was a child. He didn't play with grasshoppers, so he doesn't know how much a grasshopper costs now.

Just as Li Mingchao was paying, two people at a booth next to him suddenly quarreled.

"I saw this string of beeswax first, so why give it to you!"

"You saw it first? Then why didn't you take it first! Now that you feel good about it, there's no reason to grab it when you're jealous!"

"Obviously I was going to take it, but you stretched out your hand to snatch it, and now you still beat it up, it's not a joke!"

"Hey, why do you scold people?"

"It's not easy to scold you, but I want to beat you up!"

Seeing that the two people were getting more and more angry, the stall owner quickly stood up and persuaded: "You two, stop arguing, don't you just have a beeswax bracelet, I have a good one here, I will give it to you at a cheaper price, how about it?" ?”

"No, I want this one!" The two said in unison.

The stall owner looked puzzled: "Both of you, there is only one bracelet, why don't you take it apart and divide it between you two?"

Of course, this was just a gag by the stall owner, and the two of them would not agree.But with what he said, the two of them didn't fight again.

The stall owner saw that the two were still talking to each other, and there were still people around laughing and watching the excitement. He thought to himself, wouldn't this delay his business, so he said, "You two, I thought of a way. The one with the highest price wins, if you don't agree, then please go ahead, I won't sell this bracelet to you!"

The two looked at each other, then agreed to this method, and then began to compete fiercely. After a while, a beeswax bracelet that the stall owner originally planned to sell for only a few hundred dollars soared to more than 6000.

In the end, the buyer who saw it first won and spent nearly 8000 yuan to buy this string of bracelets. The buyer paid the money and walked away triumphantly with the things.

"Hey, do you think it will be a game?" Fang Hao whispered.

It's no wonder Fang Hao said that, the scene just now was too much like the "double-spring teaming up" scam that is very common in antique shops.

There are roughly three routines. First, the actors are in the clear. The two are like cross talk actors singing together. The division of labor is clear, one person waits for the rabbit, and the other looks for the prey.

Third, one person is in the light and the other is in the dark.The one in the dark is responsible for trying to inspire the buyer's desire to buy, while the one in the light always pretends to be kept in the dark, and at the same time designs some plots to make the buyer feel like he's missing something.

The scene just now irritated the buyer at first, and then gave the buyer the illusion that the bracelet is a good thing, otherwise how could the other party snatch it?Once the buyer is really pissed off, the rest is easy.

Of course, this is just Fang Hao's guess, whether it is true or not is unknown.

"It looks a bit like it!" Li Mingchao also felt a little tricky: "However, I just noticed that there are a few beeswax bracelets on this booth that are really good. Why don't we take a look too, maybe we like it Was it also stolen?"

Fang Hao chuckled and said, "You are a fool!"

The two moved to the booth next to them and looked at the things on it.

This stall mainly sells amber beeswax products. Fang Hao picked up a few pieces and observed carefully. The beeswax was actually beeswax, but it was regenerated beeswax.

The so-called regenerated beeswax, also known as "second-generation beeswax", refers to heating the leftovers and some rough beeswax that cannot be ground out when polishing the finished beeswax in a vacuum at a temperature of 200°C-250°C. It is melted and cooled, fused and pressurized to form an anise, which is then ground again into finished beeswax.

Because it is artificially processed, its price is very different from natural beeswax. At present, the price of natural beeswax that is common in the market is about 200 yuan, while the price of the second-generation beeswax is very low, about [-] yuan. buy it!

Now there are many articles reporting the second-generation beeswax on the Internet. Everyone seems to be talking about the discoloration of the second-generation beeswax. In fact, the second-generation beeswax is on the verge of being eliminated in our country.

Why?Because counterfeiters can use plastic to pretend to be beeswax, and the second-generation beeswax not only costs much more than plastic, but a set of equipment costs tens of thousands, and the raw materials are also troublesome, far less simple and rough than plastic.

(End of this chapter)