Treasure Hunting Divine Eyes

  Chapter 669 Red Sandalwood White Jade Bead Abacus (Two in One)

  Harrison Avenue is very lively, tourists from different countries and different skin colors can meet. Li Mo was in it, listening to different languages ​​​​from all over the world in his ears, as if he was in the United Nations General Assembly.

  Steven and Gu Lishi also deliberately wore ordinary casual clothes today. If they are too formal, they will attract the attention of interested people.

"Mr. Qin, are we going directly to the antique area? In terms of food, compared with China's domestic food street, there is a huge gap. But if you go to the stalls run by Chinese, you can still find good ones." Gourmet ones. For example, pancakes, egg-filled pancakes, meat sandwiches, etc., which are more popular than American hamburgers."

Steven is quite familiar with this place, and then smiled and said: "There is also a Chinese delicacy called Maodan here. I didn't know it at first. When I came here last year, I heard people said Maodan was fried with oil. It is extremely delicious. And I heard that eating more of it can also enhance a man's ability, so people here love it very much, and there is not enough to sell every day."

   Li Mo suddenly wanted to laugh, it really was too much.

   "We're not hungry now, so let's just go shopping."

  Because there were too many tourists, the four people arranged beside Li Mo were a little nervous.

"You don't need to be nervous. I have a sixth sense, and I can sense the danger in advance. Take advantage of this opportunity, and relax with me. Don't stretch your nerves all day long. It's not good for your brain. It's easy to get old in old age. dementia."

   Li Mo said half-jokingly.

   "Mr. Qin, there is still such a saying?" The beautiful security guard was a little surprised.

   "Do you mean the previous sentence or the latter sentence?"

"The sixth sense belongs to super-sense. The scientific community has been doing research, and there are news reports that so-and-so has super-sense, but more research shows that those so-called predictions are just a coincidence and a question of probability. Naturally, I asked The latter thing."

  Li Mo turned his head to look at her: "Are you all talking so seriously?"

Forehead-

  The beautiful security guard replied solemnly: "I just want to know more."

  Li Mo didn't answer, he just said it casually just now, and adjusted the atmosphere, but she didn't know that she took it seriously.

   A group of people were wandering around as ordinary tourists. After about half an hour, they turned from the food street to the antique street. Boston Antique Street is more lively than domestic ones. Today's weather is good, so there are many stalls, and they are all standard stalls, and the stalls are numbered.

   "This open-air antique street looks quite formal."

   "That's true, and any item purchased here will be collected in a unified manner and an invoice will be issued, mainly to facilitate tourists to have customs clearance certificates when they go back."

  Li Mo nodded, and at a glance, there were several people around each booth, and they were basically bargaining. He took a closer look at a few stalls. There were many types of things on them, and they were of different styles. Some were Chinese, some were Southeast Asian, some were European, and some looked like native Indian civilization.

   Especially weapons, such as scimitars, bows and arrows, long swords and shields, are all sold directly on the stalls. If these things dared to appear in the Huaxia market, someone would have invited you to the bureau for tea.

   Some things look good when they are old, and they look very old at first glance. Li Mo walked in front of a booth, and there were all kinds of things on display. What surprised Li Mo most was that this booth even had an abacus.

   There is no doubt that these abacus must come from China. Picking up one of them and observing carefully, they are all modern handicrafts, and they are quite exquisite. The boss is a bearded foreigner, his blue eyes are staring at Li Mo, as if he is guarding against him.

   "Islander?"

  When the foreigner asked a question, Li Mo could understand it. He put down his calculations and counterattacked: "You are an islander, and your ancestors have been islanders for eight generations."

   "Eighteen generations of your ancestors are islanders."

  Others also responded one by one in Chinese.

  Seeing them all leave angrily, the foreigner scratched his messy hair and muttered something. Steven, who was walking last, looked back at him and shrugged.

   "What did he say in the end?" Li Mo asked Steven.

   "The boss means that if you are an islander, he will not do business with you."

ah-

   Li Mo was a little embarrassed, he misunderstood the foreigner. Look at others, they are still standing on the same front as themselves.

   But there are too many people here to play, and what happened just now is quickly forgotten. Following the flow of people, I walked a few steps forward, and then stopped at a booth. This booth was relatively large, and the things placed on it were very special, and they were all bronze wares. As small as knives and coins, as large as tripods, there is actually a chime bell.

  Li Mo picked up a wine-ranking bronze, put it under his nose to smell it, and then put it back in disgust. He didn't like it, but other tourists watched it with gusto, and kept communicating with the boss.

   "Mr. Qin, these things are all imitations." The beauty security asked curiously.

   "It was transported from a mountain village in the south of China." Li Mo walked slowly with his hands behind his back, and added, "The method of making it is disgusting. It was soaked in a cesspit."

  It was only then that the others showed a look of sudden realization. No wonder he had a disgusted expression just now. At this time, Li Mo stopped in front of a booth again. The owner was an American woman. She was sorting out the goods on the booth. The things were quite miscellaneous, and seemed to come from several countries. Li Mo's gaze fell on an abacus. The frame of the abacus was actually made of rosewood. It may have been improperly maintained, and there were several clear scratches on the surface.

  The abacus beads are all made of top-quality Hetian jade, which looks round and white. Each string of upper and lower jade beads corresponds to a unit of measurement, which is 'li, fen, qian, two, ten, hundred, thousand, ten thousand, hundred thousand'.

  Seeing several people surrounding the booth, the brown-haired woman greeted her warmly.

   "Mr. Qin, if she tells you what you like, she can sell it to you at a lower price."

  Li Mo first picked up the abacus, turned it over and looked at it. There was an inscription on the back, which turned out to be four characters in block script: Daoguang Year System.

   No wonder the materials used for the abacus frame and the abacus beads are so particular, and they were actually used in the imperial palace of the Qing Dynasty.

"how much is this?"

   Steven did the translation, and the boss hurriedly said a number.

   "She said it was an antique from China, and it cost at least 20,000 dollars."

  Li Mo smiled and asked: "Can you tell me the specific origin of this abacus?"

  Steven translated at the same time, but the female boss just spread her hands and mumbled, not knowing what to say.

   "Mr. Qin, she said that she didn't know the exact origin, it was left to her by her grandfather."

   Well, you don't know anything and you want to fool me.

   "Two thousand dollars, I will take it away."

  The female boss was obviously very dissatisfied with Li Mo's bargaining so hard, she shook her head directly.

  Li Mo didn't continue to bargain with her, but picked up another item, which was a mask woven from the feathers of some kind of bird, with bright and colorful colors. After looking at it for a while, put it back in place, and then said, "Let's go."

   Before they took two steps, the female boss hurriedly called them to stop.

   "Mr. Qin, she said that two thousand dollars is too low, and asked if she could add another two thousand dollars?"

  Li Mo turned around hesitantly, shook his head and said, "I can bid up to three thousand dollars, which is the limit I can bear."

Steven hurriedly negotiated with the other party, and after only a few back and forth, he said respectfully: "Mr. Qin, the deal is $2,800. She just needs to open an order to pay together, and the transaction can be successful with the invoice. "

   "Okay, I'll trouble you then." Li Mo glanced at a security guard, who nodded and followed Steven to go through the formalities. After about seven or eight minutes, the transaction was completed. Li Mo looked at the remarks on the invoice, and it was a handicraft.

  The female boss was very happy, and helped Li Mo hand over the abacus to him in a well-protected way. Another security guard with a large bag put the abacus into the bag, and then continued to walk forward.

   "Mr. Qin, is this abacus an antique?"

  Gu Lishi asked curiously.

   "Qing Daoguang's red sandalwood and white jade bead abacus flowed from the palace."

   Several people looked at each other in blank dismay, good guy, it was actually passed down from the palace.

   "You bought it for 2,800 US dollars, how much is it actually worth?" Gu Lishi didn't understand the antique market, so he couldn't help asking curiously.

   "It's not too expensive, probably worth more than one million in China."

  Li Mo is making a conservative estimate. After all, the frame of the abacus is made of rosewood, and the beads are top-quality Hetian jade. But the others were secretly surprised, that is to say, if Li Mo changed hands, he could make a hundred times the profit.

  A few security guards who came with him understood how Li Mo's astonishing net worth accumulated in just a few years. With this speed of making money, it is difficult not to make a fortune.

   Walking forward for a few meters, Li Mo stopped in front of a booth again. This booth was filled with various sculptures, including wood carvings, stone carvings, and jade carvings. It was the first booth that was very finely crafted. At this time, there were also six or seven people looking at the sculptures on the booth.

  Li Mo's eyes first fell on those jade carvings. The quality of the jade is relatively poor. As for the carving technology, it can only be said to be so-so. It should not come from China, and it has no great value. Then the eyes fell on those wood carvings, there were figure sculptures, and there were bird and insect sculptures, they were lifelike and very good. The last thing I looked at was the stone carving, only one. Li Mo took a closer look, he was very embarrassed, he couldn't understand the meaning that these stone carvings could express. Just like European oil paintings, the face of this stone sculpture gives people a hazy feeling.

   To put it more bluntly, these stone carvings have unclear facial features, and the aesthetics of foreigners is really different from our own.

  But precisely because this stone carving is so weird, Li Mo looked curiously with his different pupils, and a light gray halo came out, and then turned into a circle of light that spread around.

   Hey, it’s so weird, this stone sculpture of a character is actually an antique with extremely high artistic value and market value. Judging from the color of the halo, it must be at least a hundred years old.

  Li Mo looked at the other sculptures, they were all watery and had no artistic value, except for the wooden sculpture which had some appreciation value. He casually picked up a wood carving of a figure, which was the image of an old man with a beard, and looked at it over and over for a long time, as if he couldn't put it down.

  Other people around him looked at the wood carving in his hand curiously. Could it be that this is also a great antique?

"How much?"

  Steven is busy translating.

   "A thousand dollars."

  This fat boss from the United States actually knows a little Chinese. Although his speech is not standard, it can be understood.

"It's too expensive. The material of this woodcarving is cherry wood. Although the carving technique is not bad, it's just a modern handicraft, and its value is far from what you quoted. I've read about the market, and the market price of this kind of woodcarving is at most Three hundred U.S. dollars. And the price is because the wood carving is not machine carving, but pure hand carving. If it is machine carving, I am not interested in it."

   "Unfortunately, I can't sell it to you at this price." The fat boss looked regretful. Although he said so, he was still observing the emotional changes on Li Mo's face.

  Where would Li Mo be trapped by him? He put the wood carving back to its original place calmly and said lightly: "There are many stalls selling wood carvings in this open-air market. Let's look elsewhere."

   "Hey, buddies from Huaxia, don't rush to leave."

  This fat guy can do it, and he actually knows how to make friends. This time he called a buddy a thief.

   Li Mo looked back at him.

   "The cost of this wood carving costs me $700, and you always want me to earn some pocket money. You really like it, how about I sell it to you for $800?"

  Steven quickly translated on the side.

  Li Mo shook his head and said: "Eight hundred dollars can be used to pick three sculptures at the booth, one is too expensive and not worth it."

   "Hey, buddy, the price is negotiable. I am a straightforward person, and the price is seven hundred dollars." The fat boss seems to often deal with Chinese tourists, and this round of bargaining is still OK.

  Li Mo ignored him and continued walking forward.

   "Handsome pot, it costs 600 dollars a bite, how about I give you another one?"

  Don't say that Li Mo has a weird expression, even if everyone else is looking at the fat boss with weird eyes.

  Li Mo showed an interested look, walked back to the booth, and glanced at it: "Can I choose this one?"

  He pointed to a jade carving, which was a very enchanting sculpture of a woman.

   "No, no, this is very expensive, even more expensive than wood carving." The fat boss lowered his face and waved his hands again and again.

   "Then this one?"

  Li Mo pointed to a slightly more delicate wood carving.

   Unexpectedly, the boss still shook his head, and finally he pointed to the stone sculpture with unclear features.

  Li Mo was suddenly a little annoyed. He looked at the stone sculpture, then looked at the boss angrily, and said in a deep voice, "Five hundred dollars, put on this stone sculpture. If it's okay, I'll turn around and leave."

  The fat boss felt a little guilty, and hurriedly stretched out his right hand and said, "Dude, deal."

   After the two shook hands, Li Mo still picked up the wood carving and admired it. Steven and security went to pay, and when they came back, the two sculptures had already been packed.

   "A profiteer."

  Li Mo muttered something before leaving, and the others rolled their eyes. This is Jiang Taigong fishing, one is willing to fight and the other is willing to suffer.

   "Mr. Qin, what is the history of this wood carving?"

  The beauty security asked hopefully.

   "There is no origin, it is just an ordinary cherry wood hand-carved work."

   "Well, I thought I found another antique. Since it is an ordinary sculpture, why buy it? If you really like it, there are more exquisite wood carvings in the domestic market than this one."

  Li Mo actually showed a thoughtful expression, walked a few steps and nodded and said: "What you said is also very reasonable, such a large wood carving is quite in the way, Steven, throw this wood carving away for me."

threw?

  Steven was at a loss. He finally bought it at a bargain price, and he had to throw it away within a few minutes after paying for it. Isn’t it fun to have money?

  Li Mo handed the wood carving to Steven, then carefully wrapped the stone carving and put it in the big backpack on the security guard.

  All of these people can see clearly, it turns out that Li Mo's goal from beginning to end is not the wood carving or jade carving at all, but the ugly and unremarkable stone carving work. Seeing that he rewrapped it himself before putting it in the backpack, it can be seen that it is of great value.

   "Mr. Qin, may I ask, what is the history of that stone carving?" Steven is an art dealer, so he knows the antique industry very well.

   "I'll open your eyes when I get back to the hotel."

  Li Mo showed an unfathomable expression. He knows what a fart. If he wants to know the origin of the stone carving, he still needs to find a professional to appraise it.

  (end of this chapter)