The sapphires Chen Wenzhe selected now must be the most common and smallest ones, and the slightly larger ones must have been collected.
Even so, Chen Wenzhe's gains still make people's eyes red with envy.
"Then I chose a sapphire worth 100 million? 100 million!"
"I'm afraid the market price exceeds 100 million!"
"The quantity is too large, so it shouldn't be sold at a high price, right?"
"Haha, it depends on what grade of gem it is!"
The expressions of the five people at the scene were unclear, and they might have been a little depressed.
"The quality of this batch of sapphires is quite good. I wonder how the Empress Dowager Cixi collected them!"
Chen Wenzhe also felt a little emotional. Even Sri Lanka, the current major sapphire producing country, cannot produce so many high-quality sapphires at once, right?
He knew that the Qing government imported a lot of luxury goods, but he was still surprised when so many top-quality sapphires suddenly appeared. Come to think of it, this is the power of the country!
"Where is this? I heard that the Qing government imported tourmaline from the United States and bought it in tons."
"Gemstones were not so precious back then. Otherwise, how could there be so many top-quality sapphires at one time?"
"It was definitely not expensive back then. Let's not talk about other things. When sapphire was first discovered in Qilu, someone bought forty tons of sapphire from the local area at one time and chartered a plane to transport it. It caused a sensation at the time.
They all say that they are idiots, why would they buy so many stones? Look at how high the price of sapphire is now."
"Compared to the Wanqing government, the power of individuals is still very small. I checked the information and found that during the Wanqing period, almost all the tourmalines produced by the tourmaline mines in the United States were exported to China."
Chen Wenzhe listened silently, and through the conversations of these people, he was really moved.
Tourmaline may be a good choice, after all, the sapphire here can no longer make his heart move.
Compared with sapphire, tourmaline is rich in color and transparent in texture, making it very attractive.
Moreover, tourmaline is homophonous to "ward off evil spirits", so it is also regarded as a gemstone that can ward off evil spirits and bring good luck.
During the Qing Dynasty, Cixi imported a large amount of tourmalines because she liked them. The tourmalines of that period were of much higher quality than today.
Fortunately, he had checked the information before going into the water. Otherwise, he would not have known that tourmaline is sometimes more expensive than top-grade sapphire.
Moreover, Chen Wenzhe also knew that the Qing Dynasty had been importing tourmalines for a long time, and naturally accumulated a large number of high-quality tourmalines.
In fact, it was not Cixi who started to like tourmaline during the Qing Dynasty.
In the early Qing Dynasty, tourmaline had become a symbol of power and was one of the materials worn by first- and second-grade officials, as well as princes and nobles.
The beads they wear are also made of tourmaline!
Especially during the period when Empress Dowager Cixi was in power, tourmaline received unprecedented attention in China.
The Empress Dowager Cixi, who dominated the government, not only had a great love for jade and diamonds, but also loved the colorful and ever-changing tourmalines. She was a complete tourmaline fan.
In fact, as a tourmaline fan, the Empress Dowager Cixi probably thought about placing tourmaline jewelry in her future tomb when she was alive.
Records in the Qing palace archives describe Empress Dowager Cixi in this way.
The "acupoint" where Empress Dowager Cixi built her mausoleum was located in the golden well under Cixi's coffin, which also contained a large number of treasures.
From the fifth year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu to the thirty-fourth year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu, the officials of the mausoleum followed Yi's decree and put a large number of treasures into the golden well six times.
Light tourmaline treasures include a rubellite inlaid emerald pin, a rubellite longevity pendant, a yellow tourmaline grape pendant, a rubellite gourd bat pendant, a rubellite double happiness pendant and rubellite
A piece of Buddha head pagoda.
Now these things have been found by Chen Wenzhe.
These carved sculptures with names and surnames recorded in the Qing palace archives are all real treasures, and the price of each one is very high.
Therefore, if calculated carefully, the value of the treasures found by Chen Wenzhe must far exceed tens of billions.
It is obvious that whether she is dead or alive, Empress Dowager Cixi still has a soft spot for tourmaline.
The two appraisers just now were right. Most of the tourmalines produced during the Qing Dynasty were imported from the United States.
According to historical records, between 1900 and 1908, the Empress Dowager Cixi purchased several tons of different types of tourmaline from San Diego, USA, for the construction of temples almost every year, especially pink tourmaline.
In order to purchase a large amount of tourmalines, the Empress Dowager Cixi wasted money and harmed the people, and gradually increased the taxes on farmers every year.
Therefore, it can be said that almost all of the huge amount of tourmaline imported by the Empress Dowager Cixi came from California, USA.
The Ibaraya Mine, located in the Great Mesa Plains of California, USA, is a high-quality tourmaline mine that became world-famous in the late 19th century.
From the late 19th century to the early 20th century, most of the tourmalines mined in the Ibaraya mine were exported to China for use as jewelry and carvings in the Qing court.
The mine has a large output and good quality. It is said that one of the veins can mine more than 6 tons of tourmaline crystals.
However, the good times did not last long. The turbulent Manchu Dynasty was overthrown in the Revolution of 1911 in 1911.
The luxurious life of the dynasty also came to an end. As a result, the tourmaline products from the Ibaraya mine were unsaleable and the Chinese market failed, forcing the mine to close.
It was only recently that the Ibaraya mine was redeveloped.
Although the output of the reopened mines is still good, the quality of the tourmaline crystals is not as good as before, and the economic benefits are also greatly reduced.
From this we can also see how many high-quality tourmalines the Qing government imported.
Even if it is calculated based on six tons per year, there is no need to count decades. Even if it is ten years, the Empress Dowager Cixi will collect 60 tons of high-quality tourmaline.
Even if half is consumed when making carvings and jewelry, there will still be thirty tons of finished product, right?
So many tourmalines were selected from the best, and the best part was put into the golden well and coffin of the mausoleum. What a huge wealth is this?
Even now, what Sun Dianying can preserve must be the best among them.
Otherwise, it would be absolutely impossible for Chen Wenzhe to find two hundred priceless sapphires in a batch of selected jewelry boxes.
The same situation applies to tourmaline now. Under such circumstances, it is almost impossible to choose a defective product.
Chen Wenzhe did not continue to mention rubies, but chose tourmalines. Several staff on site were very happy.
Compared with rubies, tourmalines are larger in quantity and lower in value. They are more willing to see Chen Wenzhe make a wrong choice.
Qiu Fu was unconscious at times. Unknowingly, they wanted to make Chen Wenzhe suffer as much loss as possible.
Unfortunately, Chen Wenzhe will not let their delusion succeed.
Even if he chooses tourmaline, he will still choose the top-notch gemstone chameleon!