"Uncle Jing, this Damogen sculpture should be a work from the late Qing Dynasty, and it was made by a famous artist..."
Zhao Zhengshan was obviously very confident in his judgment. He pointed at the Damogen carving placed on the table and said: "Let's talk about the material first. Uncle Jing, look at the texture. It's huanghuali, right? It's carved from the root of a hundred-year-old avocado."
Made of..."
"No wonder Jing Shizhen said that Uncle Zhao made mistakes eight times out of ten..."
Su Xiaofan drank tea and listened to Zhao Zhengshan's serious analysis, but he burst into laughter in his heart.
Although such an object cannot be said to be fake at first glance, Zhao Zhengshan said it was a work of the late Qing Dynasty, which is simply a huge difference.
[Repair value: 5 points!]
[Modern red rosewood Damogen sculpture: irreparable!]
The information that appeared in his mind clearly told Su Xiaofan that this was a modern handicraft, and the material was completely different from what Zhao Zhengshan had judged.
"Oh, I mean Zhengshan, this miscellaneous antiques are not for you to play with. Your appreciation of calligraphy and painting is much better than that of miscellaneous items..."
After Zhao Zhengshan finished speaking out his judgment, Jing Shizhen, who had listened patiently, sighed.
"Uncle Jing, there are too few people selling calligraphy and paintings on the street stalls, so I can't perform to my level. By the way, I won't miss this sculpture, right?"
Hearing Jing Shizhen's words, Zhao Zhengshan had a bad feeling in his heart.
"First tell me how much money you spent." Jing Shizhen waved her hand.
"This... cost 2,800 yuan." Zhao Zhengshan said: "The person originally offered a price of 8,000 yuan, but he asked me to negotiate the price."
To be honest, Zhao Zhengshan spent the whole morning at the stall selling root carvings. It took him nearly two hours to finally get this object.
"You must be listening to other people's stories again."
Jing Shizhen shook his head speechlessly. It would take two hours to buy such an item. Zhao Zhengshan must have been fooled and fainted first.
"The stall owner said that this thing was passed down from his grandfather and was an item from the Wanqing period. I thought the man was quite honest, so I believed him."
Zhao Zhengshan covered his head with his hands. He judged by himself at the time that it was at least the late Qing Dynasty. If the stall owner said it was from the Ming Dynasty, Zhao Zhengshan would definitely turn around and leave.
But what the stall owner said corresponded to his own judgment, which made Zhao Zhengshan feel recognized. When the stall owner continued to lie to him, Zhao Zhengshan felt that he had encountered a mistake, and his main focus was on bargaining.
"Smell carefully, is there a sour smell? Also, check the oiliness, does it meet the standard of huanghuali?"
Uncle Jing stopped being pretentious, pointed at the sculpture, and said straight to the point: "You see, the purple color is almost black, which is obviously not the characteristic of huanghuali. Although the texture is a bit similar, it is the material of a red rosewood tree. In terms of material,
, not as good as huanghuali.
In addition, there is also this carving. Although the carving is not bad, there are obvious traces of artificial modification after organic carving. You said that you don’t know much about miscellaneous objects, so why do you always make mistakes on these?"
"Uncle Jing, then...how much is this worth?"
Zhao Zhengshan had a bitter look on his face. He was not worried about the money, he just wanted to know how much IQ tax he had been charged this time.
"Put it as a decoration at home, well, it's about five hundred and eighty."
Jing Shizhen gave a quotation. In the antique market full of low-quality fakes, this item was considered fake and conscientious. At least it was made of red rosewood, not African rosewood or other materials.
"Uncle Zhao, you can't listen to people telling stories in the antique market."
Su Xiaofan laughed at the side. He was a joker himself. Although his own bronzes could not be sold as old items, Su Xiaofan helped Zheng Dagang sell many so-called "magic weapons".
"You kid, don't gloat about others' misfortunes. Take out the items you bought and look at them. Maybe they're not as good as mine." Zhao Zhengshan looked unconvinced.
Zhao Zhengshan usually has no other hobbies. He just likes to pick up missing pieces in the antique market. However, if his skills are too poor, he will often get noticed. But the more he does this, the more addictive he becomes. It is like playing chess with a bad chess basket. If you can't win, you will be beaten to death.
So today, when Jing Shizhen made the appraisal, Zhao Zhengshan had to hold back his dissatisfaction. If it were anyone else, he would definitely question the appraiser's lack of skill and failure to see the quality of his object.
"I bought two items, but I can't see one of them right. I bought them for fun."
Su Xiaofan put the two bags in his hands on the table, took out the pen holder first, and said, "I think this thing is pretty good. Uncle Jing, can you give it a try?"
"Um?"
Seeing the purple-colored and somewhat black pen holder, Jing Shizhen's eyes couldn't help but light up. However, he did not rush to get started. Instead, he looked at Zhao Zhengshan and said, "Zhengshan, this is also an item in the miscellaneous items. What do you want?"
Don’t you want to take a look first?”
"Okay, let me take a look first." Zhao Zhengshan picked up the pen holder on the table with great interest.
"The material of this carving is similar to that of mine. It should also be made of red rosewood."
Zhao Zhengshan picked up the magnifying glass on the table and said while looking at it: "But Xiao Su's pen holder is well carved. It is such a big thing, but it has so many figures, animals, flowers and plants carved on it. This thing is not bad."
Although he didn't want to admit that the objects Su Xiaofan bought were better than his own, when the things were placed here, the relief carving on the pen holder alone was not comparable to the root carving, and Zhao Zhengshan couldn't say anything slanderous about it.
"Look at Xiao Su's pen holder, how much is it worth?"
Jing Shizhen took the pen holder from Zhao Zhengshan with a smile on her face, and at the same time picked up the magnifying glass and looked at it carefully.
"It's estimated to cost two to three thousand."
Zhao Zhengshan said to Su Xiaofan: "We have agreed that the price of the items we will buy should not exceed three thousand yuan. Don't break the rules."
"Uncle Zhao, there are no rules. This thing is much cheaper than your carving."
Su Xiaofan laughed when he heard this, saying that he still took advantage of the repair value.
If this pen holder had not been repaired, the bottom would have been burned, and the condition of the entire object would have been a mess. However, after the pen holder has been completely repaired, you can tell it is a good thing.
"Xiao Su, did you really get this thing from the market?"
Jing Shizhen's expression gradually became serious as she looked at the pen holder. After more than ten minutes, she placed the pen holder on the table.
"Yes, Uncle Jing, Uncle Zhao and I went to the market together." Su Xiaofan nodded.
"This is unlikely."
Jing Shizhen murmured to herself with a puzzled look on her face, "Can you still find something like this in today's antique market? Are so many people blind?"
"Uncle Jing, Xiao Su did go to the market with me. When we went there, we were both empty-handed."
Zhao Zhengshan thought that Jing Shizhen was suspicious that Su Xiaofan had taken the object from somewhere else, so he quickly spoke up to testify for Su Xiaofan.
"That's not what I meant."
Jing Shizhen waved her hand and said to Su Xiaofan: "Tell me how you bought this object, how much you spent, and what kind of pen holder do you think it is?"
"Ah, I bought it at a street stall."
Su Xiaofan was a little confused by Jing Shizhen's three consecutive questions. However, he had thought of an excuse before, so he immediately said: "This bag was placed on a street stall selling miscellaneous items. It was placed with a bunch of miscellaneous items. Isn't it?
Very eye-catching.
Moreover, the bronzes that the stall owner sold were from our Sujia Village. He sold them as objects from the Tang and Song Dynasties, and asked me to knock them. Later, I fell in love with this pen holder and bought it for one hundred and fifty."
"One hundred and fifty?"
"One hundred and fifty dollars?"
Zhao Zhengshan and Jing Shizhen exclaimed at the same time. Apparently, the price also shocked Jing Shizhen.
"It's one hundred and fifty yuan." Su Xiaofan pretended to be confused. He found that he often needed to use his acting skills during this period, and wondered whether he should go to the film school to audit later.
"Uncle Jing, there is a guest I need you to meet." While Su Xiaofan was performing her acting, a staff member from the Jingxin Hall came to Jing Shizhen and whispered a few words.
"Is it Mr. Tong? Please invite him in."
Jing Shizhen waved his hand, and now his attention was all on this bag and Su Xiaofan, "The biggest leak this year was picked up by your kid!"
Jing Shizhen's face was still full of confusion, "So many people can't see, are they really blind? No, I have to go to the antique market later."
With Jing Shizhen's rank, he has long been out of the antique market pick-up level. It must have been five or six years since he went to the antique market seriously.
Because Jing Shizhen knows that since the popularity of antiques, there is almost no room for picking up missing pieces in the current antique market. But today, when she saw the pen holder that Su Xiaofan was looking for, Jing Shizhen's mind was shaken.
"Uncle Jing, I'm sorry to bother you." At this moment, a middle-aged man walked into the inner hall. After seeing Jing Shizhen, he nodded slightly and said hello.
"Mr. Tong, please sit down and drink tea. We will discuss our matters later." Jing Shizhen asked the guest to sit on the chair, and the staff immediately served him tea.
"Uncle Jing, tell me quickly, what kind of object is this and how much is it worth? I'm really worried."
As a doctor, Zhao Zhengshan is undoubtedly very steady at ordinary times, but when it comes to his hobby of antiques, he is a little impatient, and he does not care about the presence of Jing Shizhen and his guests.
"It's up to him to speak for himself."
Jing Shizhen pointed at Su Xiaofan, and there was some consideration in it. Jing Shizhen wanted to see if Su Xiaofan picked it up simply because he was lucky, or if he had knowledge about antiques.
"Uncle Zhao, I'm not sure how much this thing is worth."
Having been in the antique market for several years, Su Xiaofan naturally has no stage fright and said immediately: "First of all, I think this barrel should be made of huanghuali."
"No, this bottle is similar to my vulture. It should also be made of red rosewood." Zhao Zhengshan interrupted Su Xiaofan.
"Uncle Zhao, the oiliness is different. You see the color of this tube is because the oiliness is very heavy. It turns dark purple to black. This kind of huanghuali is usually called black avocado.
Black avocados usually appear easily at the roots of old trees. In terms of oiliness, they are the most oily among huanghuali. Basically all black avocados sink immediately when put in water. The texture of black avocados is average, but the density and specific gravity are also the same as huanghuali.
The largest of them all.”
Su Xiaofan helped Zheng Dagang sell a lot of beads, many of which were made of huanghuali. He also liked to specialize in research and had solid theoretical knowledge. He spoke clearly and logically, and Shizhen nodded from time to time.
