Chapter 039 Check the authenticity and compare the pros and cons
"Uncle Song, do you think this seal is passed down from the seller's ancestors?" Shen Yu confirmed it again.
"That's right, the seller patted his chest and said to me, Xiao Shen, I didn't get an eye shot this time, did I?" Lao Song asked with expectation in his eyes.
"I have to take another look. Things look pretty good so far."
When Lao Song heard this, he immediately became happy, "Don't be anxious and watch slowly. Take a sip of tea first. This tea must be drunk with steam."
"You drink yours, and I'll continue watching."
Lao Song picked up the teacup and took a sip. The joy in his mood was all over his face.
Shen Yu nodded while playing with it, "His skill is revealed but his clumsiness is concealed. He is so good at knife skills. He is only one step away from the state of seal carving. There is a pen in the knife and a knife in the pen. The blade is very sharp and the writing is powerful. It is an absolute fine carving technique of the Qing Dynasty." ..."
When Lao Song heard Shen Yu's words, Mei didn't know where to put her hands. He was obsessed with antiques, but he often picked them up. Today he finally picked up a leak, and it was a big leak.
He didn't care whether he had money or not. The main thing was that after the news about this leakage got out, he, Old Songtou, could be considered proud in the antique circle.
The reason why Lao Song was so convinced by Shen Yu's words was that in the six months since he opened a store in the antique city, Shen Yu had never had a chance to appraise antiques.
And the price is very reasonable, a handful of miscellaneous items are two hundred.
Porcelain that is as tall as half a person or even old furniture that is taller than a person costs 200. I never ask for more.
If you encounter family difficulties and need to sell ancestral treasures, the appraisal fee is free, which is the absolute conscience of the industry.
"Gong..."
Shen Yu just wanted to say congratulations to Lao Song. As soon as he said the word congratulations, Shen Yu suddenly felt his hands were slippery. He closed his eyes and felt it carefully, and his heart suddenly thumped.
Wrong!
Something's wrong!
This seal feels wrong, it doesn’t look like Tian Huang Stone!
Just now, Shen Yu focused all his attention on the craftsmanship of the seal and whether it was a spliced stone, and did not pay too much attention to the material of the seal itself.
This is not to say that Shen Yu does not understand the identification of Tian Huangshi.
He understands!
But Shen Yu felt that he had made a mistake in his first impression, that is, to have a seal with such superb knife skills, it must be the work of a master printing master.
However, it is impossible for a famous printing master to spend so much time on a fake stone or an ordinary stone. This is a matter of lowering one's status and losing more than the gain.
After all, materials and work complement each other and achieve each other.
Carving a brick or rock, no matter how good your knife skills are, it has little value.
The deviation errors in identification often come from here.
There is a saying in the antique shop: "It's not dark without lights, it's dark under the lights!"
Collectors with a certain knowledge of collection and appreciation are most likely to fall for the trap the moment they see the advantages of antiques.
Because he understands, he knows that the craftsmanship of this seal is good, and then he ignores the most important thing, which is the material of the seal.
Generally speaking, the appraisal of antiques is to first check the authenticity, and then compare the quality.
For example, with calligraphy and painting, no matter how precious the copies are, they cannot compare to the originals.
The four kings of the Qing Dynasty were committed to imitating the past. The landscape paintings they imitated from the four Yuan masters were comparable to the originals. Among them, Wang Yuanqiyou's works have surpassed the originals.
But a copy is a copy, and of course it is valuable, but it is not as valuable as the original.
But there are also some kinds of antiques that do not look at the authenticity first and then compare the pros and cons, but look at the material first and then talk about other things.
The more typical ones are seals and snuff bottles.
The first key point in seal identification is to first look at the material it is made of.
A seal made of Guangxutian yellow stone must be more valuable than the Shoushan stone of Yongzheng, and also more valuable than the Shoushan stone of the Ming Dynasty.
The same applies to other seal stones.
Even a modern soapstone seal is more valuable than a Qing Dynasty Chang fossil seal.
There are also snuff bottles. Daoguang mutton-fat white jade snuff bottles must be more valuable than Kangxi brass snuff bottles.
"There is no room for negligence in appraising antiques." Shen Yu secretly warned himself.
Because Tianhuang stone is too rare, Shen Yu has not seen many of it. Of course, this is not the case for porcelain, calligraphy and painting.
When working at Bao Yuxuan, Shen Yu had handled ornaments and seals made of Tianhuang stone more than a dozen times. In the past, most of them felt like the stone was condensed and moist, with a natural patina.
As for the seal in his hand, Shen Yu didn't have the same feeling as before. How can I put it in my hand? It was as slippery as holding a loach.
"This seal is definitely not Tian Huangshi's!"
Now Shen Yu is basically certain that the material of the seal in his hand is definitely not Tianhuang.
"Uncle Song, have you maintained this seal since you bought it?" Shen Yu asked with a normal expression. Apart from anything else, this calm demeanor can be regarded as 30% of what he learned from his grandfather.
Old Song shook his head in surprise, "No?"
Shen Yu took a piece of white cloth and wiped the seal carefully, then put the seal in his hand and felt it.
This time, Shen Yu's heart felt cold again, because the seal felt much stiffer than before.
After thinking for a while, Shen Yu put the white cloth used to wipe the seal under his nose and smelled it. There was a faint smell of Garcinia.
Shen Yu quickly picked up the high-power magnifying glass at hand and looked carefully at the surface of the seal.
Ten seconds later, the smile on Shen Yu's face disappeared.
What kind of Tianhuang stone is this? It’s obviously faked as Huangshoushan stone.
In order to confirm his guess, Shen Yu silently recited a treasure appraisal and observed with his eyes whether there was any treasure light emerging from the seal.
The result was empty.
The seal is fake, but the forgery is very powerful.
If Shen Yu guessed correctly, this is a superb technique in Tianhuang counterfeiting passed down from ancient times, and the cost is much higher than chemical dyeing.
The general process is to first select the high-quality Huangshoushan stone that is closest to the color of Tianhuang stone. After the stone selection is completed, soak the stone in dried apricot water for a long time. When it is almost ready, boil it over a high fire.
Boil for a certain period of time until the heat is up, quickly take it out, drain it and grill the surface over high heat. Finally, wipe the surface of the stone repeatedly with Garcinia until the color penetrates into the stone skin.
By this time, unless real stone appraisers come to appraise it, it will be difficult for ordinary collectors to tell the authenticity from the fake.
But no matter how difficult it is to tell, the fake is still fake, and there are still loopholes to follow. There are at least two points that cannot be covered up.
The first is that Huang Shoushan's hand feel cannot be compared to Tian Huangshi.
The second is that the pungent smell of Garcinia is difficult to dissipate.
This requires applying a special balm to the surface of the stone.
On the one hand, it increases the warm and greasy feel of the seal, and on the other hand, it blocks the pungent taste of Garcinia, but it only lasts for a while. If the buyer plays with it every day, it will not be able to hide it.
"Uncle Song, how much did you spend on this seal?"
"Fifteen thousand." Lao Song thought for a while and answered truthfully. He also wanted to quote a high price so that he could negotiate with the buyer when selling, but he was an honest man and had never lied in his life, and he believed that the seal was genuine. There is no doubt that it is worth buying it for fifteen thousand.
Hearing the price, Shen Yu's hands trembled slightly.
Without it, for those who earn wages, fifteen thousand yuan is really not a small amount.
Uncle Song, Uncle Song, you are really a master of giving away wealth. If you can't send it in Chuzhou, you have to send it to the provincial capital.