However, this middle-aged man didn't care what Liu Dong thought at this moment. After he finished speaking, he turned around, looked at Yang Shang and asked: "Boss Yang, what do you think of this Buddha statue?"
Hearing this, Yang Shang couldn't help but frown. Although he seldom collected anything when he opened an antique store, but after so many years of exposure, Yang Shang was not a person who knew nothing about antiques at first. For gold and bronze Buddha statues, which are the most important among miscellaneous antiques,
He also has some research on this category.
Moreover, Yang Shang himself is also a believer in Buddhism, so he naturally has respect for objects such as Buddha statues. If he encounters a Buddha statue that suits his heart, he will also want to buy it. Therefore, for the piece in his hand, which is about 40 centimeters high,
He looked at the Buddha statues very carefully.
At this time, Liu Dong also took a deep breath, suppressed the slight excitement in his heart, and focused his attention on the Buddha statue.
The Buddha statue in Yang Shang's hands is well preserved. The Buddha sitting on the lotus throne is the founder of Buddhism, Sakyamuni Buddha.
From the way he sits in lotus position, with his left hand horizontally on his knees, making a samadhi mudra, and his right hand on his right knee, with his palms facing inward and his fingers pointing to the ground, we can see that this is the five postures of Buddhist statues: birth image and enlightenment image.
, the Enlightenment Image among the Dharma Image, the Alms Image and the Nirvana Image. In Buddhism, it means "the earth bears witness and does not hesitate to sacrifice all words and deeds to save all sentient beings".
Moreover, what is even more rare is that there is a backlight behind this seated statue of Sakyamuni Buddha. This is not very common among ordinary Buddhist statues, and even if there are, most of them have been lost or damaged in the inheritance. It is basically
It is not as well preserved as this one.
But as he watched, Yang Shang's brows furrowed tightly.
You must know that unlike many bronzes, Buddha statues are generally not placed in tombs. However, due to the four major Buddhist extermination campaigns in history and repeated wars and man-made destruction, most of the gold and bronze Buddha statues that can be preserved to this day were made by pious people.
They were buried by Buddhists, and they also have the characteristics of general unearthed bronzes.
For example, "ice cracks", "enamel spots", blistering, blooming on the special surface, "demolition" and "swelling" formed internally after debirth, various "human bone rust" on the surface, etc. will all exist.
These characteristics often become important theoretical basis for people to identify Buddha statues.
However, what troubles Yang Shang is that this seated statue of Sakyamuni Buddha is exquisite in shape and vivid in decoration, but it does not have these characteristics at all. Moreover, the gilt copper on the outside of the statue is not only not damaged at all, but also exudes golden light.
, the whole thing is like new.
"How much do you want to sell this gilt bronze seated Sakyamuni Buddha?" Although Yang Shang's eyesight could not identify the authenticity of this Buddha statue, he could see the craftsmanship of this Buddha statue.
It is exquisite. No matter the shape, decoration, or the Buddha's expression, they are all handmade by famous artists. Even if such a Buddha statue is not a real antique, if you want to have one at home now, I'm afraid you won't be able to get it even if you don't have a small one.
Can't come down.
After hearing his words, the middle-aged man quickly reported the number he had thought of before, "200,000!"
"200,000!?" Hearing this number, Yang Shang couldn't help but become a little angry at the middle-aged lion's mouth.
If this Buddha statue is really an antique, 200,000 yuan is not impossible to consider. However, in Yang Shang's view, how can such a new thing be an antique. Therefore, the price he set for this Buddha statue is
Ten thousand.
Seeing the surprised look on Yang Shang's face, the middle-aged man quickly said: "This Buddha statue is an heirloom of our family and has been enshrined for many generations. If my family hadn't been in a hurry for money this time, I would never have sold it!
Moreover, I had someone look at it before, and it is a gilt bronze Buddha statue from the Northern Wei Dynasty, which can be worth several million at auction!"
In fact, he is not talking nonsense. Buddhism is one of the three religions with the largest number of believers in the world. As the main body of Buddhist worship, Buddha statues have always been sought after by Buddhists all over the world. Many of these Buddhists have strong financial resources.
business tycoon. Even Yang Shang, who wanted to buy the Buddha statue, was also a Buddhist.
As early as the 1980s, gilt Buddha statues attracted the attention of international collectors, which in turn led to the rise of domestic collection craze.
In November 1989, at Sotheby's auction in New York, a gilt Maitreya Buddha statue from the Ming Dynasty was sold for more than US$210,000. It attracted the attention of the international collection market.
After the 1990s, major overseas auction companies began to increase the number and proportion of gilt Buddha statues auctioned year by year.
At last year's Sotheby's auction, a gilt-bronze Guanyin from the Ming Dynasty was sold for HK$1.32 million. At the Christie's auction not long ago, a gilt-bronze Buddha statue from the Ming Dynasty was sold for HK$2.2 million.
The gilt Buddha statues of the Southern and Northern Dynasties and the Sui and Tang dynasties are slightly inferior to those of the Ming and Qing Dynasties in terms of shape and craftsmanship. However, as the two dynasties with the most developed Buddhist culture, they have their own unique representations.
If this seated statue of Sakyamuni is really a gilt-bronze Buddha statue from the Northern Wei Dynasty, then with its current integrity and exquisite craftsmanship, if it goes up for auction, it will definitely sell for a high price of several million.
Moreover, this price will continue to increase with the appreciation of the art market. After all, the Northern and Southern Dynasties have been 1,500 to 600 years ago. It is extremely rare to be able to preserve such a complete Buddha statue. It is not an exaggeration to say it is a national treasure.
.
"Since someone has appraised this Buddha statue for you before, why didn't you sell it to him for 200,000 yuan?" After hearing what the middle-aged man said, Yang Shang couldn't help but rolled his eyes and said angrily.
Hearing this, the embarrassed look on the middle-aged man's face flashed away. This Buddha statue was indeed his family heirloom. However, since the old man in the family passed away and he did not believe in Buddhism, this statue of Sakyamuni
The Buddha statues also lost their enshrinement.
This time, the two sons in the family are rushing to get married and buy a house, which requires more than 200,000 yuan. He, who has been laid off and only makes money by setting up a roadside stall selling snacks to support his family, how can he come up with so much money.
Later, when he was cleaning the house and taking out the Buddha statue again, he remembered that before his mother passed away, he had told him that this Buddha was an heirloom of their family, and he had asked him to worship it well and pass it on to his descendants.
Fortunately, this middle-aged man is also a filial person. After his mother passed away, although he did not believe in Buddhism, he preserved the Buddha statue very well. He did not realize that it was an antique at first.
It wasn't until his old neighbor who originally lived in the same tube building with him made a fortune from selling antiques that the middle-aged man, who was worried about the money to buy a house for his son's wedding, remembered that he had such an heirloom at home.
It's also an antique.
However, current information is not as developed as it was in the Internet era, and there are no treasure appraisal programs on TV. Therefore, although most people know that antiques are valuable, they do not know much about this industry.
Fortunately, this middle-aged man has a neighbor who understands this, so he thought of giving it a try and showed him the Buddha statue. However, his neighbor is not a master of antique appraisal. In the antique city,
He's just a street stall owner. The last time he made money, he all got lucky.
However, although this person's appraisal skills are not very good, there is still a lot of damage to a broken ship. His neighbor has also been in the antique business for several years, so he also knows a little about Buddha statues.
From the shape and decoration of this Buddha statue, he judged that it was the casting style of Buddha statues from the early Northern Wei Dynasty. If it were sold at auction, it would be worth millions, of course if it was true.
But obviously, this is somewhat unlikely, because this Buddha statue is too complete and too new!
Moreover, after more than a thousand years of time, there are too few Buddhist statues from the Northern Wei Dynasty that can be passed down. They are basically in the hands of major museums and collectors around the world, and rarely find their way to the market.
If ordinary people have such a complete Northern Wei Buddha statue in their hands, no matter who it is, their first reaction will be that it is fake.
However, these people did not include Liu Dong. When he saw the Buddha statue for the first time, the yellow orb in his mind began to beat fiercely. And he clearly conveyed a desire.
This is also the reason why Liu Dong was so surprised when he saw this Buddha statue for the first time.