The young man looked overjoyed. After approaching him, he quickly discovered a 60-centimeter-tall antique desk lamp with a square base, a steel pole with an angel relief, and a blue enamel lampshade on top that the old man was holding in his arms.
!
"You... why did you pick it up again? If grandma knows, you will definitely be punished again today!"
The grandson's words made the old man feel embarrassed, "My dear grandson, if you don't tell me and I don't tell you, how will your grandma know!"
Hearing this, the young man couldn't help but sigh deeply. His grandfather was good at everything else, but he just liked picking up items on Taobao. Basically, he spent half of the store's income every month buying antiques. However, his eyesight was not that good.
Over the past ten years, half of the house has been filled with things he bought, but there are very few genuine ones.
After doing this again and again, the old couple almost got divorced because of this incident.
In the end, it was the juniors like them who worked hard to persuade the two old men to make peace, and then made a three-part agreement with the old man!
But obviously everything was of no use. After a few months of being honest, my grandfather fell into his old ways again!
"Okay, but it won't happen again!" the young man could only say.
"Haha, dear grandson, grandpa just knows that you are the best to grandpa in this family!" the old man said with a smile.
"Old sir, can you let me see the lamp in your hand?" Seeing that the old man was about to walk in with his things, Liu Dong hurriedly came over and said.
"Who are you……?"
"Grandpa, this gentleman is from Beijing, China!" the young man said quickly.
"Yeah?"
After hearing this, the old man's eyes softened a lot.
"Yes! I have some things to do when I come to the United States, and I also like collecting. So I came here today to take a look when I have time!" Liu Dong said with a smile.
"I didn't expect to meet someone of the same kind. I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"
"You're so polite, madam! Don't you know this...?" Liu Dong pointed to the lamp in the old man's arms.
"Well, I just collected this lamp, so it doesn't hurt to give it to you for a look!" The old man didn't think much about it. He stretched out his hands and handed the thing to Liu Dong.
Seeing this, Liu Dong laughed in his heart. It seemed that although this old man liked picking up antiques and his business was related to antiques, his knowledge of antiques was not very good. He didn't even know the rules in the industry not to handle fragile things!
But at this time, Liu Dong undoubtedly showed off himself, so after thanking him, he took it with both hands.
At first glance, although the style of the desk lamp is very beautiful in the eyes of ordinary people, in Liu Dong's eyes, the workmanship is a bit rough. Both the pattern on the lampshade and the angel relief on the support pole are not refined enough. As for the vivid expression,
These four characters are even more irrelevant. Even on the rectangular base with a side length of about 20 centimeters, one of the rose copper reliefs originally decorated on the four sides is missing, and the original black lacquer on it has also become mottled.
But these are not the reasons why Liu Dong is eager to get this lamp.
After looking up and down with the desk lamp in his hand, Liu Dong held the support rod with his left hand and the lamp holder with his right hand, and turned the desk lamp sideways.
Looking at the exposed bottom side of the base, Liu Dong scraped hard on the edge with his index finger. As a layer of black raw paint was scraped away, a faint crack appeared in front of Liu Dong's eyes.
"It's exactly what I imagined!" Liu Dong thought to himself.
After finding the answer, Liu Dong also made a decision in his heart.
"Old man, I really like this desk lamp. I wonder if you can sell it?"
"You want to buy it?" the old man looked at Liu Dong and asked suspiciously.
"Well! If you are always willing, I am willing to buy it for US$30,000!" Considering that the appearance of this desk lamp is not gorgeous, Liu Dong would not give a high price.
Otherwise, things will really be self-defeating!
"$30,000?"
The young man who was also startled quickly said after he came to his senses: "Grandpa, sell it! For US$30,000, our store can't make that much in a week!"
In his eyes, Liu Dong has probably become a bigger villain than his grandfather! He is actually willing to spend 30,000 US dollars on a broken desk lamp. He is either a fool or he has too much money to burn.
"Well, since you like it, I'll sell it to you!" Encouraged by his grandson, the old man thought for a moment and nodded.
Anyway, the cost of this desk lamp is less than 200 US dollars, and the sale was completed today. I will also have the opportunity to prove to my wife later that I don’t always lose money when I search for items on Taobao!
"Thank you for your generosity, sir. Do you think we should pay in cash or transfer?" Liu Dong said happily after hearing this.
"Just transfer money, it's convenient!"
"Okay!" Liu Dong agreed, transferred $30,000 to the old man as quickly as possible, and then left the Chinese antique store in New York with the lamp in his arms.
Liu Dong, who came out of the antique shop, did not continue shopping. Instead, he came to the place where he kept his car. After opening the car door and getting in, he did not drive away immediately, but took out the desk lamp.
After taking a carving knife from the Mustard Seed Space, Liu Dong buckled down the lowest surface of the desk lamp base. Soon a delicate and beautiful black wooden box with a gorgeous silver rose relief on the surface appeared in front of Liu Dong's eyes.
The wooden box was not locked and Liu Dong opened it easily, but the contents inside were truly fascinating to see and heart-pounding to those who heard it.
An approximately 18 centimeter-tall oval golden egg made entirely of gold, with a triangular frame in the lower half shaped like a golden pheasant, and an oval golden egg inlaid with 96 diamonds in a grid pattern on the upper half, appeared in front of Liu Dong's eyes.
The height of the upper part of the golden egg is 13 centimeters, and each diamond on it is the same size, about 3 carats. The colors are red, pink, blue, colorless and purple diamonds, which stand out against the gold underneath.
In Liu Dong's eyes, he deeply understood the meaning of the four words "jewelry".
"The Tsar's Easter Egg, this is the Tsar's Easter Egg!" Liu Dong said excitedly as he looked at the treasure in front of him.
Eggs are loved and worshiped by many peoples around the world, but painting eggs is a unique traditional custom of the Slavic people, and the Russians are the people who have preserved this artistic custom to this day. The Russians
One's own love, dreams and longings are painted on the egg, which is the condensation of Russian soul and art.
For Russians, colored eggs can bring health, beauty, strength and prosperity. This is because colored eggs are related to traditional Russian religious customs. They are a must-have for some religious festivals, especially Easter, which is important to believers.
Celebration utensils. People treat colored eggs like icons and protectors and keep them at home. Russians also use colored eggs to welcome new little lives.
It is precisely because of this custom that in the past few hundred years, everyone from emperors to common people liked to make such exquisite little things.
If there is a need, there will naturally be a market!
In the 19th and 20th centuries, many craftsmen and even jewelry designers appeared in Russia who made Easter eggs!
The Russian jewelry master Faberge is one of the best. The eggs he makes belong to Easter egg art. They are imitation egg crafts made of gold, diamonds, jade, etc., about 10 centimeters high, and can be called Russia's national treasure.
Moreover, Fabergé spent almost a year designing each egg. He hid in a studio specially set up by the imperial court to design the shape and theme of the egg, and then carefully turned the idea into a tribute with a carving knife.
These exquisitely conceived and gorgeously crafted Fabergé eggs elevate jewelry art to the highest level of decorative art since the Renaissance.
Faberge, the talented Russian goldsmith, created the dazzling Tsarist Easter Egg. He used his ingenuity to turn the original ordinary egg into a gorgeous legend.
At the 1900 Paris World's Fair, the Tsar's eggs were publicly displayed for the first time, surprising the judges, and Faberge's reputation spread throughout Europe.
Fabergé has become synonymous with fashion and nobility. Owning a Faberge product is not only for appreciation, but also a symbol of status. Nobles compare with each other, and almost every personal item must go through Fabergé.
Hands can be called treasures.
Whenever the Tsar and the Empress visited Russia or traveled around Russia, they always carried a box full of Faberge jewelry with them in order to give it to others as gifts at the appropriate time. By 1896, Nicholas II succeeded to the throne.
At that time, most of the gifts from the Russian Czar came from Faberge.
Between 1885 and 1917, Peter Carl Faberge, the royal artist of the Tsarist Russian court, and his staff produced a total of 69 Easter eggs for the Tsar and private collectors.
Among them, 54 were made for Tsar Alexander III and Nicholas II, and 52 were Easter eggs. In the end, only 50 were delivered to the Tsar. The remaining 7 Faberge eggs were for the Krzy family in Moscow.
maded.
Any one of the 50 Tsar's golden eggs can be called Russia's most precious art, and both are top treasures worth tens of millions of dollars!
Moreover, these Easter eggs are also witnesses of the luxurious life of the Russian Czar, and also demonstrate Russia’s achievements in art and culture at that time.
Liu Dong himself did not expect that he would accidentally discover this priceless and absolute treasure Tsar Egg during a trip to the New York flea market!
Now that we know this is a Tsarist egg, it must be more than just the outer layer!
So when Liu Dong opened the outermost golden shell, a delicate golden hen that was wrapped in completely corrupted velvet and was slightly larger than a child's fist was revealed. When Liu Dong opened the golden hen, what was inside its belly was
It is a mini crown set with diamonds and a miniature egg made of rubies.
The ruby is Myanmar's top pigeon blood ruby. Liu Dong held it in his hand and measured it. It was heavier than the George IV ruby that had just been auctioned at Christie's. It was about 35 carats!
"This is really an incredible harvest!" Liu Dong said with excitement as he looked at the Tsar Easter egg in front of him. (To be continued)