After wandering around the antique city on Hongqi Street for a long time, Xie Xuan found that Qin Feng took him back to the Baifo Street where he had been yesterday, which made him feel even more baffled.
"Just follow me, look more and ask less!"
Qin Feng waved his hand, but this time when he entered the antique street, unlike wandering around yesterday, he walked directly to a jade shop at the street entrance.
This antique shop called "Qishizhai" has a large facade. The main hall is an open three-bay shop, and there is a small courtyard at the back. However, it is a place where the owner entertains friends to drink tea and chat, but guests cannot enter.
"Qishi Zhai", as the name suggests, in addition to dealing in jade, there are also a variety of strange stones of different shapes, ranging from several kilograms to hundreds of kilograms. There is a large stall in front of the store.
"Hey, kids, are you two here again?"
Seeing Qin Feng come in, an old man in his sixties stood up and said with a smile: "Come on, come on, let's see how this piece of material looks like? Authentic Hetian jade seed material, such a large size is rare.
."
The old man is the boss of "Qi Shi Zhai", his surname is Ge, and his last name is handsome. However, the appearance of the rat-eyed deer head does not match the name. Even if he is thirty years younger, it has nothing to do with the word handsome.
Although he doesn't look like much, Ge Jun has a good reputation in Shishi's antique and jade shop. His shop is also one of the earliest jade shops in Shishi. In comparison, the Nie family is just a rising star in the industry.
After being greeted by Ge Jun, Qin Feng was not polite. He picked up the piece of jade he placed on the chopping board and looked at it. After a while, he said: "Old man, this seed material is completely white and has a smooth color.
It’s rare that it’s the size of a fist, it’s rare, it’s a rare thing.”
Yesterday I went to visit Baifo Street. Qin Feng stayed in this store for more than two hours. He had a great time chatting with Mr. Ge. Ge Jun was an old man and he was not intimidated by Qin Feng because of his young age.
Look down on him.
"Who did you learn this from?"
Ge Jun took the Hetian jade seed material from Qin Feng's hand, carefully put it into the cabinet, turned around and said, "Xiao Qin, are you still in school? Are you playing with rocks at home?"
"Old man, my family is from Yangzhou. I learned sculpture from my elders since I was a child, so I know a lot about stones."
Qin Feng pointed at Xie Xuan with a smile and said: "There is an aunt living in Shishi. I am here to see her. I like this thing, so I asked my cousin to take me around."
Qin Feng's expression was very natural when he spoke, and he also had a slight Jiangnan accent in his words. Most of the people in the jade business were related to the factories in Yangzhou, and Ge Jun had already heard it.
"The world's carvers come from Yangzhou, no wonder, it turns out that it is a family tradition..."
Hearing Qin Feng's explanation, Ge Jun was immediately relieved. Yesterday, he was still muttering in his heart, where could a villain like Qin Feng be so proficient in jade craftsmanship and quality?
Jade is divided into southern craftsmanship and northern craftsmanship. Each type of carving has its own characteristics, such as northern style, Shanghai style, Su style... either grand or ingenious.
In today's market, southern craftsmen account for 80% of the market, while northern craftsmen account for less than 20%. As the base camp of southern craftsmanship, Yangzhou has numerous famous jade experts.
Although Ge Jun has been dealing with jade for most of his life, he may not know all the famous jade masters in Yangzhou. After thinking for a long time, he couldn't figure out which one was named Qin, so he had to give up.
"Xiao Qin, you came to my place today because you want to chat with the old man again, right?" Ge Jun took out a tea set from under the cabinet and said with a smile: "You guys are very particular about drinking tea over there. The old man will make a pot for you this year.
The new Longjing tea.”
"Old man, please stop working, I'm leaving now."
Upon seeing this, Qin Feng quickly stopped Ge Jun, hesitated for a moment, and said: "Grandpa Ge, you know, I have been learning jade carving since I was a child, but this time I came out in a hurry, I didn't bring any materials, and my hands were a little itchy..."
"Oh? You can already carve jade?"
Hearing Qin Feng's words, Ge Jun immediately understood that the feelings came from here to find the rough stone, which made Ge Jun feel a little shocked.
Because there are many things to pay attention to when making jade, the earlier the better, the better. When I was young, my hands were not stable and it was easy to get injured, and my hands would be destroyed by practicing.
Apprentices in the past had to learn painting for at least three years. After they had a certain art foundation, they would then practice with radishes or softer stones.
Generally speaking, apprentices have to wait until they are eighteen or nineteen years old to stabilize their hands before they can officially start carving jade objects. By the time they get results, they are usually already in their thirties or forties.
A child like Qin Feng, who looks only sixteen or seventeen years old, actually started to practice with jade. Ge Jun has really never seen many, because no matter how cheap jade is, it is still money.
"Well, Grandpa Ge, I...I didn't spend much money, do you think you could give me a stone?"
Qin Feng took his right hand out of his pocket, took out a handful of one and two yuan bills, and said with an embarrassed look: "Grandpa Ge, I only have twenty yuan, can you give me a piece of material?"
"You need twenty yuan to buy ingredients?"
Ge Jun laughed bitterly when he heard this, "Xiao Qin, it's not that Grandpa Ge is stingy. I have rough stones here, but one piece costs at least a thousand yuan. Do you think... can I sell it to you?"
When the business reached Ge Jun's level, simply purchasing goods from the jade carving factory could no longer meet the market demand. He bought raw stones in Xinjiang and then sent them to the jade factory for processing.
Therefore, there is no shortage of rough stones in Ge Jun's shop, but even a stone of poor quality, even if it is carved by a machine, can still be sold for ten or eight yuan. Qin Feng's twenty yuan is not enough at all.
.
"Grandpa Ge, are those stones so expensive?"
Qin Feng rolled his eyes, pointed at the pile of stones piled at the door, and said, "How come I haven't seen these jade stones before? Are they also valuable?"
Where Qin Feng pointed, there were almost seven or eight stones piled up. The big stones weighed thirty or fifty kilograms, and the small stones were only the size of fists.
However, unlike Hetian jade, no jade flesh can be seen on the surface of these stones. They are dark and ugly, and they are also very rough to the touch.
"Hey, don't tell me that I forgot all these materials."
Ge Jun slapped his head, walked out from the counter, and said with a smile: "Xiao Qin, it seems that your family only makes nephrite. This is jadeite rough, which is jadeite among jade. There was not much market in the past, but it has only been in recent years.
Prosperous…”
The difference between nephrite and jadeite is in hardness. The hardness of nephrite is generally 6 to 6.5, such as white jade (mutton fat jade), green white jade, sapphire, jasper, black jade and many other varieties, which are classified into soft jade.
Inside the jade.
Jadeite is above 7. The representative of jadeite is jadeite, which comes in many colors, including green, lavender, white, pink, brown, red, blue, black, orange and yellow.
In China, the history of nephrite carving can be traced back to 8,000 years ago. It can be said that it has a long history. It has always been a favorite accessory of dignitaries from ancient times to the present.
Since jadeite is produced in Myanmar, in ancient times, it was only occasionally offered to the imperial court when worshiping the Celestial Empire. It was rare among the people, so it did not become popular.
But at the end of the Qing Dynasty, Empress Dowager Cixi had a special liking for jade. During her lifetime, she collected the best jade from all over the world, which also triggered a jade craze. It was the first time that the world learned about jade.
After the fall of the Qing Dynasty, the third lady of the Song family who became the mother of the country was also a person who loved jade. Her taste also caused the price of jade to rise sharply, which was obviously a rival to Hetian jade.
However, after liberation, due to the inconvenience of mining and transportation, jadeite disappeared in the country. It was not until the late 1980s that it gradually appeared in the market. However, its recognition and value are far from comparable to Hetian jade.
.
However, due to the colorful and beautiful jadeite, it began to be recognized by consumers in the late 1990s, so Ge Jun also jumped on the trend and went to a southern city to buy some rough stones.
Different from the purchase of nephrite, the purchase of raw jadeite focuses on the word "gamble", which is the stone gambling that has become popular in the circle in recent years. Of course, the history of stone gambling is far less than this. In some cities on the southern border, it has been
Has existed for decades.
Before the jadeite rough stone is cut, neither the buyer nor the seller can be sure whether there is jadeite inside, because the thin layer of stone skin can block the prying eyes of any instrument in the world.
Therefore, in the jadeite rough stone market, there is an extremely special way of purchasing, gambling on stones. Buyers can judge whether there is jadeite in the rough stone based on their own analysis, and then bid for it.
Since it is gambling, there are gains and losses. Some people have become multimillionaires because of this, and some people have lost their families because of gambling.
Of course, not everyone is that big of a gambler. There are also some jade merchants who specialize in buying jade meat from gambling, like Ge Jun.
Ge Jun was not very familiar with jadeite, so this time he went to the south to buy some jadeite raw materials. Out of curiosity, he also bought a few pieces of jadeite material and cut them for fun. In total, he only spent a few hundred yuan.
But Boss Ge's luck is really not that good. The seven or eight pieces of jadeite he bought were not cut out of any good material. The best piece was green and black, with a rough structure and extremely poor light transmittance. It was also commonly known as a shit field.
.
Things made from materials like this are similar to stones. Ge Jun didn't bother to take them to the jade factory for processing. He piled them in front of the store and planned to throw them away at some time. If Qin Feng hadn't pointed it out, he would never have thought of it.
"Grandpa Ge, jadeite is very hard, so it's better to practice knife skills..."
Qin Feng gritted his teeth and listened to Ge Jun's introduction to the history of jade. After the old man had enjoyed himself, he licked his face and said with a smile: "Look, just give me those stones? I'll give you the twenty yuan."
Have you seen enough?"
"Hey, I'm not going to slap your Grandpa Ge in the face. How can I still charge you for that fertilizer?"
Ge Jun laughed at Qin Feng's appearance, waved his hand and said: "These materials are not valuable, just take them if you want, I don't have to find someone to throw them away!"
"Thank you, Grandpa Ge. Then...I'm not welcome."
Qin Feng was overjoyed when he heard this, and quickly ran to the pile of stones to pick through it, but Ge Jun didn't see it. When Qin Feng turned around, a sly smile appeared on his face.
PS: It’s Monday, please vote for recommendation, this is very important for the new book, I really need to vote for it!
