plumnovel 0025 Grand Secretary
0025 Grand Secretary
Modern times, Hangzhou.
Zhu Shiting arrived at the agreed-upon company entrance of Tingquan Jianbao, following the location provided.
After making the call, he soon met Xiao Zhang from the receiving team and the famous livestreamer Tingquan himself.
Probably because he stayed up all night doing a live stream, he was still a bit sleepy and didn't rush to check the goods. Instead, he arranged for Xiao Zhang to show Zhu Shiting around their company.
Although it's called a company, it's actually just a small private exhibition hall, filled with silver dollars of different sizes and types.
Almost every one of them was sealed, and the origin and source of the silver dollar were marked on the bottom.
Why aren't these silver dollars priced?
Zhu Shiting found it fascinating and asked a few questions out of curiosity.
"Mr. Zhu, it's impossible to set fixed prices in the antique business, except for modern replicas. Our company mainly deals in Ming and Qing dynasty silver coins and ancient coins, and the market prices fluctuate and change every now and then, so it's even more impossible to set fixed prices."
Xiao Zhang patiently explained the unwritten rules of their industry.
Most people in the antique and collectibles business focus on appreciation and collection, using storytelling, packaging, and mutual resale to inflate the value of antiques.
The final price is only revealed to the buyer at the very last step of the transaction, leaving considerable room for maneuver or premium pricing in between.
While you might say it's driven by money, it's actually mostly within a more refined, literary circle.
Many big bosses, tycoons, and successful people, after accumulating a certain amount of wealth and fame, need to display a few pieces of calligraphy and paintings by famous people or collect a few antiques in their homes to show off their taste.
Or perhaps they simply want to infiltrate a higher level of artistic circles and cater to the tastes of a certain bigwig, spending a little money to acquire a few pieces even if they don't like these antiques.
The outside world doesn't understand the world of antiques and collectibles. Ordinary people only focus on how much they are worth and don't know how to truly appreciate and enjoy them, which is why this industry is tainted with the smell of money.
Zhu Shiting found the story quite reasonable and, under Xiao Zhang's guidance, even played with a Yuan Shikai silver dollar that could be blown.
Although I didn't experience the fun of appreciating silver coins, after visiting the site, I gained some understanding of this niche culture, which broadened my horizons.
……
A short while later, Zhu Shiting went to the office and met Tingquan, who had just finished a meeting with the team.
The other party had regained his energy by now and warmly invited Zhu Shiting to sit down, making him tea: "I'm sorry, Mr. Zhu, I was in a team meeting until 3 a.m. last night and got a little too busy. Otherwise, I usually come to collect these kinds of top-selling goods."
"Staying up until 3 a.m.? You're really going all out, teacher!" Zhu Shiting clicked his tongue twice upon hearing this.
This top streamer has achieved such great success at such a young age, and has almost monopolized the ancient coin category in the antique circle, reaching a top authoritative position. The hard work and effort behind this must be considerable.
"You have to work hard, there's competition in every industry these days," he said with a sigh after receiving the advice.
After exchanging pleasantries, Zhu Shiting, heeding the advice, took out the Ming Dynasty gold ingot he had brought and placed it on the table.
"Last night, I could only get a general idea of this item in the video. For such a high-quality item, you have to handle it to verify its authenticity."
Upon hearing this, he immediately put on gloves and, with great professionalism, began to explain while carefully examining the inscriptions and pits on the gold ingot with a magnifying glass.
"Jiajing..."
"The engraving is fine, and there are these pits and dents, so it's safe to say that the item is old and a genuine antique."
"I remember there was a gold ingot of the same size from the Tianqi period that was auctioned at a auction house two years ago. It was worth 296 million yuan."
"However, as you know, Mr. Zhu, gold prices have skyrocketed in the past two years, and the value of these old gold artifacts has increased several times over. So last night I gave you an estimated value of 850 million."
He listened to the advice and explained as he looked at the treasures, and his skill in appraising them and his discerning eye were clearly very experienced.
Authenticating antiques is like being a doctor in a hospital. An ordinary person can only look at a sick patient and be completely clueless, but a doctor can usually tell what's wrong at a glance by looking at the patient's symptoms.
This is why professionals, through the accumulation of knowledge and work experience, can undergo a qualitative change in their perspective and judgment of things.
In recent years, a group of people have emerged who dream of making a fortune by finding hidden gems in antiques.
This group of people, relying on their rudimentary knowledge of antiques and collectibles, brought all sorts of bizarre fakes to the appraisal site to argue with professional appraisers and experts. When their claims were exposed, they even questioned the appraisers' competence.
This farcical performance, in the eyes of onlookers, looks as ridiculous and laughable as a group of clowns.
Knowing that he only had a superficial understanding of antiques, Zhu Shiting listened attentively to his teacher's explanation after taking out the Ming Dynasty gold ingot.
However, when the other party took out a magnifying glass and looked at a very small character "Zhang Cong" on the side of the gold ingot, the person who listened to the advice immediately widened their eyes.
"President Zhu! This is incredible!"
"It looks like the price of your gold ingot is going to rise even further!"
"This is a mark made by the ancients, connecting it to a certain historical figure. Its value is definitely going to rise."
Heeding the advice, he sat up straight, his previous listless expression vanishing, and took out his phone to make a video call.
Soon, an elderly man with gray hair appeared in the frame.
"Master, you know more about funerary objects than I do. Do you know anything about this Zhang Cong?"
Heeding the advice, he briefly explained the situation regarding the gold ingots he had.
The elderly man opposite him, whom he called his mentor, also showed a hint of surprise upon hearing Zhang Cong's name: "Zhang Cong, the one who received the imperial reward from Zhang Bingyong? He was from Wenzhou Prefecture, a Jinshi (successful candidate in the highest imperial examination) in the sixteenth year of the Zhengde reign, the Grand Secretary of the Cabinet during the Jiajing reign, and a key minister of Emperor Zhu Houcong of the Ming Dynasty, commonly known as Grand Secretary Zhang."
"The fourteenth year of the Jiajing reign was the same year that this Grand Secretary Zhang took sick leave; the timing matches up."
The two, master and apprentice, were exchanging words during the video call.
Zhu Shiting listened intently, recalling the wealthy family in Wenzhou that Zhou Ren had mentioned robbing earlier; it seemed to be the Zhang family of Pumen.
In this way, the origin of this gold ingot was completely revealed through cross-referencing of various sources of information.
……
After talking for more than ten minutes, I listened to their advice and hung up the phone.
He picked up the gold ingot, clearly admiring it. "President Zhu, this gold ingot is indeed a treasure! It's also connected to a high-ranking official like Grand Secretary Zhang during the Jiajing era. I can increase the valuation by another 50%, to 1300 million. What do you think?"
"1300 million?"
Zhu Shiting felt his heart skip a beat, which was quite pathetic.
Before coming here, I thought that if I could sell it for 7 or 800 million, I would definitely break even. I never expected that antiques are like jade gambling stones. You can find out how much they can increase as you examine them!
This really exceeded Zhu Shiting's expectations!
However, seeing Tingquan's eagerness to acquire the gold ingot, Zhu Shiting asked curiously, "Teacher Tingquan, shouldn't the value of something with a story like this increase after being sent to an auction house?"
He nodded in agreement: "When it comes to antiques involving historical figures, museums in various places usually raise funds to bid once they hear about it. Whether the price goes up depends on luck. Moreover, auction items involve commissions, and there are also publicity and time costs involved. Even if the price is higher, it won't be much more than 1300 million."
The Tingjianjianbao team has a directly operated auction house behind them, which makes very flexible offers for such buybacks. They even brought up the back-end data system to show Zhu Shiting the transaction prices of several similar items.
These transaction data are all publicly available; you can find them with a simple online search.
With two other gold ingots in stock as a safety net, Zhu Shiting sat drinking tea and pondered for a short while before agreeing to the offer of 13 million, thus cashing out the Ming Dynasty gold ingot.