Pick up bargains in Chinatown and make 10,000 times the profit at the beginning

Chapter 20 Flower Shaped Cup

Lin Yuan smiled and said, "Uncle De, why don't you help this big brother take a look first!"

He knew Paul was anxious.

Then, Lin Yuan introduced Huang Qingwei and his wife, Henry and others to Uncle De.

Everyone exchanged pleasantries at first, especially Uncle De and Huang Qingwei, the two of them quickly became friends.

"Where's the coin?" Uncle De asked Paul.

Paul quickly and carefully took the coin out of his pocket and respectfully placed it in Uncle De's hand. Uncle De had been in San Francisco for a long time and was familiar with Western collections.

The surface of the coin was engraved with images of the sun, a sundial and the words "1776".

Uncle De immediately recognized the coin and said, "This is a coin minted in the United States in 1776. It is rare in the market. Only 6000 such coins were minted that year. Auctioneers all over the country hope to get this coin.

Today, the coin is worth about $40,000.”

Paul couldn't control the surprise on his face.

Forty thousand dollars was a lot for him.

"Old man, do you want it?" Paul asked immediately.

Uncle De nodded: "I'll take it. Do you want to transfer it or pay in cash?"

"Transfer the money! Thank you."

In the United States, it is not safe to carry so much cash! If someone knew that he had 40,000 US dollars on him, he would probably be stabbed in the back with a knife.

Especially drug addicts and charcoal gangs, they can do anything.

The two quickly completed the transaction.

Paul felt that he had made a lot of money, and Uncle De also felt that he had not lost anything.

It's a win-win situation.

Next, Uncle De helped Huang Qingwei identify the painting "Testing the Qin by the Stream" that he had bought. As expected, it was indeed a replica, but it was an old replica, made by a painter in the Qing Dynasty, and had a certain collection value, estimated at $8.

This valuation was not very high, but it made Huang Qingwei very happy.

It doesn’t matter whether there is money or not, what matters is that it feels so good to find a bargain.

It’s a bit like some people playing scratch tickets. Even though they lose more than they win, they still enjoy it. It’s just that they like the heartbeat that comes at that moment when they scratch out the prize.

"My nephew also bought a painting. Uncle De, please take a look." said uncle Chen Shiquan.

Lin Yuan spread out the painting.

Uncle De only took a glance at it and said, "This painting is very good, it's authentic."

"Ah! Did the Ming Dynasty really regard giraffes as unicorns?" Chen Shiquan was shocked.

"What a fuss! Giraffes are an African species with a strange appearance. When they first came to China, they were naturally studied as strange animals.

In ancient times, crocodiles were considered earth dragons! Whales were considered Kuns, what’s wrong with that?

In addition, Uncle De also told everyone that the painter of this painting, Lu Ji, is a flower and bird painter who is very good at painting various animals.

His paintings are in two styles: meticulous and colorful, and freehand ink and wash. The former is meticulous in depiction, colorful, and strict in rules; the latter is freehand and casual in painting, concise and unrestrained, full of momentum and dynamism.

His landscape paintings follow the style of Ma Yuan and Xia Gui, using the axe-cut texture to paint mountains and rocks, which are vigorous and powerful. His figures also follow the style of the Southern Song Dynasty, with simple and abrupt lines in the folds of clothes.

His flower and bird paintings present two styles. One is detailed and colorful, exquisite and gorgeous, mostly depicting phoenixes, cranes, peacocks, mandarin ducks and the like, with a background of trees, slopes, rocks, beaches and flowing springs. It is both formal and lively.

“His flower and bird painting style had a great influence inside and outside the court at that time, and he had many successors.

You may not know that Lu Ji was not only a painter, but also the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

When everyone heard this, they were all stunned. Almost no one thought that Lu Ji had such an identity. You know, the commander of the Jinyiwei is the leader of the Jinyiwei.

"The leader of the Embroidered Uniform Guard?" Huang Qingwei asked.

Uncle De smiled and said, "The commander is indeed the leader of the Jinyiwei, but Lu Ji is a little special. He is the commander of the Jinyiwei in name only, which is equivalent to a figurehead, similar to the current honorary principal, etc."

The real and powerful commander of the Jinyiwei at the same time as Lü Ji was named Mou Bin, and he and Lü Ji had a peaceful relationship. It was because of this that Lü Ji could devote all his energy to painting.

"There is another point that you may not know. Lü Ji's flower and bird paintings are full of ink and are magnificent. They are even one of the sources of screen paintings for daily life."

Uncle De told Lin Yuan and others that "Two Ducks in Willow Shade" and "Two Herons in a Deep Valley" were once recorded in "Tingsong Qingjian" published by Xiao Rizi.

In the 1940s, Zheng Zhenduo visited many famous Chinese paintings circulating overseas and included them in his book "Famous Chinese Paintings Collected Overseas".

The two works by Lü Ji are not only masterpieces of panoramic flower-and-bird paintings of the Ming Dynasty, but also representative works of evidence of the influence of Chinese painting on daily life painting.

"Uncle De, how much is this "Qilin Picture" worth?" The uncle was more concerned about the value of ancient paintings.
"About 20 US dollars. If I accept it, I can only give you 18." Uncle De said very clearly.

Of that, about $20,000 is what he is going to earn.

Since they had made it clear, Lin Yuan and Chen Shiquan did not hesitate. 18 US dollars was not a small amount! Converted into RMB, it was more than million.

"How much did you pay for it?" Uncle De asked.

The uncle recounted the process of obtaining the treasure in detail, and described it vividly. In ancient times, this would have made him a qualified storyteller.

"That person has a mole at the corner of his mouth?" Uncle De seemed to know that person.

Lin Yuan nodded: "That's right!"

Uncle De suddenly laughed out loud, and his laughter was so confusing and bewildered.

Is this funny?
Uncle De laughed and then explained: "That guy lied to you. Answering his son's call is his usual trick. I have been fooled by him before.

However, he was screwed this time. He probably didn’t expect that two valuable items would be mixed in with the fakes.”

Lin Yuan: “…”

Huang Qingwei and the others stared at each other with wide eyes. No wonder, no wonder that guy ran so fast, it turned out that he had something to hide.

The city is full of tricks!

However, Lin Yuan and his friends’ sincerity was their killer move, and their kindness brought good results.

After hearing this, Chen Shiquan also laughed out loud.

Finally, he laughed and cursed: "Serves you right!"

With that kind of level, you still want to cheat others, but end up cheating yourself, right?

"Let's look at the rhino horn cup!" said Uncle De.

Hearing this, Lin Yuan took out the rhino horn cup that Uncle De had been longing for.

Rhino horn cups are divided into landscape cups, flower-shaped cups, figure cups, auspicious cups, and antique cups according to the differences in carvings.

The so-called landscape cup is a cup with landscape carved on the outside, creating a scene of mountains, streams and waterfalls, just like a traditional landscape painting.

As for the figure cup, the patterns carved on the outside of the cup are mostly hunting pictures, pictures of gods and immortals, and the Eight Immortals celebrating birthdays.

The rhino horn cup that Lin Yuan obtained was a flower-shaped cup.

The cups are carved into the shape of flowers and lotus leaves, with their branches and bracts used as handles or bases. Some are made of wide-angle branches that are more than a foot long, with a hole pierced in the center and bent to the mouth of the cup. Most of them have conical bottoms and cannot stand steadily. After pouring the wine, the cup cannot be put down until it is finished.

Uncle De saw it and praised it highly.

(End of this chapter)