50s: Starting with a storage ring

Chapter 451 Assessment
Cattelan himself admitted that he bought the bananas from a local grocery store for about 30 cents.

In 2024, when Sotheby's re-auctioned one of three versions of the work in New York, it was estimated to fetch between $1 million and $1.5 million.

At the time, a spokesperson for the auction also stated that it was a conceptual artwork and that the materials would be changed periodically.

The winning bidder will receive a banana, a roll of tape, a certificate of authenticity, and installation instructions for the artwork.

David, Sotheby’s head of contemporary art, said that “The Comedians” is profound and inspiring.

“When you buy this piece, you’re not buying the banana itself, but a certificate of authenticity. It allows the owner to replicate the banana and the tape on the wall as original artwork by Cattelan.”

Look at how they're making money with no initial investment; it's even faster than robbing a bank!

This is equivalent to someone pricing their own certificate at $100 million, and still having many people eager to buy it.

In the end, "The Comedian" was sold for a record $520 million, with the total transaction price reaching $624 million (approximately 4517 million yuan) including transaction fees.

Its true value may lie in the questions and discussions it has sparked, as well as its dissemination effect and commercial value within a social hot topic.

The tycoon who bought it clearly didn't want the banana itself, but rather the huge amount of traffic generated by the event.

This incident also made Sun Zhiwei realize the importance of pricing power.

The M Country Appraisers Association is currently the pricing authority in the M Country antiques industry.

Being able to join them would obviously be very beneficial to Sun Zhiwei's disguise and persona.

"Mr. Chairman, thank you very much for your introduction. What is it that I need to do?"

"Haha, okay, it's good that you agreed."

"You don't need to do anything special after that, just wait patiently."

"At the afternoon's representative meeting, I will raise the issue of admitting you as a member. With my recommendation and the added prestige you've gained over the years, there won't be any problem with your joining."

Although I know there won't be any problems, I'm always just afraid of the worst-case scenario.

After leaving the president's office, Sun Zhiwei did not go far. Instead, he booked a room in the hotel next door to keep abreast of developments within the association.

The appraisers association has a large number of members, and the association's committee usually takes charge of the work. All members of the committee are full members.

The association and its members are essentially one team doing two different things, so the association can also discuss topics for new members during meetings.

After the afternoon meeting began, the committee members first dealt with the association's recent work issues. Only after the association's issues were resolved did they begin to address the members' related issues.

Such a large association, with more than 200 staff members working in the building, is naturally not a monolithic entity.

President Fernando Harris clearly lacks the personal charisma to unite everyone in the association.

As expected, at today's members' meeting, Fernando's proposal to admit Sun Zhiwei as a new member was met with fierce rebuttal and suppression from the opposition.

Clearly, the other party had come prepared. They had investigated Sun Zhiwei's appraisal record over the past few years and were prepared to reject his application on the grounds that he was too inexperienced.

Sun Zhiwei kept a close eye on the situation in the conference room from his hotel room next door.

At this moment, he heard Fernando's opponents making outrageous remarks about the items he had appraised and belittling him personally, which infuriated him. He wanted nothing more than to take them all away, but in the end, he restrained himself.

Violence can solve many problems, but it should not be the only means of solving problems; otherwise, he will not have a good end.

He was quite clear-headed about this; he couldn't just go on a killing spree whenever he was dissatisfied.

When the choice is in his hands, patience is a virtue. Since he can overturn the table at any time, it might not be a bad thing to be patient until then.

Emotions are like a wild horse; learn to ride them, not let them drag you along.

Suppressing his anger, he continued to quietly observe how things unfolded.

In the meeting room, Fernando was clearly not new to this situation; he waited for the opposition to finish speaking before continuing:

"Although Mr. James has only been in the industry for three years, he has appraised many difficult antiques, and I believe you are all familiar with his professional experience over the past few years."

“If we can’t reach an agreement on this, how about we set a test as a standard to assess whether Mr. James is qualified to join the club?”

"If the result is satisfactory, Mr. James will join; if not, we'll drop the case. That way, there won't be any more disputes. How about that?"

The meeting room fell silent for a moment, because in the past, when discussing the addition of new members, there had been no test questions.

Everyone was a little worried that this method would become the norm in the future, which wouldn't be good for them either. What if their own children or nephews needed to join the association in the future?

Upon hearing this, Sun Zhiwei looked at Fernando with new respect. This suggestion had no impact on him; he trusted the omnipotent spatial discrimination ability.

But how did Fernando come to have such great confidence in him?
In the end, the proposal was approved, and they would find a controversial antique within three days as the test question.

Three days passed in a flash, and three days later Sun Zhiwei was invited again to enter the building of the M Country Appraisers Association.

Today, all 27 association members at headquarters were present to witness this assessment.

Sun Zhiwei was led to a conference room by staff. The seats in the middle of the conference room had been moved away, leaving only a large table with today's test questions in a box on the table.

Sun Zhiwei had already used spatial perspective to see clearly what was inside the box: an oil painting.

Before the box was opened, he quickly put the oil painting into his spatial storage, obtained the authentication information from the space, and then immediately put the oil painting back into the box.

Knowing the true nature of the oil painting, Sun Zhiwei entered the meeting room with a lighter step.

Association president Fernando greeted him at the door, and then they went into the conference room together.

By this time, everyone had arrived, and the meeting room door was closed from the outside by staff. Now, there were only 28 people left in the meeting room, including Sun Zhiwei.

Clearly, the association didn't want to expose this matter, otherwise it could very well become a scandal for the association, as suppressing younger generations is not a good reputation.

Fernando introduced all the committee members present to Sun Zhiwei, who greeted and shook hands with each of them with a gentle smile.

Most people actually opposed this so-called assessment, but now that they see Mr. James being so gentle and polite, many of them feel a pang of guilt.

(End of this chapter)