50s: Starting with a storage ring

Chapter 455 The Explosive Scandal of $900 Million

After confirming that the Getty Youth statue in the Getty Villa Museum was a fake, Sun Zhiwei was relieved.

All we have to do is wait until tomorrow and make a big splash in front of the Los Angeles Times reporters. Hopefully, the Getty Foundation president will be more open-minded.

The next morning, just after Sun Zhiwei had finished breakfast, the luxury car sent by the Getty Villa Museum to pick him up arrived at the door.

As he walked out of his house carrying a black appraisal toolbox, he saw the bright red Lincoln 'Last City' in front of him.

As the epitome of pure American "luxury cars," Cadillac and Lincoln are regarded as the benchmark of American luxury cars, and are even proudly hailed by Detroiters as "the standard of world luxury cars."

Especially this 'Last City' in front of me, it's really too beautiful, and it will definitely turn heads on the street.

The 'Last City' is currently priced at a whopping $4. Wow, the Getty Villa Museum is really rich.

However, he himself is much richer, so why hasn't he thought of buying one? It seems that buying a new car needs to be put on the agenda.

Sun Zhiwei, sitting in the car, enjoyed the scenery of the city along the way, and soon arrived at the foot of Santa Monica Mountain.

The car easily climbed the mountain road and soon arrived at the museum at the top of the mountain.

Perhaps because the road conditions in Los Angeles were very good today, the 30-kilometer journey took less than half an hour.

He was greeted at the door by Yale Seck, the current director of the Getty Villa Museum, accompanied by two reporters from the Los Angeles Times.

In the presence of reporters, the curator and Sun Zhiwei shook hands warmly. This scene was captured by a reporter from the Los Angeles Times, and it may become a meaningful commemorative photo in the future.

The staff members next to him helped Sun Zhiwei carry his toolbox, while Sun Zhiwei himself, led by curator Saike, began to tour the museum's collection.

To be honest, this museum has a lot of good stuff.

Most of them are ancient Greek, Roman, and Etruscan artifacts, with a total collection of over 44,000 items.

This even includes artifacts from 6500 BC to 400 AD.

There are brightly colored double-eared jars, well-preserved stone coffins, exquisitely carved lintels, and mummy portraits from thousands of years ago that are still lifelike.

When everyone arrived at the small hall on the right side of the museum, Sun Zhiwei immediately saw the Getty Youth statue that he had seen the night before.

From the moment Sun Zhiwei first saw it, he felt something was off, not because of the material or other factors, but because of its design.

The statue's posture looks awkward no matter how you look at it; its hands are hanging down side by side, but its two feet are staggered, one in front of the other.

This posture is strange because it is not a person's natural posture.

The natural posture is when the left foot is forward and the right hand is also forward, so that the body can maintain balance naturally. Otherwise, it is considered a misalignment.

Other ancient standing statues either have their feet together or hold weapons or other objects; they are not like this, with bare hands standing at attention.

"Mr. James, this is the Getty Youth statue that we invited you to appraise. We managed to acquire it for a hefty price of $900 million."

When the curator, Saike, introduced the statue, his eyes were full of pride.

"You are the most famous appraisal master of the new generation in the United States. Please take a close look at this statue for us and leave your comments."

Upon hearing his words, Sun Zhiwei remained noncommittal, simply circling the statue calmly. Only then did he signal to the staff to bring his toolbox.

At the same time, he asked the staff to bring over a small table to serve as his workbench. After the table arrived, he solemnly opened his toolbox and neatly arranged various professional identification tools on the table.

Seeing his posture, the reporter quickly asked the photographer to capture the moment.

They've never seen such a high-class, ceremonial on-site appraisal process before.

Once the preparatory work is completed, the formal evaluation process can begin.

After a series of observations, measurements, and samplings, he even drew a simple sketch of the statue on a blank sheet of paper.

Afterwards, he also looked at the excavation certificates and multiple test reports on display.

Finally, he put down all his tools, then faced the curator, Yale Sack, and the reporters with a serious expression and said:

"I regret to inform you that, based on my professional knowledge and the results of my examination, this is a barely passable fake."

These words shocked everyone, especially the two Los Angeles Times reporters.

They originally thought they were just going through the motions today, getting some gifts and cash to write press releases, but little did they know there would be an unexpected surprise.

Compared to a $900 million bombshell scandal, the tea money that Curator Seck gave them was insignificant.

"That's impossible. We have the material testing report. Mr. James, are you sure you saw it clearly?" The curator's tone was a mix of panic and anger.

We paid a lot of money to hire you for publicity, not to sabotage us. Don't you have any professional ethics at all?

"Yes, I have seen the report, and I will explain it to you all later. However, my professional ethics do not allow me to change my assessment results."

"Director Yale, do you need me to explain the results of the analysis?"

Curator Saike barely suppressed his anger, his face flushed, and said stiffly, "Please explain to us why you judged it to be a fake."

“Okay, Mr. Curator, let me share my judgment.”

"First, there's the issue of its material."

"The test report said that its material is consistent with the condition after thousands of years of weathering, and I do not refute this result."

"But have you noticed that the entire statue, whether it's the front, back, sides, or even the soles of its feet, is completely weathered?"

"What's wrong with that? The statue is a whole; every part of it has undergone the same amount of time and weathering, so the degree of weathering should naturally be exactly the same."

This is what one of the reporters said, and the curator of the museum did not refute it, which means he probably agreed with the reporter's point of view.

"No, no, no, that view is exactly wrong."

“A marble statue placed outdoors, enduring thousands of years of wind and rain, may seem to look the same in every part, but in fact there are differences.”

"The correct situation is that the statue faces the east and west sides and is exposed to direct sunlight, so the degree of weathering should be higher than that facing the south and north sides."

"Moreover, the base of the statue is covered by the ground, so it is not exposed to the sun at all, and the degree of weathering should be less."

After he said that, everyone immediately understood. It was indeed as he said, that it was impossible for the entire surface to be weathered to the same degree, especially the soles of the feet.

(End of this chapter)