50s: Starting with a storage ring

Chapter 806 One Hundred Thousand Collections

Christie's, as a long-established auction house, has an internal client list that records detailed information about each client's financial resources, preferences, and other data.

Those who make it onto this list are all high-achieving individuals who receive significant discounts on transaction fees when buying or selling items at Christie's.

The reason is simple: Christie's hopes to turn these customers into loyal customers.

Christie's has very few unsold lots because they send out lots descriptions to many interested clients before each auction.

For example, the theme of a certain auction is various antique porcelains.

Before the auction begins, Christie's will select customers who love collecting antique porcelain from its internal client list and send them descriptions of the items for auction.

Before each auction begins, all the items up for auction already have suitable buyers.

Moreover, it's common practice for ordinary auction houses to hire shills to inflate prices, a practice that is morally reprehensible.

They might have done that in the early years, but as Christie's gradually became a world-renowned auction house, they stopped doing it.

On the one hand, they have already accumulated a group of regular customers, and most of their auction items don't actually have trouble finding buyers;
On the other hand, if such a thing is exposed, it is likely to anger powerful figures and bring a lot of negative impact to their auction house.

In summary, although Christie's charges high fees, Sun Zhi still chose them as his partner for the sake of convenience and peace of mind.

The following morning, Christie's auction house sent a six-person reception team, led by an administrative manager, to the Peninsula Hotel where Sun Zhiwei was staying.

Seeing their large entourage, Sun Zhiwei knew that Christie's must have already discovered his wealthy identity; otherwise, they wouldn't have sent so many people.

However, he didn't care too much about how many people came this time, since it certainly wouldn't be enough.

The eight crypts of the Padmana Baswamy Temple contain approximately 8 items, which would require a team of over 10 people to authenticate.

Sun Zhiwei didn't make the meeting too formal; instead, he simply invited them to his room.

His room was certainly not small; even with six people, it didn't feel crowded.

The manager leading the group was very polite when he entered. Christie's will be holding its first auction on Hong Kong Island this year, and they are currently collecting items for the auction.

At this critical juncture, it's not surprising that a wealthy American contacted them; they must have something good to auction, so it's not surprising that they took it seriously.

But when Sun Zhiwei revealed his purpose, the manager was a little confused.

“Mr. James, if I heard you correctly, you mean you’ve found a treasure from ancient India and now want to entrust all the items in the treasure to our auction house, is that right?”

"That's right, because there's a lot of stuff, and I'm too lazy to do it myself."

"Including the appraisal, classification, and auction of all the items, I'm leaving all of this to you. I don't know if you can handle it?"

“Mr. James, you can rest assured that we are a century-old company, a treasure trove, and we have enough manpower to help you handle it.”

"May I inquire about the approximate quantity and value of this treasure?"

"As for the number of items, I estimate there are around 10 pieces."

"Um, Mr. James, please wait a moment. Did you just say 'ten thousand'?"

“No, no, no, you misheard, it’s ‘one hundred thousand’!” “Oh my god!” The six foreigners from the Christie’s team exclaimed in unison.

Hearing the auction house manager and the others utter that familiar word, Sun Zhiwei curled his lip; foreigners just love to make a fuss.

What's so special about 10 antiques? Every time a high-level tomb is excavated in China, hundreds of thousands of items are unearthed.

Ignoring their surprise, he continued, "As for the value of the entire treasure, that's hard to estimate."

"I can only give a general idea of ​​the value of the materials they were made from. As for their value as antiques, your appraisers will need to assess them."

"But most of my treasure consists of gold and gemstone artifacts, with the gold alone weighing over 200 tons."

"Based on today's international gold price of $410 per ounce, the value of this batch of gold is around $70 billion."

"You're in the art auction business, so you should know the difference in value between gold and gold jewelry. Antique gold jewelry is even more expensive. You can find out the specifics by having it appraised yourself."

The manager fell silent. He raised his head with some difficulty and asked one last time, "May we see the actual product?"

He knew this approach was inappropriate, but he couldn't confirm the news based solely on Sun Zhiwei's words and then send the message back to headquarters for help.

If the news is confirmed, this deal will likely have to be handled by someone else, as he doesn't have the authority to handle such a large number of items.

If this is true, the safekeeping of this treasure alone would require a large security force to ensure its safety.

The security situation on Hong Kong Island isn't great right now, and too many risk-takers might come here because of this treasure.

"Want to see the actual product? Sure, come with me."

Afterwards, Sun Zhiwei went out wearing slippers. The warehouse he rented was located in Victoria Harbour below the hotel, just a few minutes' walk away.

He was too lazy to change into formal attire; given his status, no one would refuse him entry to the hotel because of his disheveled appearance.

Ten minutes later, Sun Zhiwei led a six-person team from Christie's to the entrance of a warehouse in Victoria Harbour.

Just as Sun Zhiwei was unlocking the door, the 40 empty containers he had smuggled from the port were already neatly stacked in the warehouse.

The outermost container was already filled with treasures from the Padmana Baswamy Temple.

The warehouse door was opened, and the seven people walked into the warehouse together.

Upon seeing the shipping containers inside, the six Christie's employees exchanged bewildered glances. Was this tycoon really so nonchalant? A large quantity of antiques was being transported directly in shipping containers, and not a single security guard was being sent?
Sun Zhiwei had no idea what they were thinking; he just wanted to entrust the treasures in his space to others as soon as possible and monetize them quickly.

Leaving them in the space serves no purpose; it's better to exchange them for money.

Now is the time when Subi Island needs a lot of money for expansion, and selling all these treasures will relieve his financial burden.

Sun Zhiwei led them to the only container that contained something and quickly opened the container door.

As sunlight streamed into the warehouse, everyone's faces were bathed in a golden glow—the reflection of the numerous gold artifacts inside the containers.

(End of this chapter)