50s: Starting with a storage ring

Chapter 826 $1008.64 billion

After the final auction began, the starting price of $2.5 million was raised to $4.2 million in less than 10 minutes.

At the auction, money was treated like waste paper; millions upon millions of dollars were added to the total price by raised arms.

The auctioneer on stage, who was dubbed the "Indian Girl," was already excited by the high amount of money involved.

She didn't even bother to pick up the veil that had fallen off her face, and she also took off half of the shawl from her shoulders, revealing her bare right shoulder and fair arm, on which she wore only a bracelet as she excitedly waved the hammer.

It must be said that as long as the auctioneer is well-chosen, can control the pace of the event, and can engage the buyers in the audience, the auction can indeed significantly increase the final price.

In fact, Christie's appraisers' initial valuation of the "Patiera Necklace" was not without reason.

Because the world's most valuable piece of jewelry, the Hope Diamond Necklace, is only worth $2.5 million.

While the "Patiera Necklace" is rare, it may not be comparable to the "Hope Diamond Necklace," but Christie's appraisers still gave it a valuation of $2.5 million, reflecting high hopes.

Now that hope has come true, the auction for the "Patiera Necklace" has already surpassed the value of the "Hope Diamond Necklace" at the very beginning, which is why the buyers in the audience have become increasingly enthusiastic.

Because of the "Patiera Necklace" on stage, from the moment it was first successfully bid today, it has already transformed from a rare piece of jewelry into the world's number one jewel.

When many people received the exhibit's description and saw the estimated value of $2.5 million, they smiled knowingly.

$2.5 million is the world's most expensive jewelry. No one thinks the Hope Diamond Necklace is worth that much, but no one thinks the Patiala Necklace can compare.

So when the final auction of the day began, there was a one-minute lull in the atmosphere as everyone watched.

Things started to change once the first person offered $2.51 million.

The reasons and rewards for the crowd taking pictures of it are completely different from what they were at the beginning; No.1 is just that incredible.

That's just how the world is; the winner takes all. Everyone remembers the champion, but who remembers who the runner-up was?

Just like everyone knows that the women's volleyball team won five consecutive championships this year, but who knows who the runners-up were in those five championship matches?

Japan, the runner-up in the 3rd Women's Volleyball World Cup in 1981;

Peru, the runner-up in the 9th FIVB Women's World Championship in 1982;
The United States women's volleyball team, silver medalists at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics;

Cuba, runner-up in the 4th Women's Volleyball World Cup in 1985;

Cuba, the runner-up in the 10th FIVB Women's World Championship in 1986.

Sun Zhiwei is confident that unless you're directly involved or search it on Baidu, nobody will remember these five runners-up.

Having spent three days backstage, Sun Zhiwei felt confident.

Just now, before the final auction began, the total transaction amount of this auction had already reached US$998.52 billion.

When the first bid was made in the final auction, a record of hundreds of billions of dollars had already been set. Any further bids would only be icing on the cake, and Sun Zhiwei no longer needed to watch.

Seeing the lively scene in front of him, he happily decided to leave early.

He has stayed here for the past three days to protect the auction and prevent any accidents. Now that the auction is about to end, he can go back and get some rest.

At 5:45 PM, when the auctioneer, known as the "Girl from India," struck the gavel, the auction officially ended. The final item, the "Partiara Necklace," was successfully acquired by His Highness the Prince for an astonishing $10.12 billion.

This price surpassed the original world's number one jewelry item, the "Hope Diamond Necklace," and ascended to the throne of the world's number one jewelry item.

Christie's auction house also achieved a record total sales of US$1008.64 billion today, setting an insurmountable record in the history of world auctions.

Unbeknownst to anyone, just as the beautiful auctioneer struck the gavel for the final time, Diana woke up in the intensive care unit of Mingde Hospital.

However, the royal family's plans for this auction failed due to an unexpected health event involving Diana.

In the evening, Sun Zhiwei received a brief summary of the auction from Christie's.

This "Golden Treasures" auction featured 7120 lots, of which 6692 were successfully sold, achieving a sell-through rate of 93.99% and a total sales amount of US$1008.64 billion.

In other words, 428 items failed to sell. There are many reasons for this, including overvaluation and a lack of potential buyers.

For example, one of the gold ornaments that failed to sell at auction was originally nailed to the head of an ancient Indian prince through his nose bone.

Although it was set with a huge ruby, its unusual placement made it unpopular with many people, and it failed to sell at auction.

Although the auction is over, Christie's still has a lot to do afterward.

In addition to collecting money and delivering the auction items, Christie's also had to return the unsold items to Sun Zhiwei and settle the final accounts with him.

This process can take up to a month if things go smoothly, but it's not uncommon for it to take up to six months.

Especially with so many items fetching over ten million US dollars at this auction, collecting the money is a troublesome matter.

While the super-rich are very wealthy, they may not necessarily have that much cash on hand. Many successful bidders need time to raise funds in order to pay the auction fees.

Generally, Christie's only gives a seven-day payment period.

However, because the amount involved is too large this time, and many of the buyers are their long-term customers, the timeframe can be extended appropriately, but it will generally not exceed one month.

From this auction alone, Sun Zhiwei is about to receive a net income of $857.344 billion, in addition to some extra expenses, including storage fees, insurance fees, etc.

However, Christie's made such a huge profit from this auction that an excited Christie's chairman, John Carlson, decided to waive all other miscellaneous fees for Sun Zhiwei.

In Carlson's own words: "James, now that we're friends, there's no need to be so particular about such a small amount of money."

Sun Zhiwei agreed with this, and he also acknowledged the statement made by Carlson, his friend.

During the waiting period, Sun Zhiwei planned to return to China to discuss a business deal with his family: an arms deal.

This was because he considered the insufficient surface protection capabilities of the Greater Natuna Islands and planned to buy some warships to go back and protect the islands.

China is now capable of building the Type 051 destroyer, which has a displacement of 3250 tons, a speed of 32-36 knots, a range of 5000 kilometers, and is capable of air defense, anti-ship warfare, and anti-submarine warfare.

Although the technology is still not advanced enough, it is comprehensive enough and cheap enough. He made a lot of money this time, so he placed some orders for his family, which can be considered as supporting the construction of the navy's defense.

(End of this chapter)