Reborn in America: I Have an Equipment Slot

Chapter 114 Accident

"Hellfire?"

Upon hearing that familiar name, Irving subconsciously frowned.

"That's right." James sighed. "I made a batch of fake IDs for Hellfire, but somehow the Blood Gang found out and staked out the transaction location beforehand."

I never imagined that the conflict between the two gangs would be so great, and that I almost lost my life because of this.

Miami is getting more and more chaotic, it seems I really need to find an opportunity to change careers —

At this point, James suddenly seemed to remember something, turned his head and looked at Irving with a bright light, asking, "Hey buddy! What do you think of the auction house business? Should I switch careers and go into auctions?"

"It's possible, but opening an auction house requires a lot of capital, and you also need to have access to channels that can provide you with a regular selection of items for auction."

"Channels? Dude, can't you just provide me with auction items?" James' eyes lit up, and he felt even more that he was perfect for switching careers to run an auction house.

"I can provide that, but running an auction house and organizing auctions isn't that simple —"

Irving was about to continue trying to dissuade James, but seeing James' excited expression, he simply stopped trying to say anything more.

Since James wants to try, let him give it a shot.

Anyway, if I fail, I won't lose anything.

But if it succeeds, those strange and unusual items I collected might find a market.

While Irving was still in a daze, the price of the gilded bronze Maitreya Buddha statue was finally set at $2.

Seeing the auction price, Irving couldn't help but think to himself, "Indeed, making money from the rich in America is much easier than making money from the poor."

As more than a dozen items were sold one after another, Irving let out a long yawn, looking utterly dejected.

Just as he was about to get up to go to the toilet.

As the staff switched the screen, the celadon bowl he had been waiting for finally appeared before everyone's eyes.

Upon seeing the familiar blue-green porcelain bowl, Irving immediately sat up straight, his fatigue vanishing instantly.

The auctioneer on the stage took a deep breath and slowly began to introduce the item: "Okay, everyone, please pay attention. This item is a celadon bowl from the Qing Dynasty. Although it is not very old and its condition is average, the special glaze looks very beautiful!"

According to our auction house's estimate, a celadon bowl of this quality would have a market price of around $2.

The starting price is $1000, and each bid must be at least $100.

The auction is now open!

After more than a dozen rounds of auctions, many of the buyers present were no longer as enthusiastic as they had been at the beginning.

Even when they heard the auction house's estimated market price, most buyers showed little interest.

After all, no matter what the auctioneer said, this celadon bowl looked too broken, covered with various tiny cracks, and its ordinary shape made it far less appealing than those exquisitely crafted Buddha statues.

So when the auction began, only a handful of people raised their paddles in the huge venue.

The price remained at $2000, and no one offered a higher price for a long time.

Seeing this, James, who was sitting to the side, immediately became excited and hurriedly nudged Irving.

"WTF, why isn't anyone bidding anymore? Dude, why aren't you bidding?"

"No rush, let's wait a little longer," Irving said calmly.

"No rush! The auctioneer has already started the countdown!" James sat up straight, his expression instantly tense.

But Irving remained calm.

When auctioneer Kevin announced, "$2000 for the second time," the auction was over.

"$2100." Irving decisively held up his number.

"OK! Buyer number 99 has bid $2100. Any higher bids?"

Seeing someone raise the price, auctioneer Kevin's eyes lit up, and he spoke decisively and passionately: "Holding your breath, don't hesitate any longer! I guarantee this celadon bowl is worth far more than this. The current price is only $2100, but our auction house values ​​it at $2!"

As the auctioneer repeated the announcement, several wealthy white men in the room casually raised their number paddles.

The price also jumped from $2100 to $4200.

"Shit!!" Seeing the price increase so much in the blink of an eye, James couldn't help but curse.

But Irving had anticipated this.

After a moment's thought, he immediately raised his number and raised the price to $6000.

"$6000!"

Auctioneer Kevin's eyes lit up, and he immediately asked if there were any higher bids.

Seeing that the buyers who had just been raising prices had suddenly fallen silent, James looked puzzled.

"Any further bids?"

Auctioneer Kevin looked around and, seeing no one else bidding, began repeating, "$6000 for the first time, $6000 for the second time... $6000 for the third time!!"

Bang!

As the gavel fell, auctioneer Kevin looked directly at Irving: "Congratulations to buyer number 99 for winning this Qing Dynasty celadon bowl! Please pay the balance in the back office to collect your item, or continue participating in the next round of the auction and pay together later."

After confirming that Irving had won the bid for the celadon bowl, James, who was standing next to him, looked excited.

A moment later, however, he asked, "Bro, why did everyone else give up when you bid $6000? Weren't they raising their paddles pretty quickly?"

"This is called raising the price, which raises the other party's psychological expectations. It's an auction technique," Ou explained simply. "The reason why that group of people kept bidding was because, although there were many bidders, they were basically raising the price little by little. Everyone wanted to find a bargain but didn't want to spend too much money on this celadon bowl."

In this situation, I directly raised the price by nearly $2000.

Do you think they will choose to continue raising the price and compete with me to the end, or will they choose to give up?

"Of course I'd choose to give up," James replied instinctively.

He realized what he had just said.

"To be honest, auctions are the opposite of human nature. When others are greedy and acting impulsively, you have to stay calm. It's actually quite simple."

Irving stood up, a smile spreading across his face.

Although the price of $6000 was indeed higher than he had expected, Irving couldn't help but complain when he thought that the real market value of this celadon bowl was at least $5.

"Selling handicrafts as cultural relics, and selling real cultural relics as handicrafts... It's hard to imagine how this auction house has managed to stay in business until now."

Just as Irving and James went backstage to collect their auction items.

Suddenly, the sound of shattering glass caught their attention.