Reborn Treasure Appraiser: I Really Didn’t Want to Be an Expert

Chapter 40 Gaining knowledge
"What's the reverse seat? The reverse seat system!"

Hao Jun muttered, "Lao Guan, have you heard of it?"

Guan Xingmin shook his head: "You are an expert in miscellaneous subjects, and you haven't heard of it. Where can I listen to it?"

yes?

All enamelware before Jiaqing came from the Enamel Workshop of the Imperial Household Department, but there were only a few enamel workshops, so how could there be a Daozuo Hall?
But it is even more impossible to say that this plate is a later imitation.

The old age can't deceive people, the green material can't deceive people, and the craftsmanship can't deceive people. It's 100% made in the palace...

Just as he was thinking hard, Lin Sicheng suddenly said, "It's not hall, it should be room!"

"The upside-down room...Which upside-down room?"

"Prince Yi's Mansion!"

Hao Jun was stunned for a moment, a light flashing in his mind: "During the Yongzheng period... Prince Yi Yunxiang... No... You mean: Prince Yi's palace fired enamel?"

"Yes, it was burned for quite a while!" Lin Sicheng nodded. "It started after Yongzheng ascended the throne and continued until Yunxiang passed away..."

"how do you know?"

"Historical records include: "Draft History of the Qing Dynasty": Imperial edict (the second year of the Yongzheng reign): The miscellaneous work (enamel workshop) has newly fired twenty pairs of enamel-painted pots, but the glaze is cracked and the color is uneven, and the quality is uneven... Yunxiang is ordered to fire them in the palace, ensuring that they are light and delicate...

"Qing Palace Archives" reports: On the fourth day of the second lunar month (the fourth year of the Yongzheng reign), Prince Yi delivered nine dark dragon wine cups. The emperor ordered: "Two are acceptable; the remaining seven should be carefully crafted in your palace."

On the tenth day of March, Prince Yi presented a pair of Western enamel cups: seven in total: moon white, yellow, green, light blue, pine yellow, light green, and black...

In the sixth year of the Yongzheng reign, the emperor issued an edict: "Your (Yunxiang) palace is ordered to prepare a lot of Naermen oil (a special oil for enamelware) for Nian Xiyao (Nian Gengyao's brother, then the head of the Imperial Household Department) to use for firing enamel."

"Due to the rampant corruption during the reign of Emperor Kangxi, enamel materials were too expensive, and the Imperial Household Department was bloated and slow to act, so soon after Yongzheng ascended the throne, he ordered Yunxiang to select craftsmen from the Imperial Household Department to conduct research and test firing in the Imperial Household Department first.

Once it was successful, it would be handed over to the enamel workshop for mass production... The workshop for color matching and trial firing was located in the back room where Prince Yi's servants lived... All trial-fired enamelware was stamped with the inscription "Made in the Back Room"..."

Lin Sicheng spoke calmly, and Hao Jun and Guan Xingmin were stunned.

Let’s not talk about whether this basin is real or not, nor whether it came from Prince Yi’s Mansion. Let’s just talk about the sources of the historical materials that Lin Sicheng just mentioned: This is a historical manuscript, not an ancient poem. How did he get the year, month and day so accurately?
Looking at the basin again: the shape is right, the glaze is right, the age is right, and the provenance is extremely detailed... everything is in place, except for running it through the machine.

Guan Xingmin's eyes lit up: "Then how should this be calculated?"

Lin Sicheng thought for a moment and said, "It can barely be considered a palace edition, but it's certainly not as good as a proper imperial edition. First, it only has paintings and seals, but no poetry or calligraphy. It's a far cry from the characteristic combination of 'poetry, calligraphy, painting and seals' of Yongzheng enamels..."

The second is the bottom inscription and source: even if it is Prince Yi's Mansion, the back house is just where servants live, and it can't catch up with the Imperial Household Department and the "Made in the Yongzheng Period" inscription.

Third, since it's a trial-fired piece, its craftsmanship and glaze are somewhat inferior to those produced in the Imperial Household… Fourth, it's too broken… So, it has some value, but not too high…"

At first, Guan Xingmin listened very seriously, but the more he listened, the more he felt something was wrong: What does "somewhat valuable" mean?
What? You won’t be satisfied until this pot sells for five or six million?
Get it straight, this is a dog bowl, and you only spent two thousand, not two million.

What's more, there's a dog involved?

The curse words came to his lips, but Guan Xingmin swallowed them. He pointed at Lin Sicheng with his finger and turned back.

Hey...what happened to Lao Hao?
His eyes were wide open, staring at the basin intently. His lips were moving constantly, and no one knew what he was mumbling.

Listen closer: "It's fucking unbelievable... It's fucking unbelievable..."

"The dog bowl has become enamel, and I'm still a fucking miscellaneous expert?"

Guan Xingmin was stunned for a moment, almost laughing out loud. It was understandable that he hadn't noticed at the time.

First, the dog suddenly rushed out, and not only Lao Hao, but even he was scared so much that he had no time to pay attention to what the dog was saying.

Secondly, it was wrapped too tightly: of the entire basin, only the circle on the bottom where the dog often licked it was barely visible, and that was where the two goldfish had lost their porcelain. If you didn't hold it in your arms and look closely, you would think it was just rusted iron.

The most important thing is that the basin was extremely dirty: dog feces and dog food, all mixed together in a black and yellow mess, and it also smelled terrible. Let alone holding it in my arms, just looking at it made me feel sick.

So the next three times, he and Lao Hao missed the treasure again.

What Old Hao couldn't understand was that after Lin Sicheng washed the basin: you could see the glaze color, the craftsmanship, the age, and even the inscription... Isn't that enough evidence?
But he just couldn't remember the origin of the "back house".

Lin Sicheng is so good that he even recited the historical materials to you clearly?
Adding to that the feather duster and the purple clay teapot, Old Hao's mentality completely collapsed: he couldn't compare with calligraphy and paintings, he couldn't compare with wood carvings, he couldn't compare with porcelain, and now he couldn't even compare with miscellaneous utensils?
Then what kind of miscellaneous expert am I?
"How old are you, and how old is he?" Guan Xingmin laughed and patted Hao Jun on the shoulder. "I'll give you a copy of the Draft History of Qing Dynasty. Can you recite it?"

Carrying shit?
What's more, someone like Lin Sicheng can be so precise with the year, month and day?

Thinking of this, I felt much better: It’s not that Old Hao’s eyesight is bad, it’s just that he’s old and his memory is not very good...

Hey, something seems wrong?

How old are you, how old is he... Lao Guan, what do you mean?
Seeing that he was about to come to his senses, Guan Xingmin quickly changed the subject: "While we're still hot, give me an estimate first!"

"Oh, right..." Hao Jun thought for a moment, "Four or five hundred thousand is easy, and if you meet an expert, six or seven hundred thousand is normal."

Lin Sicheng nodded: "It's high enough!"

Guan Xingmin also nodded: It’s indeed high enough.

He had previously thought that it would only be three or four hundred thousand.

Of course, this is far from the transaction records of Yongzheng enamels of five or six million in the past two years, but as Lin Sicheng said: After all, it is a trial firing model, which can barely be related to "palace-made", which is not low.

On the other hand, if you picked it up as a dog bowl, how much do you want to sell it for?
Hao Jun took the basin and shook off the water at the bottom: "If you're not in a hurry, I'll take it back to the store and try to sell it for 800,000!"

Having just cheated Professor Wang out of 500,000 yuan yesterday, Lin Sicheng was certainly not in a hurry.

"Okay, take your time to look..."

Just as he finished speaking, a voice came from behind him: "800,000, I want it..."

No, where did it come from?
The three of them turned around subconsciously.

Under the shade of the trees on the roadside, only halfway across the green belt from them, was a brand new Mercedes-Benz off-road vehicle with a Beijing license plate.

The front and rear glass were all lowered, surrounding the head.

The car had been parked there before, but the windows were down at the time, so no one knew there was anyone inside. Afterward, the three of them were so focused on cleaning the dog bowl that they didn't even notice the carload of people had been staring at it for quite some time.

A closer look revealed that there were men and women, young and old, and their expressions were surprisingly consistent: they looked at the dog, then at Lin Sicheng, then at the dog, and then at Lin Sicheng again.

Their expressions were weirder than each other: Can a dog bowl become an antique?
Think about it, before, it was covered with dog shit and smelled terrible?

Look at it now: worth 700,000 or 800,000?
I have learned a lot...

(End of this chapter)