Chapter 5: Astronomical Prices

Phillips, an auction house established in 1796, is considered to be a century-old shop, but it only has a history of a few hundred years, far behind Sotheby's and Christie's, and it was not qualified to be compared at all.

In Europe and the United States, it is estimated that it can only be regarded as a second-rate top auction house, but everything changed in 1999. In November 1999, this auction house was taken over by the famous luxury brand 'Ouch The boss of Hey' invested 70 million pounds to buy it, and merged it into the name of the world's largest luxury goods group, Ouch Hey.

Then it took advantage of the scandal-ridden opportunities of the top two auction houses and invested heavily in Phillips. His main focus was not on those antiques. He knew that even if he competed again, he would not be able to compete with those two.

So his main projects are Impressionist oil paintings, as well as contemporary artworks and furniture.

Jiang Hai's main goal is this! After making a phone call in the evening and contacting him to meet at his office the next day, Jiang Hai was relieved that everything had to wait until tomorrow.

Early the next morning, he came to Phillips' office with his backpack on his back.

Hi, may I help you? When he walked into the office, a receptionist asked him.

Oh, hello, I called to make an appointment yesterday, and my surname is Jiang. She nodded to the girl at the front desk.

Mr. Jiang? Your appointment time is nine o'clock in the morning. It's almost time. I'll take you to the third reception room first. I'll ask Manager Zhang to come down. Hearing Jiang Hai's words, the girl first smiled Nodding his head, he led Jiang Hai to a VIP hall, where he added a cup of tea to Jiang Hai, and left again. Not long after, a man in a suit came in from the outside. This man looked about forty years old , but he looked very capable, and he laughed when he saw Jiang Hai.

Mr. Jiang? I'm the account manager of the Imperial City Department of Phillips Auction House. My surname is Zhang. What can I do for you? After shaking hands with Jiang Hai first, the middle-aged man asked with a smile.

It's like this. I have a batch of gemstones, and I want to ask you to help identify them. When shaking hands with this person, Jiang Hai also explained his whereabouts. He was not surprised to hear that he was appraising things. .

After all, when you come here, you are not here for appraisal, or for auction, and even if you come for auction, you will have to appraise it before the auction. Regarding Jiang Hai's statement, it seems normal to him.

Of course it is possible, but our auction house is not easy to operate, and we need to charge a certain fee for appraisal. Sitting on both sides of the tea table with Jiang Hai, Manager Zhang said with a smile.

I know this, but I don't know what the charging standard is. Gently nodded, Jiang Hai had already inquired about it before coming here. Naturally, the auction house has to charge for the appraisal. In fact, what they mainly earn is As for the money, as for the auction, it will be three years without opening, and three years after opening.

Our auction house basically charges two types of appraisal fees. One is to charge 1% of the appraisal fee as the appraisal fee. If it is some collections worth thousands or tens of thousands, it can be done like this. The second choice is the fixed appraisal fee, two thousand per item. Looking at Jiang Hai, the account manager said with a smile.

That's it, then I'll choose to fix it! After thinking for a while, although Jiang Hai didn't know the value of these things on his body, but in case there were treasures, the price was more than 200,000, the second one would be better than the first one. It's worth it, he has confidence in his own gems, seeing that Jiang Hai has already chosen, Manager Zhang didn't say much, so he went out and invited two people to come in.

One of these two people is a middle-aged man who seems to be a master, and the other is a young man who is probably an apprentice. He came here to gain knowledge and pass things. After the two came in, they gave a brief introduction. The stone obtained from the hole was taken out.

In the cave, he obtained a total of 213 unbreakable stones. It was appraised that he didn't have enough money, so he could only see whether the appraised stones were worth money. Re-identify.

He is now reluctant to use snake scales to grow flowers, thinking that these stones will always be worth the appraisal money.

The two prepared the instruments, and Jiang Hai also took out some stones and put them on the coffee table, watching the two start the appraisal.

This is a natural crystal, not worth much. Such a big piece costs about 3,500 yuan. But soon, this person finished watching the first gem. Hearing what this person said, Jiang Hai sighed. Tone, he also knows that crystals may be quite valuable in the past, but since they can be made artificially, the price of natural crystals has not been high. If it is not because of the good purity of his piece, it may not even be worth three thousand and five.

It seems that I am a little too optimistic. I whispered in my heart, and at the same time put away those on the table that were of similar quality. Since they are all crystals, there is no need to identify them.

The appraiser over there didn't care either. After all, there are too many varieties of gems, and there are too many laymen, so there is no need to spend such money.

After appraising more than a dozen pieces in a row, they were all natural crystals. Jiang Hai felt a little helpless, but fortunately, the price of these crystals was not less than 2,000, which was regarded as earning back the appraisal fee.

Huh? But just when Jiang Hai was about to become numb, the appraiser here suddenly let out a snort, and looked at the gemstone in his hand seriously. This time he played with it for about ten minutes before lifting it up. He turned his head and looked at Jiang Hai.

You're lucky. This piece is not a natural crystal, but a natural sapphire. It's about ten carats in size and worth 1.2 million. Hearing what the appraiser said, Jiang Hai was stunned for a moment, and this time the appraisal fee came out. .

After thinking about it for a while, he put the ones that had confirmed the crystals back into his bag, and the remaining ones that were not sure, a total of one hundred and thirty-two yuan, took them out and piled them aside, looking at the workload. , The appraiser couldn't help laughing, but he didn't say anything, because that's what his job was, and what he earned was the commission in this regard.

He appraised a gem for 2,000 yuan, and he commissioned 1,500 yuan. Jiang Hai was also adding money to him.

It may be because of the relationship with this sapphire that the appraiser looked more carefully. However, crystals are crystals, and they cannot be regarded as gems if you look carefully. Among Jiang Hai's remaining gems, there are one hundred and two Eleven pieces are all natural crystals.

Basically, the big ones are all natural crystals, and the rest that look like gemstones are all relatively small.

In a blink of an eye, the appraiser had already seen 130 yuan, except for two pieces that were not seen, only nine pieces were precious stones.

The most valuable piece was a 12.37-carat ruby ​​estimated at $2.3 million.

There are also two smaller rubies, which together can sell for about half a million.

The remaining three emeralds are worth about 1.6 million together.

The two sapphires are worth 400,000 when added together, which is only 1,600,000 when combined with the ones identified at the beginning.

The remaining three gems, two sea blue and one golden green, are all in the size of fifty carats, or about ten grams.

Together, they can be sold for about one million, that is to say, the total value of these stones is seven million soft sister coins.

Although there is a big gap between tens of millions and hundreds of millions in Jiang Hai's imagination, seven million is not bad.

While comforting himself in his heart, it was worthwhile to go this time, the appraiser over there has already appraised the things almost.

Of the two pieces that were finally appraised, one was a natural crystal, worth several thousand dollars, but when looking at the last piece, the appraiser's eyes turned green all of a sudden...

Looking at this stone, he kept looking, and kept looking, for almost half an hour. After half an hour, he looked at the assistant beside him and told him what machine to get.

Soon, the young man came back with a lot of machines in his hand, and then the appraiser began to try one by one.

About an hour and a half later, the appraiser held the gem and sat there without speaking.

Uh, what's the problem? Seeing the appraiser's appearance, Jiang Hai asked a little strangely.

There is no problem, but if there are no accidents, Mr. Jiang, maybe you are about to send it. Looking at the pink hexagonal gemstone that was about the size of four thumbnails in his hand, the appraiser's eyes It's all glowing inside.

Sent? Uh, I did post a small post. After all, those gems are worth more than seven million. I laughed at myself. In a sense, I did post.

No, there is this gem. The value of your gems just now is about the same as the stones on the side of the road. Hearing Jiang Hai's words, the appraiser's eyes began to light up, and he said to Jiang Hai excitedly.

Your stone, I can tell you 99.99% that it should be a pink diamond. The craftsmanship of the four cs is extreme. The net weight is 31.6 carats. Do you know the transaction price of this diamond? The transaction price per carat is 380,000 US dollars! The appraiser said seriously, as if he didn't want to let this pink diamond disappear from his eyes for a second.

380,000 US dollars, one carat? Then 31.6 is 12 million US dollars? Hearing the appraiser's words, Jiang Hai's mind seemed to be hammered suddenly, and he was a little dazed. , but the appraiser didn't seem to be ready to let him go just like that.

No, more than that, your pink diamond is a complete pink diamond, a 31.6-carat complete pink diamond, the price must be at least twenty times higher!

Hiss... I seem a little confused, wait, don't talk to me, I want to be quiet...