Chapter Thirty: Porcelain

  In recent years, whether in domestic or international auction markets, the prices of ancient Chinese ceramics have remained high and continue to set new price records.

  As early as 2007, at the China Guardian Spring Auctions, a Qing dynasty "Qianlong Famille Rose Vase" was sold for RMB 75 million. With a 12% commission, the total transaction price of this vase reached RMB 84 million, setting a record for the highest price ever paid for Chinese porcelain at auction on the mainland.

  This price has not been broken until today, but the porcelain that needs to be priced at tens of millions to hundreds of millions is common, and almost every auction will have one or several pieces of porcelain sold at a high price of tens of millions or even hundreds of millions.

  In the international market, the price of ancient Chinese porcelain has been rising steadily. In November 2006, a Qing dynasty Qianlong imperial famille rose "Huilin Chunyan" vase from the collection of Hong Kong collector Zhang Zongxian was sold at auction by Christie's in Hong Kong for HK$151 million, setting a new record for Qing porcelain at international auction.

  It can be seen that the status of enamel-colored porcelain in people's minds. As early as 05, at Christie's auction house in London, there was a Yuan Qinghua figure vase, which was finally sold for ￡140 million, equivalent to over RMB 230 million.

  "If I had known that, why bother with all this fuss? Just bring back a few pieces of porcelain and you'll be set!"

  Looking at the numbers he searched online, Sima's eyes lit up involuntarily. Although Sima had been making a lot of money in the past few months, the problem was that...

  Because he is worried that a large amount of gold and silver appearing on the market will attract police attention, Sima has only dared to release a small amount of gold and silver so far, although this small amount is still in the hundreds of millions compared to the past. If it weren't for the existence of this abnormal point in time and space, perhaps Sima wouldn't even dare to think about this hundreds of millions in the past.

  However, these tens of millions were far from enough to support Sima's current huge expenses, purchasing machinery and equipment, building materials and other complex expenses, although there was still a large amount of gold and silver in storage.

  But even a fool can understand what the consequences would be if a large amount of gold and silver were to flood the market at once. In foreign countries, it may cause a temporary drop in the price of gold and silver, but in our country now, I'm afraid there is only one result: directly going to prison to write explanations.

  These ceramics worth tens of millions or hundreds of millions are obviously more suitable for cashing out than gold and silver, although it may also be time-consuming and troublesome, but at least they have the advantage of being safe.

  Compared to most players, Sima has an unparalleled advantage. That is the time-space anomaly point controlled by Sima. With the auction catalog in hand, Sima can slowly select the types of porcelain that will be valuable and popular in the 21st century during the Republic of China era, and then send them to the 21st century for auction and cash out.

  As for making money or not, it's not important to Sima. What's important is that this way of withdrawing cash is relatively safe and can withdraw enough cash. Just these two points are enough.

  "Lao Gao, look at these photos."

  Although I don't know much about ceramics, thanks to the developed information industry and technology of later generations, Sima used a printer to print out hundreds of pictures of ceramic auction catalogs at home and abroad after 2000. With exquisite printed pictures, plus the names marked on the pictures, I believe I will get what I want

  "Master, what's this?"

  Gao Chuanliang held the exquisite photos in his hand, and as he looked at them, he even felt as if he was seeing real objects. Although Gao Chuanliang had also taken photos himself before,

  But like the colorful and exquisite photos in his hand, Gao Chuanliang had never seen before. Behind each ceramic photo was written the name of the ceramic. Although he didn't understand much about these things, Gao Chuanliang could still tell that the ceramics in the photos were all antiques.

  Antiques in times of prosperity, gold in times of turmoil.

  Since the year of entering the Republic, it was destined that in the Liuli Factory of this capital city, all kinds of rare and precious items have increased, and their prices compared to the Qing Dynasty are sometimes a bit off, but instead decreased by a lot.

  Nowadays, the customers in this Liuli Fang are no longer the main officials and nobles of the Qing Dynasty, but have become these newly rich businessmen and also the governors and generals from various provinces in the north and south.

  Since the abdication of the Qing emperor, the lives of the former Qing royal family members and high-ranking officials in the capital have become somewhat difficult. Many princes and ministers have lost most of their previous income.

  To the point where, in order to make a living, some princes and high-ranking officials didn't care about saving face or dignity anymore. They mostly took advantage of the current market conditions being relatively good, quietly selling off those useless trinkets that others had given them as gifts on the black market.

  Not only are the princes and ministers now so, but also that master who lives in the Forbidden City is almost the same. The retired emperor has such special privileges,

  At first, when he abdicated, it was agreed that the Northern Government would provide silver to support him every year. However, in reality, the Northern Government's silver was already tight, and there was no extra silver to spare for the young and inexperienced emperor in the Forbidden City.

  Without silver, not only the emperor's days are getting tighter, but also the eunuchs and palace maids in the palace are living a tight life. Originally, from hundreds of years ago, there was a habit of stealing things from the palace to sell outside for some money among the eunuchs and palace maids, now it has reached the point where someone would often pilfer something.

  Almost every day, some eunuchs and palace maids would put on makeup and go to some old shops in Liuli Factory to sell their own private goods.

  What's coming out of the palace can't be any worse? For a time, some of the rare treasures that were once hard to find in the folk are now visible on the market. In fact, many of the treasures seen in later generations also flowed into the market at this time.

  "Hey, old man! I'm here to pay my respects to you."

  As soon as Na Furi entered the antique shop, the owner hastily came up to greet him and bowed. Although the Qing dynasty had fallen, Na Furi's identity as a yellow sash holder still commanded respect in this industry, even if it was worthless in the republican era.

  "Hmm! Bring something interesting for me to take a look."

  He went straight to the chair and took a sip of the tea that Zhang had prepared. These Eight Banner young masters may not be good at writing or fighting, but they have been supported by the Qing dynasty's silver grain for hundreds of years, and after hundreds of years, each one is skilled in various hobbies such as horse riding and dog training.

  And speaking of playing tricks, Fu Li also considers himself to be quite skilled, otherwise these outsiders wouldn't have specifically asked him to show them some tricks.

  "Father! This time you're helping that governor and general buy things again?"

  The shopkeeper naturally knew that the old man in front of him, although he looked quite dignified, was actually penniless since his grandfather's generation. Fortunately, this old man had a pair of discerning eyes for antiques, and with his reputation in Liulichang, he had helped those southern generals and governors buy many antiques over the years, earning a decent commission from them.

  That old man doesn't seem to be like others who buy things with a mix of genuine and fake, but instead every piece is authentic. Over the years, this pair of fiery eyes has become more and more appreciated by those rustic folks from the south.

  "A foreign general, wanting to make a name for himself in this capital city, those old fogies are just a bunch of sheepskin-wearing nobodies. Who understands that? Isn't it just troublesome for me to give them face?"

  Although I'm holding someone else's commission money, that Fu Li is also merciless with his words. Although I don't have the money to buy these things myself now, it's a bit of a waste for them to fall into those country bumpkins' hands. But who let those country bumpkins have the money that I don't have?

  "Hey old man! This is just in time. I've got a few nice things here, take a look at this little thing."

  The shopkeeper didn't say a word, took out a dragon-patterned calabaza bottle from the cabinet and placed it on the table beside Fuli's body according to the rules.

  "Hmm! This is a Qianlong-era glazed red dragon-patterned gourd-shaped vase. Not bad! Not bad!"

  Na Fuli took a closer look at it in his hand, and as soon as he saw it, he knew that this thing must have come from the palace. Nowadays, things coming out of the palace are getting more and more common in this line of work.

  "What's going on? You're from inside the palace, aren't you?"

  Na Fuli looked carefully for a while, then put down the dragon-patterned calabaza bottle in his hand and said.

  "Heh heh! Now, in this glass factory, there aren't many things that have come out of the palace. How about it, sir? This kind of thing should be to your liking, right?"

  Money makes things easier, in just a few days, when Sima let people move the already built warehouse for the second time to transport the 40,000 military uniforms that had been transported again, Gao Chuanliang gave Sima some good news. He had asked an intermediary to collect several nice items in the capital and also found an expert to verify the goods.

  "Glazed red dragon and phoenix gourd-shaped vase, pink glaze with gold filigree hollow-out opening light-colored glaze lotus and child rotating heart bottle are all treasures from the Qianlong Emperor's time. These few pieces are Yuan Qinghua..."

  In the Gao family, Gao Chuanliang opened several boxes in the trunk and said to Sima: Although it was only a dozen pieces of porcelain, Gao Chuanliang did not spare any effort, fearing that he would buy fake goods. He specially found Na Fuli, an intermediary with a good reputation in the industry, in the capital city. After Na Fuli bought these goods, he even took them to be examined by another merchant who had dealings with Na Fuli. Only after much effort did they finally select these dozen or so items carefully.

  "Lao Gao, you've gone to a lot of trouble this time, even running all the way back to Beijing. Once we're done with this busy period, you really need to take a good rest."

  It may not be necessary to be so polite between Lao Gao and himself, but emotionally, Sima always felt uneasy. After all, Lao Gao was over 50 years old and had been running around for his own affairs in the past few months. Things like building warehouses and factories were almost all borne by him alone. He was simply a figurehead, and it was clear that Lao Gao had put in more effort than himself in everything here.

  "Young master, it's like this, it should be so, it should be so."

  Although it's hard work, Lao Gao doesn't think it's a big deal. Although he has done a lot of work, if it weren't for the support of Young Master Sima, his family would probably still be running a small pawnshop on their farm and wouldn't have achieved their current prosperity.

  The Gao family is considered a prominent household even in Zhangjiakou, and all of this was brought about by this young master himself. What's the big deal about being tired? It's only right to be tired; one can't forget their roots!

  Undoubtedly, Sima often felt extremely lucky to have become partners with Gao Chuanliang, and indeed it was a great fortune.

  Until the age of fifty, Gao Chuanliang did not have the usual ambition of ordinary people. He was always content with what he had in front of him. A satisfied partner is sometimes safer than an ambitious one.