Chapter 1425: Cultural Relics Trading
Different from what the Cheka thought, the East African Defense Security Agency's activities in Odessa were actually not active. At least at this time, the East African government had no intention of causing trouble in Russia.
As for the Tsarist Russian government-in-exile, although it was set up in East Africa, in East Africa's view, the exploitable value of this so-called government was very low. East Africa did not expect this so-called government-in-exile to do much at all. After all, the Soviets would certainly not choose to return to the imperial era.
Of course, keeping the Tsarist Russian government in exile could be used to disgust the Soviet government, which was actually a good bargaining chip.
…
March 14, 1925.
St. Petersburg.
This city, called Leningrad by the Soviets, was once the capital of the Russian Empire. It is also the area with the most concentrated cultural heritage over hundreds of years of Tsarist Russia's history.
Since Peter the Great founded St. Petersburg in 1703, the city of St. Petersburg has a history of more than two hundred years.
During these two hundred years, it has been the capital of Imperial Russia and the center of the entire Russia, and a large amount of resources have been concentrated here from all over Russia.
Among them are cultural relics from all over the world looted during the Russian Empire era.
Since the Labor Party came to power, Russia's cultural relics market has also experienced a sharp drop in prices. Cultural relics and collectibles that were once treasured by the tsars, nobles or businessmen during the imperial period have now become an important resource for the Soviet government to exchange for large amounts of foreign exchange.
In St. Petersburg, merchants from all over the world have flocked to this emerging antiquities market, trying to pick up bargains at prices that meet their expectations.
"This is the Far Eastern cultural relics display area, which collects various artworks from the Far Eastern Empire, North Korea, Mongolia and other countries. Now you can pick two pieces to take away for only 30 Rhine guilders. We only accept cash, not rubles." A Soviet shopping guide enthusiastically introduced to the East African cultural relics merchant Shehman.
Shehman looked at the various utensils, calligraphy and paintings that were piled up haphazardly like miscellaneous items in a vegetable market. His eyes were like hungry wolves in the dark night, radiating greed.
However, he still pretended to bargain seriously and said, "The price is still too high. Cultural relics from the Far East have never been worth much in the international market."
"How dare you sell them by the piece? In my opinion, it is more in line with the market price to sell these things by kilogram. After all, the number of these things in existence and the difficulty of obtaining them are not too large."
Hearing what Shekhman said, the Soviet shopping guide Petrov frowned and said, "Mr. Shekhman, don't think that we Soviets have no knowledge. According to my personal understanding, no matter which country the cultural relics are from, since they can be called works of art, they should be valued."
"Fifteen Rhine guilders a piece is already a pretty cheap price. You have to know that in the past, the nobles and wealthy people of Tsarist Russia regarded these things as treasures and collected them."
Shechman shook his head and retorted: "Mr. Petrov, you are confusing concepts. If you have been to the Far East, you will understand that what I said before is true."
"In the Far East, I can exchange fifteen Rhine guilders for more than a dozen cultural relics and commodities. After all, as you know, the Far East has been the most densely populated region in the world since ancient times."
"This means that even in ancient times, they had a very large consumer market. In ancient Roman times, porcelain, which was regarded as a treasure by Westerners, was just an everyday utensil for ordinary people in the Far East."
"The civilizations of the Far Eastern countries are relatively old, especially the Far Eastern Empire. In ancient times, their populations were maintained at tens of millions for a long time."
"Just imagine, for an ancient country with thousands of years of civilization and a population that has always been in the tens of millions, the amount of porcelain accumulated by their dynasties can only be described as an astronomical figure."
"As the saying goes, things are valuable because they are rare. Obviously, the Far Eastern Empire's cultural relics cannot be sold at a good price because there are too many of them and they are too difficult to obtain. I think this is also the reason why you have so many Far Eastern items piled up here."
"Also, I have to consider the risk issue. After all, there is too much uncertainty about cultural relics. Who knows how many of them are just ordinary commodities? I can't identify and screen them one by one."
Of course, Shekhman's words were meant to fool Petrov, but his words might not be entirely false.
For example, cultural relics from the Far Eastern Empire are indeed easier to obtain. For example, the large number of ancient coins produced by the Far Eastern Empire throughout the dynasties cannot be sold at a high price because there are too many of them in existence.
Moreover, because the Far Eastern Empire was poor and weak during this era, many powerful countries did not even need to pay money to obtain cultural relics from the Far Eastern Empire. Instead, they simply stole or even robbed it.
Tsarist Russia was one of these bandits. As for the things that Petrov introduced to Shekhman, Shekhman did not believe that they were originally traded fairly from Tsarist Russia.
Therefore, Shekhman directly told Petrov: "For example, how these things in front of us flowed into Russia, I think you should know it, Mr. Petrov."
"These goods could never have been obtained by the former Tsarist Russia through fair and just trade with the Far Eastern Empire. Instead, they were stolen goods obtained by the imperial Russian government during its expansion into the surrounding areas."
"So, when I say that the prices of these things are inflated, it is absolutely a very objective statement. You guys are just piling these things up in the warehouse, where they will just gather dust. You might as well give us a good price and sell them to us in bulk."
If it were the imperial Russian era, Shekhman's straightforward statement would probably have caused Petrov's wrath. After all, Shekhman's words, simply translated, meant that the Tsarist government was a group of bandits and invaders.
However, Petrov was not a Russian from the imperial era, but a new Soviet citizen. The Soviet government was much harsher in its criticism of Tsarist Russia than the East Africans.
Therefore, Petrov was not angry about Shekhman's words. Instead, he agreed with her and said, "The Tsar and his lackeys are really not good people. They have committed many crimes, including the ordinary people of Russia."
Shekhman struck while the iron was hot and said, "You see, Mr. Petrov, we actually agree on the Tsarist Russian government."
"You all feel the same about the oppression during the Tsarist era, and the Tsar treated the weaker countries around him in the same way. So during the Russian Empire era, it cost Russia almost nothing to acquire these things."
"So, our transactions must naturally be based on fair market prices, and you will definitely not suffer any loss."
Under the constant brainwashing of Shekhman, the cunning businessman, Petrov's thoughts did begin to waver, and he began to think that the cultural relics in front of him were not as valuable as he had imagined.
However, he felt that the price offered by Shechman was too low. After all, other Europeans purchased cultural relics by the piece, and some even offered an astronomical price.
On the other hand, Shehman said shamelessly that the things in front of him could only be weighed by kilogram, which made Petrov feel that what he was selling was not cultural relics, but fruits on a market stall.
Therefore, this contrast allowed Petrov to remain sober to a certain extent. He said, "Mr. Shechman, I always feel that you are fooling me. You know, those European and American businessmen are very generous when buying cultural relics, and they pay generously."
"Why do you try to lower the price when it comes to your place, and even devalue the items to the point where they are worthless?"
Seeing that Petrov, this careless Slav, was trying to regain the high ground with his intelligence, Shekhman interrupted him hastily, "Mr. Petrov, you are wronging me. I am telling the truth. How could you, such a smart person, not be able to tell the difference?"
"You know, you Russians are quite intelligent. In an era when education in Imperial Russia was so backward, there were so many world-famous writers, artists, scientists, and mathematicians. This shows that Russians generally have high IQs. So, it's impossible for me to deceive a smart person like you."
"Just judging from your manners and clothes, to be honest, if you were in the UK, you would definitely be considered a polite and handsome gentleman."
"Unlike me, I have no education, so I can only make a living by doing small business."
"To be honest, although our East African nobles and wealthy people are extremely wealthy, they do not have the profound cultural heritage of Europe, especially Russia. That is why they are in urgent need of some material possessions to make themselves look cultured rather than nouveau riche, and thus change their image."
"That's why I came to Russia to buy a lot of cultural goods. I just wanted to earn some money. Rich people in East Africa are very stingy. When I ship these things back to China, they will haggle over the price and won't give me a very good price."
Shekhman kept urging Petrov to remain in the Soviet Union to satisfy his vanity, and at the same time greatly belittled East Africa and his own work in order to gain sympathy and package himself as a weakling as a "capitalist" in order to gain an advantage in the business negotiations between the two.
Petrov was just a young man who had just started working for a few years. How could he have tolerated the flattery from a shrewd and experienced businessman like Shekhman? After just a short while, he felt a little flattered by Shekhman's flattery.
At the same time, under Shehman's psychological suggestion, he unconsciously classified Shehman as a "poor man" who had to struggle for a living.
After all, in Petrov's impression, East Africa was probably a backward country like Imperial Russia, and the people of East Africa, like the vast majority of Soviet people in the past, were exploited by the nobles, bureaucrats and capitalists.
So, at this time, Petrov's mind was actually no longer focused on the pile of cultural relics, but was led to other aspects by the old fox Shekhman.
This is also normal. After all, these cultural relics do not belong to Petrov personally, but are the state property of the Soviet Union. Even if they are sold, Petrov will not make any profit.
What is more important is that Petrov has no concrete idea of the value of the cultural relics in front of him.
This is actually easy to understand. For example, in the Far East Empire in the 1950s and 1960s of previous lives, many people could barely make ends meet, so they had no time to care about anything other than eating.
This is also related to the nature of the current Soviet government. According to the understanding of many people in the Soviet Union, cultural relics are nothing more than toys used by the former Tsarist nobles and wealthy people for hype and enjoyment. Compared with these worthless things, it would be more useful to add more industrial equipment.
Shechman went on to say: "As for European and American merchants, they are willing to pay high prices for European cultural relics, but things outside of Europe are completely worthless."
"If it weren't so, I don't think you would have accumulated so many Far Eastern goods here. Doesn't this just prove that these goods cannot attract the interest of European and American countries?"
"So, why not pack these goods and sell them to me? You can also clear your inventory and get more foreign exchange. After all, if no one buys them, these things will probably just be piled up in the corner and collect dust."
Therefore, after some deception by Shechman, he finally bought a truckload of Far Eastern cultural relics for just over 700 rubles, which was less than 3,000 Rhine guilders.
After the deal was done, Shehman couldn't stop grinning. It was such a huge profit. According to his calculations, the price of this batch of cultural relics could be increased by at least dozens or even hundreds of times after being shipped back to China.
According to Shehman's estimation, most of these cultural relics should be authentic, and the Soviets are not very good at identifying their value. Shehman can see at a glance that some of the cultural relics are not entirely of the Far Eastern Empire's characteristics, and may be mixed with a lot of Korean and Japanese things.
Petrov and the Soviet government were also very satisfied with the deal. Although they knew very well that Shekhman would definitely make a fortune from it, this was not important to the Soviet government.
They are eager to cash in these "flashy" things in order to obtain funds for national development. After all, without strong industrial and military support, no matter how much wealth they have, it will only be a favor to others.
Take the Far Eastern Empire for example. No matter how ancient its civilization was or how much wealth it had accumulated, these things eventually became food for the pirates of the great powers with the rise of the West.
So in 1925, a large number of Soviet cultural relics, collections and other valuable items flowed into East Africa, greatly enriching the collections of East African folk and museums.
East Africa even obtained a lot of Xixia cultural relics from the Soviet government, which made East Africa an important international center for Xixia language research in later generations.
At this time, the Soviet government did not feel that it was at a disadvantage. After all, most of these things were "useless items" that they had collected from nobles and capitalists, or directly from the public. They did not cost anything at all.
In order to support national development, many Soviet people handed over some of their "ancestral" good things to the Soviet government. After all, these things really had no value in their hands.
The Soviet Union was different from other countries. Because of its special economic system, being rich and powerful had no meaning to the Soviet people. On the contrary, too much wealth could become a death warrant and be labeled.
Of course, it is also because of a series of measures taken by the Soviet government that the quality of life of Soviet civilians has improved significantly compared to the Tsarist era, so opinions on the current Soviet economy vary from person to person.
(End of this chapter)
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