Chapter 92 I Must Make You Jump
"Xiao, why are you being so secretive?" Pascal put on his new clothes and sprayed himself with perfume narcissistically.
Fabian looked miserable: "Nothing can excite me right now. I just want a bowl of hot soup to sober up. This hangover is so awful."
Xiao Peng opened his phone's photo album and flipped through a photo, handing it to Pascal: "I have something to show you."
Pascal took the phone, glanced at it, and said, "A flat-top suitcase from Marechal? That's quite interesting."
Xiao Peng was stunned after hearing this: "Marechal? Is this suitcase of great importance?"
Pascal explained, "You know Louis Vuitton, right? It's LV. The founder of Louis Vuitton was originally an apprentice trunk maker under Marechal. It wasn't until he got married that he founded the 'Louis Vuitton' brand and started producing his own trunks. Marechal's trunks were the most popular in Paris about 200 years ago."
Xiao Peng asked curiously, "How do you know this is Marechar's suitcase?"
Pascal pointed at the album and said, "Look at the carvings on it. They seem random, but look closely. Do they form the letter 'M'? That's the logo of the Marechal suitcase. You're lucky! This suitcase could be worth 15,000 to 20,000 yuan."
"So cheap?" Xiao Peng looked disappointed.
"Xiao, take a close look at the photo. The metal edging and buckle are severely corroded from being submerged in the sea for so long. The trunk itself is probably even more corroded. So this trunk won't be very valuable. Marechal suitcases were famous for their quality back then, so many of them still exist today." Pascal explained, "But Marechal suitcases come in different price ranges. This one is quite good. You can tell it's a fine piece by the carvings on it. Good Marechal suitcases are also popular in the antique trunk collector market. I remember the most expensive Marechal suitcase sold at auction for 1.2 million euros."
Xiao Peng was stunned after hearing this. 1.2 million? That's quite expensive!
Remembering there was a large box on the bottom of the sea, he gestured and asked, "How much is a box that big worth?"
Pascal was stunned when he heard this, then he laughed. "If it's in this condition, it might not be worth as much as this small box. After all, suitcases from that period were generally large, and small ones like this are rarer, so they're more valuable. Why are you showing me the photo? Take the box out and show it to me."
Xiao Peng shrugged. "Now you can only look at the photos. I opened a safe at the Crédit Agricole Bank in Marseille and kept the box there."
Pascal looked at Xiao Peng and said, "I understand why you want to start an underwater salvage company. You've pulled up another box. But as you can see, not everything you pull up from the seabed is valuable. This box you pulled up is probably worth less than opening a safe, right? Just because something is old doesn't mean it's valuable!"
Fabian shrugged and said, "Xiao, if anything fished out of the seabed could be sold for two million, everyone in the world would be fishing from the bottom of the sea. For example, from the Strait of Gibraltar to the Tyrrhenian Sea, at least a thousand warships and merchant ships sank there during World War II alone! There are over four hundred shipwrecks in the Tyrrhenian Sea alone, and those are just from World War II! But considering the water depth, the difficulty of searching, and the difficulty of salvaging, it's just not a good deal no matter how you look at it."
The Tyrrhenian Sea, encompassing the islands of Corsica, Sardinia, and Sicily, served as Italy's essential maritime route during World War II. It was a crucial battleground for both the Allies and the Axis powers, and saw numerous naval battles and the sinking of numerous merchant ships and warships. However, due to its proximity to the Ophir Fault Line, the subsea terrain is complex, with the deepest point exceeding 3,500 meters.
This is also the reason why people know that there are a large number of shipwrecks there but no one goes to salvage them. If a merchant ship with salvage value is salvaged, it would be fine, but if a sunken warship is found after searching for a long time, it would be shocking. Are they going to salvage the used shells on it and sell them as scrap metal?
Fabian continued, "I told you about the bankruptcy and liquidation of the long-established salvage company 'Neptune's Asylum,' right? Why did they go bankrupt? Faced with financial difficulties, they took a desperate gamble and found a World War II-era merchant ship in Ibiza. After searching for a long time, they only found a shipload of rubber. The value of what they salvaged might not be as much as this box of yours. This incident was the final straw that broke the camel's back. A company with over 30 years of history was on the verge of bankruptcy. The deep-sea salvage industry is so cruel."
At this point he laughed: "Opening a safe for such a box, opening such a large safe is not cheap, right? Hurry up and let Pascal help you sell it, otherwise you really won't even have enough money to pay for the insurance!"
Xiao Peng blinked after hearing this: "Fabian, are you making fun of me?"
Fabian shrugged and said, "All smart people in the world make stupid mistakes sometimes. I'm not laughing at you, I am laughing at you!"
Xiao Peng curled his lips and said, "I hope you can still laugh later."
"What do you mean?" Fabian asked in confusion.
Xiao Peng said helplessly: "Did I say this box is empty?"
"Is there something in the box?" Pascal widened his eyes.
Xiao Peng pointed at the phone in his hand and asked, "Does your phone album only have one photo? Can't you look at the photos behind it?"
After hearing this, Pascal looked through the photos in his phone album with some doubt, but after just one look he jumped up from his chair.
Seeing this scene, Xiao Peng laughed: "Hahahaha, Xiao Pa, I said I would make you jump for joy, was I right?"
Pascal's hands were shaking as he held Xiao Peng's phone. "Am I dreaming? Is this photo real? Are you kidding me? Was this also fished out of the sea? It's in this box?"
Xiao Peng sighed and said, "How can I answer you when you suddenly ask so many questions? Don't get excited. I'm not kidding you, this is all true! You have to believe your eyes."
Pascal just took a deep breath and said nothing.
Fabian asked curiously, "What on earth did you see that looked like that?"
He leaned over to take a look and his gaze widened: "What...what are these?"
Xiao Peng slapped his forehead and said, "Fabian, if you hadn't mentioned it, I would have forgotten that some of these jewels have inscriptions! There are also in the album at the back. Xiao Pa, can you help me take a look?"
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