I noticed the middle-aged man's momentary loss of composure, and with a delighted expression, I asked, "Brother, how is it? Isn't my jar very valuable?"
The middle-aged man, like a Sichuan opera face-changing act, quickly lost his excitement and said disdainfully, "It's just an earthenware pot, not worth much. Luoyang is a famous historical city, and farmers can find a few of these things every now and then when they're farming."
I gave them a disappointed look: "Really? Look, there's even a design on this jar!"
"Yes, it's only worth a few dollars because of the pattern. Otherwise, we wouldn't accept it even if you gave it to us, because we think it takes up too much space."
The middle-aged man brought out a pottery cauldron and examined it: "How much do you want to sell this for?"
I tentatively asked, "Can you sell it for 100,000 yuan?"
"Young man, are you here to rob me? I already told you, this is just an earthenware pot, not porcelain, how could it be worth so much money?"
The middle-aged man tapped the pottery vessel with his hand: "How about this, if you really want to sell it, I'll give you three thousand yuan in cash, how about that?"
In the world of antique collecting and archaeology, pottery is mainly valued for its "cultural relic value," used to study the lifestyles and living environments of early people. Due to its less refined craftsmanship and relatively low value, and because of its antiquity, buying and selling it is illegal, making it a niche market.
However, the double-eared, three-legged pottery li made by Niren Jiang is very exquisite, and it is also decorated with animal face patterns and cloud and thunder patterns.
The li (鬲) looks strange. It was originally an ancient cooking vessel. When a fire was lit at the bottom, it could be used as a three-legged pot to cook things, just like a wok that was unearthed thousands of years later.
However, once such cooking utensils are engraved with patterns, they are most likely funerary objects.
Most tombs from the Western Zhou Dynasty have collapsed due to their age, so pottery that is so well preserved and exquisitely crafted is quite rare.
Based on market prices, this three-legged pottery li (a type of ancient Chinese cooking vessel) could fetch at least 300,000 yuan.
The middle-aged man, however, only offered me one percent of the price.
Seeing my hesitation, the middle-aged man began to subtly probe: "Young man, this price is already quite high. To tell you the truth, this kind of pottery has little collectible value, and it's too old. It's a cultural relic that's prohibited from being bought and sold. If you carry something like this on your person and it's discovered, the authorities will confiscate it immediately. And smaller shops won't dare to accept it. I'll give you three thousand, that's quite a lot."
I looked at the other person with resentment: "I took a day off from the construction site and wasted 500 yuan! You said it yourself, this thing is an antique, 3,000 yuan is too little."
The middle-aged man smiled and said, "How about this, I'll add another two thousand, a flat price of five thousand, how about that?"
I continued to play dumb, trying to outsmart the middle-aged man: "Add a little more, please."
"Why are you taking advantage of this?"
The middle-aged man looked at me speechlessly: "To tell you the truth, even if I take this back, I wouldn't dare risk breaking the law to sell it. I only bought it because I personally enjoy collecting. This is my price. If you don't think it's right, go check out other stores, but when you come back, I can only offer you three thousand!"
In typical antique markets, there's an unwritten rule: if a shop encounters a newcomer trying to negotiate a high price, they'll use this tactic of deflecting the customer's attention to other shops.
These antique shops are all secretly colluding. If one shop manages to hold down the price, other shops can only offer a lower price than the first shop. If the first shop successfully buys the goods, it has to give a large red envelope to every shop the seller visited.
As the saying goes, the antique trade is a school for swindlers.
If you encounter an unsuitable price when selling antiques in the future, you generally don't need to go to nearby shops to ask for prices. It's best to try a different city or market. Otherwise, once you fall into this PUA (personal manipulation) trap, it will be difficult to react in a short period of time.
After the middle-aged man finished speaking, I pretended to be troubled and thought for about ten seconds before holding up one hand: "Add another five hundred!"
The middle-aged man sighed and gave me two fingers in return: "Two hundred!"
A store as big as Chuanshitang operates on the principle of "opening a business and living off it for three years," so middle-aged people certainly wouldn't care about my five hundred yuan.
The reason he lowered the price by 300 was so that I wouldn't feel he had bought the right thing.
"Count the money!"
I also pretended to give a reluctant look: "If this thing weren't so heavy that I had to carry it back, I wouldn't sell it to you at this price!"
"Oh, you're not happy now? You got a great deal today."
The middle-aged man took out 10,000 yuan in cash from the counter, pulled out half of it and ran it through the money detector: "Young man, let me show you another way to make money, do you want it?"
I glanced at the middle-aged man and said, "Of course, who wouldn't want money?"
The middle-aged man gestured with the remaining money: "Here's what we'll do: tell me where this thing was unearthed, and I'll give you all ten thousand, okay?"
I was taken aback for a moment: "This thing wasn't unearthed; it's been passed down in my family."
The middle-aged man lit a Zhonghua cigarette: "I'm an insider, so don't try to fool me. This stuff looks like it was ripped off. Where did you get it from?"
I glared at you: "Don't talk nonsense, what did I do to you?"
"This thing is a fresh find, and you're a complete novice." The middle-aged man chuckled at my teasing. "What I mean is, this thing looks like it was just dug out of the ground, and there's definitely more than one found here, right?"
I became wary: "What exactly do you mean?"
The middle-aged man looked at me slyly: "Here's the deal, I don't care where this stuff comes from. If you have any others, I'll buy them all at this price. If they're with someone else, you help me contact them, and I'll give you a thousand yuan commission for each item you buy, but I can only offer them four thousand two hundred yuan. How about that?"
I swallowed hard: "If I can help you contact a dozen or so, you can give me more than ten thousand yuan?"
"That must be true."
The middle-aged man handed me 5,200 yuan and a business card: "My phone number is on this. Call me anytime once you've made contact."
"Okay, I'll go back and ask for you."
I took the business card and glanced at it. The middle-aged man was named Xu Bo, the manager of Chuanshitang, not the cripple I was looking for.
...
After leaving Chuanshitang, I held the more than five thousand yuan in cash in my pocket, and the huge weight in my heart finally lifted.
Clay figurine maker Jiang's craftsmanship lived up to its reputation; Xu Bo didn't even examine it closely before mistaking it for an authentic piece.
Now that the first item has been sold, my plans will proceed smoothly from here on out.
The only problem right now is that my next plan requires a lot of people, but I don't have any local partners that I can completely trust.
As I was pondering this, a hand suddenly grabbed my neck from behind and dragged me into a dark alley.
The sudden feeling of suffocation made my vision go black, and my heart started pounding wildly.
My movements here today are very secretive, and whoever finds me is definitely not an enemy.
Could it be that there is a master in the Chuanshi Hall who has already seen through the problem with the three-legged cauldron?
Just as I was thinking about how to escape if I was discovered, I suddenly felt a sharp object pierce my lower back, followed by a deep male voice in my ear: "Don't move, it's a robbery!"
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