“Sir, may I assist you with something?” Dun Mao asked Li Yun who had been pacing around the shop and casually brushing his fingers against every single display pieces. There were no restrictions on touching the items, but the young man was acting a bit unusual.
“I’m studying antiquities,” Li Yun replied. “I heard this shop sells a lot of authentic items.”
Dun Mao nodded with pride. The shop was one of the best in the area, if not the best. As a shop backed by a national antiquity organization, they had higher standards of inspection than the average shop and street vendor.
“Unfortunately, most of the items are simple provincial items,” said Dun Mao.
“Provincial?” It was the first time Li Yun heard the term.
“It means that they are created by highly skilled artisans, but not for the royal family,” said Dun Mao. “They are simple everyday items, not comparable to items ordered by the imperial family.”
“Ah, I see,” Li Yun was just starting to understand the basic reign marks and the particular calligraphy famous during each time period. He didn’t have time to properly research everything about antiquities.
China had a thousand years of history and was one of the oldest civilizations on earth, it was not possible to understand everything. Many appraisers had areas of specializations like doctors, such as ceramics, paintings, and jewelry.
Li Yun chatted with Dun Mao to understand some of the basics. As the store manager, Dun Mao was the best person to ask. He was an appraiser that was considered Jacks of all Trades, but master of none. He had no knowledge of the item exact history, but enough to assist customers with basic information, such as whether something was fake or could be real.
They chatted for some time until another customer walked inside. Li Yun thanked Dun Mao for his help and decided to test out his ability. He walked out of the Buried Treasure and down the street, slowly inspecting the street stalls. There were many shops and items, but he had to be more selective as he couldn’t waste his energy checking random items.
Li Yun’s eyes caught sight of something. He bent down and looked at the jewelry box.
The skinny stall vendor with gleaming eyes immediately labelled Li Yun as a beginner. There were three types of people in the antique flea markets, the treasure hunter, the tourist, and the amateur hunter. Li Yun didn’t look like a tourist, but he was definitely not a treasure hunter. Most treasure hunters had a bit of reputation in the antiquity market.
“Young man! I can tell you’re an expert on antiques,” the stall vendor buttered him up. “Just between you and me, all these items were acquired yesterday from an estate auction of the old Tang family. I can guarantee that you will find something valuable.”
Li Yun nodded.
Most of the items looked fake, but there was an interesting jewelry box that looked like it was made from agarwood. Li Yun picked up the item and inspected it closely. There wasn’t any marking and label other than the word “beauty” carved into the top. The inside was lined with soft peach silk and faded rust-red colored velvet.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
Using Qivi, an image flashed in his mind. A craftsman in a late Qing dynasty outfit was carving the word into the piece of wood with absolute care.
Li Yun blinked and stared back. He wasn’t sure who the craftsman was, but there was a high possibility that he had attained a high amount of qi in the crafting dao. With high attainment, it was possible for the craftsman to infuse qi into objects. Although Li Yun did not know the value, it was worth buying.
“Boss, how much is this jewelry box?” said Li Yun.
“You have great insight, this jewelry box is 200 years old and made by an extremely gifted craftsman. I can sell it to you for 1,000 yuan.”
“Really boss, 1,000 yuan?” asked Li Yun in a skeptical tone. The box may be 200 years old, but Li Yun wouldn’t be surprised if the vendor was bull******* and luckily got it correct. “I only need to buy a gift for my girlfriend. This looks like a nice gift wrapping box.”
Li Yun set the box down.
“If it is for your girlfriend, more reasons to buy this unique box. 1000 yuan, discount for the lucky young lady.”
“The gift I bought her is already 750 yuan, kinda stupid to buy a box for 900 yuan,” Li Yun wrapped his arm around and shrugged.
“Considering you’re a thoughtful boyfriend, I could sell it to you for 700 yuan.”
“I could buy a handmade jewelry box on TeeBee Shop for 40 yuan,” said Li Yun.
“But those handmade boxes are new items, this was made several hundred years ago, I can sell it to you for 600 yuan, that’s my final offer.”
Li Yun could have driven down the price further, but it was not worth upsetting the stall owner. The vendor had stiffened his shoulder and began to tap his elbow unconsciously. Li Yun paid the 600 yuan via his TeeBee Shop account and took the jewelry box. After the initial deal, he walked through the entire market, but could only find two more items that had Qi. It was a shame that he didn’t have unlimited energy to check every single item. He felt like he had missed out on a lot of potential hits.
Returning to the Buried Treasure, Li Yun lined up the three antiques he had bought earlier in front of the appraiser.
"Oh? What is this?" Dun Mao asked curiously as he put his glasses back on. To the appraiser Dun Mao’s surprise, the three items in front of him looked like something of value; a jewelry box, a teacup, and a tassel with a hediao nut bead. Dun Mao carefully looked at the item through a magnifying glass. “You might have three hits!”
“Are they valuable?” Asked Li Yun.
“This tassel seems to be 100 years old, and could be worth 2,000 yuan,” Dun Mao settled the tassel down and shifted his focus on the jewelry box. He gently tilted the box up and moved the magnifying glass around the exterior edges. “The jewelry box is a bit more interesting, from 150 years ago, it could be worth 5,000 yuan. As for the teacup, there are too many variables, a conservative estimate is 4,000 yuan.”
“Hmm…” It was as Li Yun had expected.
“If you would like to have these authenticated, we will have two senior appraisals look through them before sending you a certificate. The appraisal fee and certificate is 330 yuan.”
After a brief moment, Li Yun agreed. He took out his phone and sent the appraiser the deposit money over the Babapay. He agreed to turn over the teacup and tassel over to the store, but kept the jewelry box. The store would hold onto the items for a week to authenticate them, and then he had the option to pick them up or have them mailed to him.
He had spent 1830 yuan, and if he was able to resell the items, he would generate a profit of a little more than 10,000 yuan. It did not seem like a bad career, but supplies were limited and there was no guarantee “hits.” It also took a good month before the vendors restock their inventory. His other option was to look around the different markets as there were a dozen pockets of antique markets in the area.
Before calling it a day, he walked into an herbal shop. He was familiar with most of the herbal shops on Caoben streets, so he wanted to check the ones near the antique markets.