Starting My Treasure Hunting In England

Chapter 22 The strange copper rabbit



As fragile items, these bottles all have small notes on them indicating their prices. But after seeing the small note attached to the Chinese-style porcelain bottle, Liang En suddenly lost interest.

"This is porcelain from China. Look at how beautifully the characters and houses are painted on it. It only costs 500 euros, which is already very cheap."

The boss, who was in his twenties, obviously thought that Liang En was a tourist, so he tried his best to sell it in English that was not very proficient.

"Why don't you buy this?" Pierce asked Liang En in Irish-accented English with some confusion. "I remember that your Chinese porcelain has been quite expensive in recent years."

As an antique dealer, Pierce naturally pays attention to the overall trends in the current antique market. Therefore, it was a little strange why Liang En didn't buy this porcelain bottle, which seemed quite valuable in his eyes.

"The porcelain bottle is different from the porcelain bottle." Liang En pointed to the bottle helplessly and said, "Do you think this bottle is more in line with European aesthetics?"

"Indeed, I think it's quite beautiful." Pierce nodded, and then said, "But isn't that what good things are like? As far as I know, the more in line with everyone's aesthetics, the better."

"But the problem is that this thing is actually the woven gold-colored porcelain exported by China in the late Qing Dynasty." Liang En approached Pierce and explained in a low voice, then picked up the bottle and turned it over with the stall owner's permission.

Sure enough, at the bottom of the bottle is the most common sustenance money "Qianlong Year", but what is slightly strange is that surrounding this square mark is a circle in English: Made in China.

"When we make this thing ourselves, it's impossible to add English on the bottom line." Liang En said, pointing to the label.

"So this thing, like the silver cup I just made, is just a product for export. Not only is the output large, but the style is also relatively stylized, so the overall price is not high."

"For example, this vase is like this. You can see that the figures on it are very stiffly drawn, and the layout of the entire picture does not feel very coordinated."

"So under normal circumstances, this thing can't be sold at a good price at all. The top quality is only about two thousand euros, and now, one or two hundred euros is already a lot."

"As for the current price tag of 500 euros, it is probably specifically used to deceive tourists. At least I believe that most people don't know what the normal price of this thing should be."

The entire conversation between Liang En and Pierce was in English with a strong Irish accent. Although most of the French people present knew English, there was no need to worry about being overheard by this kind of English that most British people did not understand.

After putting down the bottles, the two of them felt that it would be a bit awkward just not buying anything here, so they decided to buy some more small things from this stall.

However, there were at least hundreds of items on this stall, and Liang En didn't have the patience to look at them one by one. So he chose to use a [Detection (N)] card.

Just when the card completely turned into dots and disappeared in his mind, a bright light that only he could see suddenly flashed out from a small gadget on the cloth.

This is a small rabbit sculpture that appears to be made of copper, only about the size of a palm. However, after taking this thing in his hands, Liang En's unique observation ability noticed that there were some golden traces in some places on this small sculpture.

"Just give me 35 euros for this thing." After seeing Liang En pick up the bronze sculpture, the stall owner introduced it enthusiastically. "It is a pre-Napoleonic bronze sculpture and may have been associated with royalty."

"You can't say that it has something to do with the royal family just because there is a iris mark on it." Liang En took the sculpture and turned it around in his hand, and found that there was indeed an iris symbol unique to the French royal family under the sculpture. .

"Yes, if there is only one logo, naturally you cannot say that, but if you look carefully at the workmanship of this sculpture, you will find that this thing cannot be made by ordinary craftsmen."

"Okay, this is what I need, wrap it up for me." Liang En said, taking out the cash from his body, then counted out 35 euros and handed it over.

Next to him, Pierce also spent 15 euros on a lighter made of bullet casings. After all, this place is not far from the French-German border, so items left over from the war are not uncommon.

"Did you find anything good just now?" Pierce asked Liang En immediately after leaving the small market. After all, they had been roommates for several years, so he could feel that Liang En must have gotten a bargain.

"Yes, look carefully here." Liang En said, pointing to the small part at the tip of the bronze rabbit's ears. "You'll notice that this rabbit has a layer of oxidized bronze paint on the surface, but underneath it's gold."

"That is to say, someone put a layer of paint on this thing to conceal the true identity of this little statue." After taking out a small magnifying glass from his arms and looking at it for a long time, Pierce also wanted to understand something.

"At the end of the 18th century, the Rococo style was popular within the French royal family, and the light image of this rabbit just fits the popular style of that era. If gilding is added-"

As a professional who studied archeology at Zheng'er Ba Jing University, after being reminded by Liang En, Pierce also discovered some peculiar places on this small statue.

At least in that era, it was possible to make such a small statue so vivid and decorate it with gold plating, even if it was not the royal family, it could only be done by some big nobles.

The reason why it is determined that this thing is gold-plated is very simple, because after holding the whole statue in hand, you can clearly feel that the statue is not very heavy on the hand, and it is not hollow inside, so it should not be gold.

"But what do you think this statue is for?" After inspecting the statue, Pierce looked at the rabbit statue with some curiosity.

"As a pendant jewelry, this thing is too big. And I didn't find any parts on this that can fix it in certain places."

"But as a simple sculpture, the size of this thing is too small. It's hard to imagine where such a small thing should be placed, and there is no base to place it."

"I think this may be placed on the furniture, or part of some furniture." Liang En said after turning the thing over and over. "

After we go back and remove the paint on the surface, we will probably be able to figure out what this thing is. Now that the thing is covered with a thick layer of paint, even if there are clues, they should be hidden. "

In fact, at the beginning, Liang En had the idea of ​​using [Appraisal (N)] to see what kind of treasure it was.

But then he thought that he already had this thing in his hand and would not run away by himself. There is absolutely no need to waste a card just to know the truth a few days in advance.

As for why that person sold this thing, it is also very simple, because now this thing looks completely like a copper rabbit, not like a valuable thing at all, so he simply put it on the street stall and sold it for as much as he could.


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