Starting My Treasure Hunting In England

As soon as he entered the shop, Liang En could feel a familiar feeling rushing towards him.

Because he had been dealing with Pierce's antique store before, Liang En immediately discovered after entering the place that the style of the entire antique store looked very similar to that of Pierce's store, except that the quality of the goods was much higher. few.

Different from what Pierce did in the store before, the owner of this store, who looked like an old butler wearing a monocle, did not greet the customers, but just waited quietly behind the counter. Shop.

But that's okay, at least for Liang En, he now needs a quiet environment to try his skills.

In this store, if you want to use the items placed in the glass cabinets, you have to ask the store owner to help them take them out. The items placed outside are allowed for guests to get their hands on.

However, after touching most of the things outside, Liang En found that the cards in his sea of ​​consciousness had not changed at all.

"Is it because the level of these things is not enough, these things do not belong to me, or am I looking in the wrong direction?" After finding that there was no movement, Liang En frowned and thought.

But soon, he planned to change his approach and buy one or two of these things to test his ideas.

More than five thousand pounds in cash is not a small amount for ordinary people, but it can be spent casually in a place like this. In order to collect as many different types of samples as possible, he quickly came to the outermost shelf of the store.

Most of the objects placed on this shelf don't look very good, and many of them are even damaged.

"The goods on the shelf are more suitable for collectors who are just getting started." Watching Liang En walk around the store and walk to the shelf, the store owner finally spoke.

"The above are mainly antiques that are not in good condition and have relatively low overall value. In addition, there are also some modern handicrafts. Although it is difficult to call them good things, they are useful for beginners learning this aspect. Say enough is enough.”

Maybe it was because of Liang En's age and the way he kept silent while visiting the store, but kept reaching out to touch the antiques that were allowed to be touched. Therefore, the store thinks that he is an antique enthusiast who loves collecting but is short of money.

"Thank you!" After slightly nodding to express his gratitude to the store's proactive explanation, Liang En turned his head and looked carefully at the antiques placed on the shelf. Soon, he found a string of gray-looking glass beads. interesting.

After silently writing down the string of beads, he began to search for them on the shelf. It wasn't until half an hour later that Liang En came to the counter to pay with the five items he had selected, including beads.

“An Athenian 1 drachma silver coin, £107. A library card from the Cambridge University Library from the 1880s, £20. A rusty medieval spearhead, £15. A necklace of African-style trade beads. , £600. Congolese ceremonial statue, £120.”

After counting the five items, the shopkeeper took out a calculator and pressed it, then raised his head and said.

"The total of these items is 862 pounds. Since this is your first time buying, you bought a lot of things, so just give me 850 pounds."

After handing the money to the shop owner, Liang En left the shop with the items in the boxes provided, and then drove back to the small apartment he rented.

Next came the experiment, but unfortunately neither the silver coin, the library card, the spearhead, nor the Congolese ceremonial statue elicited a reaction from Goldfinger.

Soon, it was the turn of the string of glass beads to be tested. The first time he picked up the beads, Liang En focused on the so-called African-style trade beads that he felt something was wrong about.

Trade beads originally specifically referred to glass beads manufactured in Europe from the 17th to the 19th century and sold to Africa for exchange for gold, ivory and slaves. They were the latest industrial products in Europe at that time.

In many parts of Africa, it is both the most popular decoration and the currency that can be circulated. It is also said in many books that Europeans used cheap glass beads to defraud the natives of their wealth.

But to be precise, this kind of trade is actually an unequal trade carried out by Europeans through technological advantages. Just like the descendants of those guys in later generations sold chips made of the same raw material from sand for sky-high prices.

The shop owner is a veteran who can open a shop in Alfie Antique Market, so he is naturally familiar with this relatively common antique, and will not admit his mistake in the general direction.

Considering that although this necklace is in relatively good condition, it does not contain some expensive varieties. So naturally, I sold it to Liang En at the price of 20 pounds per bead, which is common in the market.

"Sure enough, even the most knowledgeable scholar still has things he doesn't recognize, let alone just an antique shop manager."

Liang En recalled some of the books he had read when he was in college, and then he raised a magnifying glass and carefully observed a light blue glass bead on this string of glass beads.

This glass bead is very similar to other beads, but if you look closely, you will find that the upper center circle is inlaid on the lower glass bead, rather than being directly formed in one piece like other beads.

"Yes, this should be a dragonfly-eye glass bead from the Chinese Warring States Period that is of good quality." After checking it several times, Liang En determined the specific identity of the glass bead.

What makes this glass necklace made in Africa special is that the glass beads in the necklace use both glass beads from the Warring States Period of Eastern China and the 17th century Western Europe.

When he made his final judgment on the African-style trade bead necklace he was holding, a sudden change occurred. After a flash of light that only Liang En could see, two black iron-colored cards appeared in his mind.

One of these two cards is the previously existing card [Detection (N)], while the other is a new card, [Identification (N)].

[Appraisal (N): No one can be omniscient and omnipotent. Even the most knowledgeable scholars have things they cannot understand. At this time, you need a little help.

Skill card (one-time use). By consuming this card, you can obtain specific information about something specified by the card owner. 】

After reading these two newly added cards, Liang En leaned back in his chair, sighed and smiled. Because through this experiment, he finally figured out part of the rules of his golden finger.

First of all, this golden finger can only work on things that belong to Liang En, because he also touched the necklace before paying for it but there was no reaction. However, further research is needed on the specific situation of this aspect.

Second, he must be able to recognize the thing for what it is. Like this time, it was after confirming the situation of the bead that Golden Finger reacted.

Thirdly, because the inheritance of this golden finger is called historical explorer, the things that can resonate with it are things that have a certain significance in history. The secular price of these things is not closely related to their historical significance.

For example, this string of beads can be seen as a microcosm of a vast trade network that spanned the Old World and lasted for thousands of years. That’s why it can be recognized by Golden Finger.

Finally, although this golden finger seems to be a product of occultism, what is needed does not necessarily have to be related to occultism. At least the statues used in African religious rituals didn't react to it.