That night I found a quick hotel and spent the night casually.
On the morning of Tuesday, Tang Songyuan carried a backpack weighing more than ten kilograms and began to look for auction houses in Shanghai to consign the dog-head gold ore.
Gold nuggets of this quality should be very rare. There were no sales channels in the Tang, Song and Yuan Dynasties. Of course, we had to find a reliable auction house to sell them on consignment.
The first person to arrive was Tianxing Auction House.
Tang Songyuan learned this when he checked information on the Internet.
Information shows that this auction house collects many categories of auction items and will hold an auction in the near future.
Tang, Song and Yuan wanted to sell this nugget of gold as soon as possible, and Tianxing Auction House was a good choice.
Tang Songyuan found the place according to the address online, and asked at the front desk.
After the lady at the front desk took a look at the dog-head gold ore he took out, she made a phone call, and soon a middle-aged man in his fifties with some gray hair came out to receive him.
After a brief exchange of greetings, Tang Songyuan learned that the man's surname was Zhang and his name was Zhang Shihua.
"Very rare dog head gold ore!"
Zhang Shihua looked intently at the treasures brought by Tang Songyuan, and commented pertinently: "Natural gold ore is not too rare..."
"However, it is rare to find nugget gold with high purity and excellent quality like this piece of nugget gold."
"What's even more rare is that it looks like a crouching tiger, with a complete head and tail, and an expression that's a bit majestic as the king of beasts... I'm really blessed to have picked up such a piece!"
Tang Songyuan laughed softly and asked: "Teacher Zhang, what price do you think gold ore like this can be sold in your bank?"
Zhang Shihua chuckled, weighed the gold nugget with one hand and said, "Although our auction house has never auctioned such a category, we have a large customer base."
"As long as the publicity is in place, it shouldn't be a problem if you meet a client you like and sell it for 10 million yuan."
Ten million! ! !
Even during the Tang, Song and Yuan Dynasties, they knew that dog-head gold ore was valuable, but they never thought it could reach such a high value.
But he had a calm expression on his face, as if he had already expected the price. He smiled slightly and said, "Of course that's great."
The subsequent discussion between the two was quite pleasant, and Zhang Shihua was full of praise for the dog-head gold ore that Tang Songyuan planned to send for auction.
Then he was ready to sign the auction contract, but after Tang Songyuan got the contract, he was very dissatisfied with the commission ratio.
"Teacher Zhang, your commission ratio is too high!"
"Oh, high?"
Zhang Shihua casually glanced at the contract and said slowly: "Actually, it's not high at all."
"Brother, you need to know that if you want to sell this piece of dog-head gold ore at a higher price, you need to put it in the category of art,"
"According to international practice, the minimum commission for art auctions is 10%..."
The commission stated in the contract is exactly 10%.
In other words, if this piece of dog-head gold ore is auctioned for 10 million, Tianxing Auction House will take 10%, which is 1 million, as commission.
This horse riding horse is too dark...
Tang Songyuan muttered to himself and said, "I'm sorry, Mr. Zhang, I need to carefully consider such a high commission ratio."
We all know how to compare when buying things, and the same goes for selling things.
There is no reason to hang from a tree.
Zhang Shihua raised his eyebrows and said, "I can understand your mood, but tell the truth."
"You can also go and find out. In the entire Magic City auction circle, our Tianxing is one of the best in the country."
"Whether it is customer base or customer quality, few other auction houses can compare with us..."
No matter what he said, Tang Songyuan had already made up his mind not to sell it for the time being.
Why don’t you grab the 10% commission?
Seeing this, Zhang Shihua continued: "You can also think of it this way. The commissions may be lower in other places, but the selling price may not be as high as in our Tianxing."
"For example, your commission might be only 7 or 8 percent elsewhere, but you can only sell up to 10 million."
"But here, you have the opportunity to sell 12 million, or even 15 million is possible."
"The difference here is easier to understand than my little brother..."
No, I don't understand and I don't want to understand. You are such a bad old man.
Tang Songyuan smiled slightly, collected his gold ore and said, "I will consider it carefully, so I will leave today."
Zhang Shihua regretted this, but did not hold back too much.
After leaving Tianxing Auction House, Tang, Song and Yuan rushed to the next location without stopping.
He also checked online, and originally planned to use Suntech Auction House as his second choice.
"Ah~ Hello, welcome to Suntech Auction House!"
Tang Songyuan arrived at the place and received a warm welcome from the young lady at the front desk as soon as he walked in:
"Sir, do you want to consign the items, or do you need to participate in our auction?"
Tang Songyuan put down his backpack and said, "I need to consign an item."
As he spoke, he opened his backpack and revealed the golden dog-head gold ore inside.
The lady at the front desk took a look and made a simple registration of items, name, phone number, etc.
Then he took Tang Songyuan into a reception room, poured him a glass of water, and said:
"Mr. Tang, please wait a moment. I'll ask our appraiser to come over."
After about five minutes, the front desk lady came back.
Along with her, there was a beautiful woman with a tall figure and an excellent temperament that made Tang Songyuan couldn't help but look at her twice.
As for the inside, well, Tang, Song and Yuan could only look at it for one more second. Looking at it for one more second might make people feel indecent.
The lady at the front desk stood up and said:
"I'm sorry, Mr. Tang. It just so happens that our appraiser in charge of miscellaneous items is out for business. This is our vice president and the best auctioneer in our company."
The vice president personally received him, which made Tang Songyuan a little flattered.
He stood up and was about to say hello politely.
But the beauty stretched out her hand first and said, "Hello, Mr. Tang, I am Yu Qingran."
Yu Qingran was wearing a well-tailored professional attire. She looked well-proportioned and graceful, and her facial features were as delicate as a beautiful woman walking out of a painting.
The most commendable thing is her skin, which is fair and delicate, can be broken by blowing, and is so white and tender that it seems like you can pinch water out of it.
"Hello, Manager Yu!"
Tang Songyuan shook her hand and said, "I didn't expect Manager Yu's business to be so extensive."
Yu Qingran raised her hand to signal him to sit down and talk, while she sat opposite Tang Songyuan.
The young lady at the front desk bowed slightly and said, "Then you guys can chat slowly, I'll go back to my post first."
Watching the young lady at the front desk leave, Yu Qingran looked at Tang Song Yuan with eyes that seemed to be able to speak:
"During the startup stage of the company, I have done appraisal work before, so Mr. Tang doesn't have to worry."
This was a response to Tang Songyuan saying that she had a wide range of business. Then, after observing Tang Songyuan's dog head gold ore, Yu Qingran said something similar to Zhang Shihua of Tianxing Auction House.
"The most valuable thing about natural gold nugget is the shape given to it by nature,"
Yu Qingran continued: "As for Mr. Tang's dog-headed gold ore, its appearance and meaning are both perfect, but in my opinion there are still some shortcomings."
"Why didn't I see it?" Tang Songyuan said with a slight frown.
Yu Qingran raised the corner of his mouth slightly and explained: "Mr. Tang misunderstood. What I meant was to ask our carving master to use small-leaf red sandalwood to make a dragon base for this 'Crouching Tiger'."
"Together, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon has a more perfect meaning."
"From my personal aesthetic understanding, jade is the best, but unfortunately, the best jade is also very rare and valuable, and it is difficult for our auction house to obtain such top-quality materials... ..”
It was a good idea, and Tang Song and Yuan almost couldn't help but praise it.
Whether it’s a coiling dragon and a crouching tiger, a hidden dragon and a crouching tiger, or a crouching tiger and a pan-dragon.
It just adds a base made of precious wood or jade, and together the meaning of 'crouching tiger and pan dragon' is indeed more culturally meaningful than a simple dog-headed gold ore.
Although there is a suspicion of acquired processing, the combination of the base will definitely add a lot of color to this piece of gold nugget.
Unfortunately, such large pieces of jadeite with good quality are also rare.
Moreover, if there is good jade, a piece of gold ore will be carved into a base. Isn’t this a waste of things?
"Then if you use small-leaf red sandalwood...how to calculate the cost?"
The idea was indeed a good one, but when it came to additional processing, Tang Songyuan was still concerned about the interests involved.
And the jadeite thing,
Yu Qingran showed a slightly dimpled smile and said: "The cost of the required materials and processing is expected to be around 100,000 to 500,000. We will refer to the master craftsman's ideas for details, but we will pay in advance."
"In the end, it will be deducted together with the commission after the auction is successful. Mr. Tang doesn't have to worry."
Tang Songyuan was moved in his heart and asked again: "Then how much is your Shangde's commission?"
What dissatisfied him about the previous Tianxing Auction House was the commission issue, so he hoped Suntech's commission wouldn't be too outrageous.
Yu Qingran said calmly: "We at Suntech adopt a two-way collection model for commissions,"
"Generally speaking, we will charge a handling fee of 2% of the transaction amount for buyers, and only 5% commission for sellers..."
...
