The first thing Tang Songyuan did when he returned to the Magic City was to go to the prosperous Tang Dynasty to attend the signing ceremony with Poly Auction House.
After Yang Sijia had three rounds of negotiations with Zhang Dehai in the past few days, Zhang Dehai finally relented and agreed to reduce the final commission to an unprecedented 6%.
Don’t underestimate this five-thousandth difference. Behind it may be tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of dollars.
And Zhang Dehai didn't come alone. He also brought Yang Yunfu, the director of the ancient coin division of Poly Auction House, and an entire publicity and planning team.
Once the contract is signed, they will photograph and classify the many treasures brought back by Tang, Song and Yuan Dynasties for further publicity.
It's said to be a signing ceremony, but it's actually not a complicated process.
All terms have been negotiated in advance, and relevant contracts have been carefully reviewed by Shengtang's legal department.
Tang, Song and Yuan were just here for a formality.
However, as the de facto legal person of the company, he can authorize key executives to sign some documents, but some documents must be signed by him personally to be legally binding.
As Tang, Song and Yuan made their last move, the contract with Poly Auction House was officially completed.
Tang Songyuan and Zhang Dehai exchanged contracts and shook hands.
"Mr. Zhang, happy cooperation!"
"Happy cooperation, Mr. Tang!"
There was warm applause from employees on both sides.
The employees of Shengtang are naturally very happy to have an in-depth cooperation with a national auction house like Poly.
And if Poly can sign a big deal like Shengtang, it will also gain a lot.
Next, Tang Songyuan took Zhang Dehai, Yang Yunfu and others into the warehouse of the prosperous Tang Dynasty.
The publicity and planning staff of Poly Auction House also began to set up a photo studio in the warehouse, preparing to take photos of the participating collections one by one.
Especially for those porcelains, it is not only necessary to take photos from different angles, but also to record in detail the size, weight and even the pattern of the porcelain.
Sheng Tang also arranged for more than ten workers to help.
On the one hand, the porcelain packaged with a foam packer needs to be unpacked. After the shooting is completed, it also needs to be repackaged.
When the staff of Poly Auction House walked into the warehouse of Shengtang and saw the piles of treasures, even they, who were well-informed, were slightly shocked.
In the past, collectors would only send one or two pieces to Poly, or at most three or four.
But now in the warehouse of the prosperous Tang Dynasty, not to mention the boxes that have not yet been opened, there are tens of thousands of pieces of porcelain occupying more than half of the warehouse.
In addition to the most precious hundreds of pieces of 17th-century porcelain, there are also tens of thousands of unsold Haihai porcelain from the Tang Dynasty.
Before the shipwreck museum in the prosperous Tang Dynasty was built, it would still be stored in this warehouse.
These porcelains alone are enough to support a huge museum.
When a few workers from Shengtang moved out a large box and opened it to reveal all kinds of golden coins, the top executives of Poly, including Zhang Dehai and Yang Yunfu, became uneasy.
Yang Yunfu stared at the box full of gold coins, his eyes shining with surprise.
When Tang Songyuan saw this, he smiled and said: "Minister Yang can take a closer look. There are many coins of all kinds here. I believe Minister Yang will be able to feast his eyes on them."
The workers continued to move down various boxes containing coins, opened them one by one and placed them in front of everyone.
Yang Yunfu and Zhang Dehai squatted down, each picked up a gold coin, and carefully looked at the patterns and words on it. Feeling the heavy weight, they couldn't help but feel the waves in their hearts.
"Is this...are these all true?" Zhang Dehai asked in disbelief.
Although he actually held the coin in his hand, he still couldn't believe his eyes.
"Of course it's true!" Yang Yunfu said with great certainty, then put the gold coin in front of Zhang Dehai and said:
"This kind of gold coin is called a gold guinea, also called a gold guinea."
"First of all, judging from the material of the gold coins, they are made of high-purity gold, and their weight and texture are very real."
"Secondly, the patterns and text on these gold coins are very clear, and the casting process is exquisite, which is in line with the characteristics of European gold coins in the 17th century, because they are the first gold coins in the UK to be cast by machine."
“This gold coin features the King’s head on the front, and the jagged edges are also designed to prevent the gold coin from being cut or polished.”
"Let's look at the back of it. The logo above is the logo of the British East India Company."
"This is because the British royal family at that time proposed an incentive policy to encourage major colonial companies to plunder gold from overseas and bring it back to the mainland,"
"Since the gold coins were plundered and minted by which company, the company's logo can be cast on the back of the gold coins, and they can be legally circulated throughout the colonies of the British Commonwealth."
Then, Yang Yunfu picked up a half-guinea gold coin from another box and said:
"This is a half-guinea gold coin, weighing about half of the golden guinea gold coin. The design is similar to the golden guinea gold coin, but the size is slightly smaller."
"This kind of gold coin was very popular in England in the 17th century and has high collection value."
Then, Yang Yunfu conducted a detailed appraisal and introduction to the Dutch Dakot gold coins and the Portuguese large Cruzado gold coins kept in the boxes that were opened one after another.
It has to be said that Yang Yunfu is worthy of being an expert on ancient coins at Poly Auction House. These appraisal remarks,
It is more accurate and richer than the identification given by the perspective vision of the Tang, Song and Yuan Dynasties.
Tang Songyuan also came over and expressed his gratitude to Yang Yunfu with a smile:
"Minister Yang, your appraisal has given us a better understanding of the value of these gold coins, and also made us more confident in the professional capabilities of Poly Auction House."
"I believe that with your efforts, these treasures will find their new owners."
Zhang Dehai nodded in agreement and said, "Yes, we will definitely increase our publicity efforts and do our best to promote these treasures."
“Let more people appreciate their beauty and value.”
Then it was Zhang Dehai's turn to perform. He needed to authenticate each of the hundreds of pieces of porcelain brought back from uninhabited islands in the Tang, Song and Yuan Dynasties.
Of course, these hundreds of pieces of porcelain are not all of them. The Tang, Song and Yuan Dynasties had long selected the fifty most exquisite ones.
Of course he should keep the best for himself and pass it on from generation to generation in the future.
I saw Zhang Dehai put on a white glove and carefully picked up a piece of blue and white porcelain.
Then he described the age, shape and characteristics of the porcelain in detail, followed by specialized staff to record the number.
It took three days just to shoot, inventory and record.
Tang Songyuan had already sailed out to sea on the Pipi Shrimp and found ten strong deep-sea fish species and ten seabirds, preparing to start a new round of treasure hunting.
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