Seeing that the old man was being honest, Li Du didn't play any dirty tricks.
He pushed the two clocks to the front and said, "You're right, Mr. Raymond. These two are fakes, and those two are real."
Hans took all the clocks apart. Indeed, the four clocks looked the same, but the wear on the inside and the clarity of the printed numbers and letters were much worse.
Verifying the authenticity was the way to bid.
Hans asked, "Do you want to buy the antique clocks or all four?"
Raymond smiled. "I'm not a businessman, I'm a collector. So fakes are worthless to me. The two real ones are my goal."
Hans pulled Li Du aside and said in a low voice, "I just looked up the price of antique clocks on the internet. Based on the age and quality, I think 70,000 dollars for one clock is not bad."
Most of the antique clocks in the market were not of high quality. Even if they were put up for auction, they would rarely sell for a high price.
"I saw on the news that a similar item was recently auctioned. It was a bronze gilded French grandfather clock made in the 1850s. It was sold for 60,000 dollars at the BJ Poly Watch and Antique Watch Auction," Hans finally said.
Li Du nodded. "You're an expert in this field. I respect your opinion."
Hans felt much better after hearing him say that. The two of them walked up to the old man and made an offer. "How about 200,000 dollars for both clocks?"
Raymond laughed. "Not much, kids. You might not know this, but in the Poly Spring Auction that just ended, there was an Athena gold-plated French clock that was sold for 60,000 yuan. But that was an auction, so in reality, this thing might not be as valuable as you think. "
Hans said, "No, we know about this. We also know that the clock was made in 1850, half a century later than ours!"
Raymond said, "I understand, but there's still a difference between an auction and a live transaction. So 100,000 dollars — that's not a low price, is it?"
"100,000 is too little. I can make it cheaper, 180,000!"
"No, no, no, that's too expensive. I'm a collector, not a reseller, so I won't be a fool. Your clock is a nameless product, not a famous product made by Williamson, so it's not worth that much money. "
Li Du took out his phone and began to search for Williamson. He realized that he could learn a lot just by listening to these collectors.
Williamson was the most talented watchmaker in England in the 18th century. The period from 1769 to 1790 was the golden period of his watchmaking. All of his watchmaking works were classics without exception.
This master's most famous work was related to China. He wrote eight words on a gold-plated bronze clock that he gave to the Qianlong Emperor: "Eight directions change, nine earths come to the king." The Qianlong Emperor loved it very much and regarded it as a treasure.
However, there were very few of his works that were passed down to the world, and they were only limited to the Forbidden City or the important European museums.
According to the statistics of the International Antique Clock Guide Association, in the past records, there were only one or two Williamson clocks that had appeared in the market or auctioned.
Of course, those were real famous items. Any one of them could set off a bloodbath at an auction. It would not be a problem to sell it for tens of millions of dollars.
Hans haggled tirelessly, "170,000, I can't go any lower."
Raymond looked at him with sharp eyes, and Hans's smile did not change. The two of them confronted each other.
Li Du felt that the two of them were like Ximen Chuixue and Ye Gucheng in the Forbidden City. He quickly took two steps back to avoid being affected by the murderous aura.
"120,000 dollars!" Raymond slowly made his move.
Hans immediately countered, "No way, 160,000 dollars! I'm telling you very seriously, this is the lowest price. Any lower and I'll be your grandson! "
After some haggling, the final price was 145,000 dollars.
After the online bank transfer, Hans smiled proudly at Li Du. "Look, I got an extra 5,000 dollars. What do you think of Big Fox?"
Li Du hesitated. "Are you Big Fox or Grandson Fox?"
"F * ck you, haha!"
As usual, once the business was done, both parties became friends.
Hans helped Raymond install the clock, and Raymond continued to teach them about antique clock collecting.
"For antique clocks, the first is the year, the second is the place of origin, and the third is the material. In fact, in the end, the most important thing is the work, whether it's an imitation or an original. This includes the year, place of origin, material, and the design information displayed on the clock.
"Also, in Europe, antique clocks are considered to be a symbol of aristocratic culture. After they became popular in England in the 19th century, they were mass-produced in Germany.
"Without a doubt, English handmade clocks are valuable, while German ones are worthless.
"Let me teach you a little common sense. When you watch movies and TV shows, antique clocks often appear on the screen. If it appears in a rich or royal family, it's definitely English. If it appears in a commoner's home, it's definitely German. "
Li Du laughed. It turned out that the German-made clocks that all Europeans were proud of could also be considered common goods.
After sending Raymond away, they still had to deal with the two fakes.
The best place to deal with fakes was naturally a grocery store. However, Kevin shook his head after taking a look. "These things are worthless. Fakes, I'll give you 500 dollars for each."
"Such a big difference?" Li Du was shocked. "The real thing can sell for more than 70,000 dollars!"
Kevin snorted. "And this clock is only worth 500 dollars because it's gilded. Otherwise, no one would want it even if it was 100 dollars. You can have as many as you want."
With such a low price, they might as well keep it.
After some discussion, they each took an antique clock home as a souvenir of their harvest this time.
They had indeed made a lot of money this time. In total, they sold the clocks for 162,000 dollars. Li Du received close to 100,000 dollars.
Hans said regretfully, "Just a little more and you could have accumulated 100,000 dollars. Why don't you sell the fakes?"
Li Du shook his head. "It's okay. There will be plenty of opportunities in the future. Let's continue to find out more about storage units."
Hans flashed his phone. "I've already gotten some news. There's a storage unit auction in Phoenix next Tuesday."
There were still three days left. The two of them went back to pack their things and went straight to Phoenix.
Hans brought him to the storage company first. The storage company was called Big Red Sparrow Storage Co., Ltd. They were going to auction five storage units.
Li Du released the bug into the storage units. There was plenty of time, so he scanned them carefully.
However, he was disappointed. There was nothing good in the five storage units. Only unit 102 was good. There was a lot of porcelain.
If it were antiques, the porcelain could make someone rich overnight. Unfortunately, it was all modern goods. The bug was not interested in them and flew away.
Li Du shook his head. "Maybe we'll be disappointed this time."
Hans said regretfully, "None of them are valuable?"
Li Du tried to cover it up. "I can't see it clearly now. I'll take a look when the storage units are opened. Hopefully, I'll find something new."
Hans did not ask him how he found the treasures. The two of them had a clear division of labor. One was to find out information about the storage units and deal with the goods. The other was responsible for digging out the treasures. They did not interfere with each other and trusted each other.
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