Zhang Lisheng rejected Tina's request to go to Christie's with him immediately, "I don't have enough credits in high school. Mom will go crazy if I skip classes for no reason. Moreover, I know nothing about art auctions, I can't help much even if I go."
"Alright then, I'll call you after I get the appraisal done at Christie's. I think there's a 70% chance that it'll be good news …"
"I'll treat you to a feast tonight if it's good news."
"You have to treat me even if it's not good news. I'll wait for you here after school in the afternoon, I'll see you there," Tina got into a sports car beside the road and disappeared in the blink of an eye.
Zhang Lisheng walked quickly to the other side of the road and walked to his best friend, "George, what are you waiting for? Let's go to class."
"Zhang Lisheng, you must tell me how did you get to know this hot chick who drives a sports car!" George shouted in excitement.
"I saved her life at first and she wanted to repay me. Then, I helped her a couple of times and she started helping me … Anyway, that's how we got to know each other."
"Damn, you're so lucky. Oh yeah, does she have any hot chick friends?"
"Of course."
"Introduce her to me!"
"Don't you have Hena?"
"Don't you have Maddy too? Aren't you dating that hot chick just now!
Look at how that hot chick was looking at you. Damn, it'd be an insult to my intelligence if you said you're just a normal friend. "
"She was wearing sunglasses, moreover, there's nothing between Maddy and me …"
"Even the sunglasses couldn't hide her burning gaze when she looked at you," George said while swinging his butt in disgust, "Also, I heard from Hena that Maddy has been asking about you all day. Why would she do that if there's nothing between you guys …"
"George, you're as annoying as a black-feathered parrot."
"Hey, kid, you said 'black-feathered' just now, I can sue you for racism. So, you better get your hot chick girlfriend to introduce me to a couple of chicks with model-like bodies."
Zhang Lisheng and George walked into Lowbige Junior High's teaching block while talking and laughing. The class bell rang all of a sudden. The duo followed the crowd up the stairs and disappeared in the blink of an eye.
The morning classes passed quickly. When Zhang Lisheng walked out of the teaching building alone and turned on his phone that he had turned off during class, he realized that there were three missed calls from Tina on the screen.
He called back and Tina's surprised voice resonated from the phone after the phone rang twice, "Baby, let me tell you a piece of good news. Guess how much is your little stone worth?"
"100 million?" Zhang Lisheng said casually against the cold wind.
"Oh, you're really greedy. You actually asked for a hundred million!"
"I heard a story from my teacher when I was in junior high school in China. There was once an artist who was so poor when he was alive that his works could only be used to make up for the chicken coop. After he died, his paintings were worth tens of millions of dollars …"
"You're talking about Van Gogh. After the Renaissance, there was only one Van Gogh …
Forget it, if I continue listening to you, the surprise in my heart will disappear.
Listen, Christie's is willing to auction your three stone antiques at a base price of 12 million dollars. The mask is priced at 5 million while the two stone statues are priced at 7 million.
That's just the base price, the actual transaction price for the three antiques would be above 23 million dollars. Of course, if there's an upset, it might go as high as 30 to 40 million dollars.
It's best that you come to Christie's right now. The seller must show up for an auction of such a level.
I've thought about it. After you sign the contract at Christie's, we'll sell the antiques as soon as possible during the first spring auction that many big buyers will be paying attention to. I'll contact Sheila to build your factory right away.
If that's the case, your new slaughterhouse should be open for business before I go to university in September. I can leave with a peace of mind then. "
What Tina said was so detailed that Zhang Lisheng could not refute at all. "Alright then, it seems like I'll have to skip class for another half a day.
Wait for me at Christie's, I'll be there as soon as possible. "He strode across the green lawn of Lowbige's campus and drove to King Street.
The only way for a reputable auction house to expand and maintain its reputation was to continuously auction off priceless items. Even Christie's, which was one of the top three art auction houses in the world, was no exception to this.
Therefore, when the seller brought their collection to the auction house and was recognized as a real precious art piece, it was actually the auction house asking the seller to keep their collection for auction so they could get both fame and profit, not the other way around.
Zhang Lisheng was treated like a VIP as soon as he showed his identity when he arrived at Christie's.
At first, he thought it was because of the Douglin family's halo that Tina brought. However, he soon realized that the old white man named Kowalski who served them was more respectful to him than to Tina. His hair was sparse and long but he had long white hair. His hair was combed back and he was completely naked. He was more respectful to him than Tina.
"Are you saying that you want to sell your collection during the first spring auction too, Mr. Zhang?" The art director of the auction house, Kowalski, asked the young man with a warm smile while sitting in the most spacious, comfortable and luxurious office in Christie's.
"Yes, Mr. Kowalski, Tina said …"
"I'm sorry, please allow me to interrupt you. I'm asking for your opinion, not Ms. Douglin's opinion.
You might not understand how precious your collection is and the little tricks when auctioning art pieces.
Now that the stone tools are unexpectedly popular, your collection is fully qualified to be the final item in this round of large-scale auctions.
That is to say, if you are willing to keep these three items for the autumn auction, they will be able to appear on the front page of the "Christie's Autumn Auction Collection" album. You must not underestimate this, Mr. Zhang, you must not underestimate it.
The price of an art piece isn't just about its value, it's also about … "
"I need money right now, Mr. Kowalski. I can't wait until autumn."
"I understand. Then how much money do you need, Mr. Zhang? If it's less than 10 million, you can totally mortgage your collection to Christie's and get an advance payment."
Zhang Lisheng's eyes widened in shock when he heard such a generous offer.
"Lisheng, this is an auction tactic. It's just like when you're at the beginning of a battle, you don't want to use all of your 'elite soldiers' at the beginning of the battle, you want to use them in batches.
Real art pieces are hard to come by for all the auction houses. Christie's already has the Indian Three Eyes Wooden Stone Mask and Cezanne's Battle of Dawn as the finale items in this spring auction. No matter how good your stone is, it won't bring much glory to the spring auction.
If they're used as the finale in autumn, they'll be able to guarantee that Christie's will have two consecutive rounds of large-scale art auctions with high quality. The auction house will be willing to pay a small price for that, "Tina explained softly by the side.
Kowalski added while smiling while waiting for the girl to finish, "This is not only for Christie's, it's also to maximize your profit."
"But I really can't wait until autumn even if I can get more money then. I'm sorry, Mr. Kowalski."
"There's no need to apologize, Mr. Zhang. To Christie's, the customer is always right. If that's the case, I'll do as you said and add these three items into the spring auction … Hmm, let's put them on the last round on the last day.
Hmm, let's put it on the last round on the last day. It'll be easier to get a high price then. I'll also ask the auctioneer to introduce it. "
"Thank you."
"It's my responsibility. Now, let's talk about how we're going to legally avoid taxes for you.
America's art tax is divided into capital gains tax, sales tax, and usage tax … "Kowalski went on and on with his attitude unchanged after being rejected by Zhang Lisheng again and again.
Since Zhang Lisheng had never come into contact with America's tax on auction items and had no interest in it, he was confused listening to Kowalski. He could not help but say, "Mr. Kowalski, can you please get to the point? Just tell me what's the actual percentage of the money I'll get from the auction?"
"The best plan, you'll actually get 78% of the money," Kowalski looked at Tina and said. Kowalski looked at Tina and said. The ratio was actually quite high, it could be said that Kowalski had shown his utmost sincerity.
"That's a great percentage," Tina nodded and whispered into Zhang Lisheng's ear.
"Okay, let's sign the contract, Mr. Kowalski."
The old man was secretly relieved that he got a great deal done. He said politely and kindly, "Sure, Mr. Zhang. Please wait for a moment, I'll get my lawyer to prepare the contract.
Julie, open the best bottle of champagne. I want to celebrate with this rich young man who's going to have a great fortune after signing the contract. "
Just like that, over ten minutes later, Zhang Lisheng signed an auction contract with Christie's. He said goodbye to Kowalski with Tina after drinking a glass of champagne and left the auction house.
Three days later, in the last auction of the Christie's spring auction, the single-faced carved insect pattern ghost mask that the scoundrel had determined to be worth at least 500,000 dollars and had almost caused a fatal disaster to the young man, under the fanatical pursuit of a mysterious Chinese buyer who had yet to show his face, had set a new record for a single stoneware item in the world. It was sold at a sky-high price of 24 million dollars.
Due to that, the two stone statues that were auctioned in a group were sold at a rare high price of 27 million dollars. After deducting the tax and the auction fee, the three antiques contributed a total of 39.78 million dollars to Zhang Lisheng's account, increasing the cash that the young man could use to around 43 million dollars.
Such a price that far exceeded expectations was almost impossible to appear in auction items that were highly recognized by the market, such as famous European paintings and famous jewelry. However, for auction items that were not recognized by the market but had extremely high artistic quality and production process, once they suddenly became popular and the market recognized them, it was very easy for them to have an unexpectedly high price.
The result of the auction could be said to be perfect. With ample funds and Tina and Sheila's help, the desolate Mutteslow saline-alkali land outside of New York City had several tall cranes erected within a day. Hundreds of large construction vehicles swarmed into the desolate Mutteslow saline-alkali land outside of New York City, turning into a busy construction site.
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