“A counterfeit? Why do you say so?”
The old man adjusted his glasses and explained in a serious manner, “Look at the base. It is extremely white, so it doesn’t resemble how an antique should look like and the pattern is not in symmetry. Based on my years of experience in antiques appraisal, this is undoubtedly a modern craft.”
After listening to him, everyone nodded their heads. “You are right; there was another one in Barnsford, which looked exactly the same as this. It was auctioned off with a price of 5 million! How much is this worth? 500!”
“Sigh, it turns out that this is a fake. Let’s head down from the stage.”
After the crowd appraised the goods, most of them left the stage with only a handful remaining, considering whether to purchase the craft.
“Sigh, it turns out that this is a fake. It’s worthless!”
Janet squatted down and meticulously observed the craft, unable to stifle the smile at the corner of her lips.
In the end, she bought the so-called replica at a price of 1500.
When the crowd saw that it was a girl who purchased the craft, they looked at one another and mocked, “Young lady, are you going to use this replica to make pickles?”
“Haha, young lady, I bet that you bought it to soak your feet.”
“Why are you here at the antique market if you know nothing about antiques? This is obviously a replica—you are merely wasting your money.”
Janet’s red lips were curled up. “It’s rare to see something that I like. On top of that, it’s dirt cheap. Of course I won’t let it go.”
Upon hearing her words, the crowd began to laugh. “This young lady is a fool.”
After that, there were a few genuine antiques, but she had always bought only the finest product, so she didn’t bid for them.
The first part of the free trade fair was over and next was a trade only for the merchants.
In the second part of the free trade, the antique collectors brought their antiques out to sell. Therefore, it fully depended on one’s ability to spot the genuine goods.
“Hello, is it true that anyone can sell antiques in this free trade?” She intended to sell her oriental jasper.
“Do you have something that you would like to trade for?” The host appraised her.
With a smile, she unzipped her bag and showed him her jewel. “This is the thing!”
He glanced at the oriental jasper in her hand. With his brows furrowed, he stared at it for some time before pulling her toward the table in puzzlement. “Young lady, put down your oriental jasper and let everyone take a look at it!” After roughly appraising the jewel in her hand, he found that the jewel seemed to have had a great color and quality!
“Sure!” Janet calmly put down the oriental jasper before all the collectors came forward to appraise it.
“The color is nice!”
“The crimson color is really bright and it looks natural.”
“It looks like it weighs at least two pounds!”
One of the old men adjusted his glasses. “The crimson color looks pure and the quality seems excellent. It must be selling for an expensive price.”
“However, the jewel belongs to this young lady. Is it actually genuine?”
“Yeah, I don’t dare to buy it!”
“You are right. This girl might have randomly picked a stone and dyed it red before claiming that it’s an oriental jasper. Do you think that you can lie to us?”
Upon hearing that, Janet smiled. It seems like everyone here are amateurs. “Since all of you are afraid that this is a counterfeit, I’ll prove it to you guys.” As she was speaking, she took a bottle of mineral water from someone beside her and poured some water on the oriental jasper.
The water seeped into the crevices of the stone, which caused the patterns inside to refract the light and caused the color to change—the jewel turned bright red, making it dazzling.
The phenomenon astonished everyone and made them gape—it was merely too stunning.
“I know about this method to appraise a jewel. I’ve never thought that this oriental jewel is actually genuine. This is really beautiful!”
“Young lady, I want this! Name your price!”
“Move aside—I saw that first! I want it!”
As she looked at the crowd scrambling to buy her jewel, she slowly said, “Stop arguing. The person who offers the highest price will get this!”
Upon hearing her words, there were people who immediately named their prices.
“Young lady, I’m willing to offer 500 thousand!”
“500 thousand only? Are you kidding me? 2 million!”
“2 million? That’s too expensive!”
2 million would be nothing if that person was able to have his hands on the oriental jasper as his future generations would not need to worry about money for the rest of their lives.
“2.5 million…”
Janet was satisfied and content to listen to the crowd giving their prices. I’m getting rich! More importantly, I got this for free, which makes me even happier!
