Chapter 300 Our Lady and the Wreath
After Zhang Ailun found the containers he wanted to auction, he decisively contacted the staff, selected five containers, and paid a registration fee of US$100.
After other treasure hunters came over, they each selected the containers they wanted to buy and smoothly entered the auction process.
The staff first introduced the containers from Germany, saying that they contained some collections of military enthusiasts, and opened the containers for everyone to see. Many people were very interested in the green boxes and bid for them.
Zhang Ailun was not interested in this. He just made a symbolic bid after the price was raised several times, "4600 US dollars."
As soon as the price was announced, the two bald guys next to him couldn't wait to surpass the price, "6000 dollars!"
"$7500."
"8000 USD!"
The price kept rising, and the warehouse manager was so excited that he smiled widely. In the end, a couple of treasure hunters successfully bought the military container for $14250.
However, during the subsequent inspection, they only found some paper notebooks, pens, and military uniforms from World War II.
After testing, it was found that the clothes were not military supplies used by the army, but were customized by arms enthusiasts and were not worth much. The couple also lost $10,000 directly!
Upon seeing this, Zhang Ailun left without looking back and went to the next container to participate in the auction.
The red container is a private collection container from Colombia, and many people were very interested in it. The staff opened the box and let everyone observe it. They found that it was full of messy aluminum alloy iron cabinets and wooden products. After the introduction, many people also participated in bidding.
"$2600."
"$3000."
"$3200."
"..."
Soon the price remained high, breaking through the $19000 mark and reaching $.
Zhang Ailun bid appropriately, but was soon outbid by others. Looking back at the tattooed white man, he couldn't figure out what value this thing could have. Could it be that there were local specialties grown in the fields hidden inside?
In the end, the tattooed man successfully won the container from Colombia because he felt impatient after bidding against the other two treasure hunters and directly bid a high price of US$32400!
Others also found this incredible, and felt that no matter how valuable this container was, it couldn't possibly be worth that much.
Many people were unwilling to give up and stayed here to see what valuable treasures the tattooed man would bring out. Of course, the chief leader was not in a hurry to leave. Before the next round of auction started, he also stopped here to watch.
But the result was just as everyone expected. After searching and inspecting the container from Colombia, there was nothing valuable. The only valuable things were probably the aluminum alloy cabinets and a desk lamp. But the cabinets were also empty, without a single hair.
Many people were gloating. "Man, if you throw this thing into a pawn shop, no one will want it. You might have to send it to a recycling station before someone will take it. Maybe it's worth $60?"
"There's no doubt that your $30,000 is down the drain!"
"I want these metal cabinets of yours. My house just happens to be lacking a table to put vases on." A white man with long braids laughed.
The tattooed man didn't care about the laughter and ridicule of the crowd. Instead, he was unusually calm. "You have no idea how valuable this thing is! This is the difference between a real rich man and a gambler! If I didn't have solid intelligence and news, would I spend 30,000 US dollars to buy a container?"
The tattooed man sneered, but his words touched the heart of the chief leader, who agreed with it. If he didn't know the news in advance, he would come here to try his luck and give money to others. It would be better to go to the casino.
At least you can get two free cups of red milk tea, donut ice cream, and a friendly match with the physiotherapist.
It seems that this guy should know something in advance.
The tattooed man threw the lamp in his hand to the ground, smashing it, then squatted on the ground and searched among the debris. In front of everyone, he found a few round glass wafers, held them up in his hand and said, "This thing is enough to make me money!"
"Shit! I seem to have seen someone recycling some stuff online. It seems to be something called silicon carbide wafers, and one piece is worth at least $200-3000. There are also many crystals that can reach $6. The quality of his crystal also looks very good, so it should be worth tens of thousands of dollars."
Someone who knew what was in his hand recognized it and exclaimed in surprise.
But he soon felt regretful that he had not persevered and paid a high price to buy the container. Now that he saw others making money, he could only grit his teeth in envy and jealousy.
Zhang Ailun didn't feel anything about it. He just admired the other party for his courage and vision. The most important thing was that he should have understood the relevant situation.
Several containers were auctioned in succession, but basically no valuable items appeared. Soon it was the turn of the D65 green container that Zhang Ailun had been eyeing, but many people were not interested in it, thinking that it was no different from the previous ones, and few people were willing to bid for it.
The staff said that this was a container from a private warehouse, which had been stored in the warehouse for more than half a year. It was currently unclaimed and the warehouse owner could not be contacted, so they could only deal with it privately. There should also be private collections of the rich man in it.
The treasure hunter tried to bid, "Two thousand dollars."
The bearded man wearing a baseball cap next to him also bid, "2500 dollars."
"$3000."
"$3250."
The two people competed with each other, and another person intervened in the middle, and the price quickly reached US$5500.
Then no one was willing to continue bidding.
The staff could only count the time, "5500 USD for one time, 5500 USD for two times..."
Just when the bearded man thought he could successfully get the container at this price, the leader also chose to take action.
"$6000."
The bearded man looked at the chief in surprise and followed suit, "6200 US dollars."
Zhang Ailun smiled slightly: "6300 US dollars."
"6400 dollars?"
"$6500."
The price went up to 7000 . dollars. Seeing that the chief was holding on to the container and would not give up until he got it, the bearded man was speechless.
Feeling that my luck today was really bad, I waved my hand and chose to give up the bidding.
"Hey, buddy, I'll give you this crappy box. There will only be one valuable box in each container area. Someone just opened something worth tens of thousands of dollars. There's no chance of anything else. Good luck."
The bearded man said this and turned and left.
"I don't think so."
Zhang Ailun watched the bearded man turn and leave, and signaled the staff to continue the countdown.
"US$7000 for one time, US$7000 for two times, US$7000 for three times! Deal! Congratulations to this gentleman for successfully bidding on the container from a private storage. Please dispose of the item after paying the balance. You will also need to pay a cleaning fee of US$200 afterwards."
Zhang Ailun was familiar with this and chose to pay the other party $7000 in cash. Then he started to clear the goods in the container.
A rabbit doll, $5 at most, not worth much, just put it in your pocket.
A kerosene lamp from the last century? Not worth much.
Zhang Ailun put it aside. He found another photo frame in the box and took a look. It was a family photo. It should be the private collection of the rich man. The photo was still grayish white.
Then I found a lot of scattered things, and finally found a large photo frame in a sealed box. I tore open a corner of the packaging and saw the oil painting.
Considering that there were a lot of people here, Zhang Ailun did not choose to expose it. He took the photo frame directly to find the staff and paid the cleaning fee.
"Sir, you don't want these things anymore?" The warehouse staff was a little surprised and took a look at the things in the container. Although they were not very valuable and he lost all his money, they were at least worth 40 to 80 US dollars and could still make a profit if they were sold to a recycling station.
"I've spent seven thousand dollars, but there's nothing in it. Only this painting should be worth a few hundred dollars. There's no use for me to keep these things. Instead, it makes me feel upset. Please help me deal with them." Zhang Ailun's acting skills were online, and he said speechlessly.
Seeing this, the staff immediately comforted him, "Container blind boxes are like this. It all depends on luck and personal vision. Although you didn't get what you wanted this time, you may get rich next time! We will have another batch of storage containers to be moved in next. Are you interested in signing up to participate?"
"If you are willing to refund the registration fee to me, I think I would be interested." Zhang Ailun said with a smile.
"Sir, the registration fee is the entrance ticket that everyone will pay. No refund will be made regardless of whether the container blind box is auctioned or not, whether it is a profit or a loss." The staff immediately declined.
Zhang Ailun waved his hand and turned away. Others, including the bearded man who had bid with the chief leader at the beginning, were glad that they did not buy the box after seeing that the chief leader had lost all his money.
He muttered, "Those fortune tellers in the church are not reliable. I spent 50 dollars to ask them to tell my fortune. They said I would have good luck today and make a lot of money. It turns out they are all fake! They are all fooling people!"
The more he thought about it, the angrier he became. He turned around and left the container auction area and went to the church to settle the score.
The chief leader left the container area of the southern port, took out his cell phone and called the Beggar Gang disciples at Lao Pick's Auto Repair Shop, asking them to drive over to pick him up.
After waiting on the roadside for more than ten minutes, a disciple of the Beggar Gang drove over in the leader's Lamborghini Evo.
Haven't touched this thing for several days.
Since I brought this car back, it seems that I have only driven it once? Even the Wrangler that the leader used to like the most is rarely touched now.
Zhang Ailun also admitted that he was a bad man who was easily bored with the old and easily attracted by the new, but there was nothing he could do because the Rolls-Royce was just too nice, very impressive, and had spacious seats.
Originally, the leader wanted to sell this Lamborghini, but Jennifer and Irene liked it very much. After considering it, Zhang Allen no longer wanted to make the $200,000.
Sitting in the co-pilot seat, he also instructed the Beggars' Sect disciples: "Go to George Pawn Shop."
"Ok." The Beggar Gang disciple immediately started the Lamborghini. The engine roared and galloped on the street, attracting a lot of attention. Many street girls on the roadside also turned around to look at it.
"Boss, what are you doing here?" Passing the traffic light intersection, a Beggar Gang disciple stopped his car and turned to look at the long and flat paper shell in the chief leader's hand, which looked like a picture frame, with some curiosity.
Zhang Ailun said with a smile: "Boctoo, Blitz and I flew back from Palm Valley, and happened to come across a container blind box auction here, so I just spent a few thousand dollars to buy a blind box. This thing should be a good thing."
As he spoke, he opened the paper shell, revealing the painting wrapped in plastic film inside, with Picasso's autograph on the back.
"Boss? This looks like a Picasso painting, right?" All the Beggar Gang disciples were shocked.
I have always heard that the chief has incredible luck. No matter whether he is rummaging through trash cans on the street, buying blind boxes in containers, or going out to sea to salvage treasure from shipwrecks, he always hits the mark and has never lost money.
Even more outrageous is that someone bought a piece of land, dug it a few times, and oil came out...
Look at their luck, and then look at your own. It's really frustrating to compare yourself with others.
I had only heard about it before and never seen it with my own eyes. I didn't expect that the chief leader would come back again and this time he would directly give you a Picasso painting!
However, Picasso created so many paintings that when he was young he used realistic oil paints, and when he was later in life he used abstract lines.
To be honest, even the lines and shapes drawn by a three-year-old child would look better than those drawn by him.
But his paintings are very valuable.
Even if it was placed in front of you, you wouldn't know how much it was worth. The Beggars' Sect disciples had no idea about it and didn't know its value, so they just asked tentatively, "Boss, this thing is worth at least tens of thousands of dollars, right?"
"I think it's worth at least a few million."
Zhang Ailun took out his phone and used Google Camera to scan the painting in his hand. The relevant information was quickly displayed. A lot of keywords on the Internet.
Picasso's "Madonna and the Wreath" (Vierge la guirlande) is a paper work, 63×. A related auction was held in 1905, and the transaction price at that time was about million US dollars.
hiss……
$1905 million in
If it were put into today's price, it would have multiplied by dozens of times, right?
Zhang Ailun himself couldn't make up his mind and could only keep it carefully.
When the red light turned green, the Beggar Gang disciples also drove off the street, drove for more than ten blocks, and parked in front of Old George's pawn shop.
Zhang Ailun got out of the car, asked the Beggars' Sect disciples to wait outside, and pushed the door open with the Picasso painting.
"Welcome to Old George's Pawn Shop... Oh, it's you."
Old George was wiping the porcelain vase in his hand. He answered the doorbell subconsciously. He looked up and saw that it was the old acquaintance of the chief leader again.
Looking at the picture frame in the chief leader's hand, he said cheerfully: "What is this thing? A painting?"
"Business is bad today?"
Zhang Ailun looked around the store and saw that there was no one in it except the staff and the owner, Old George.
Old George waved his hand. "How is that possible? We just sent away a group of guests. Are you here to sell me some high-quality discs and videotapes?"
"No, those things have been collected by someone. The big collector Madison bought my films at a high price. I came here to ask you to help me identify the value of this Picasso painting." Zhang Ailun said as he put the painting on the table.
"A Picasso?"
Old George was immediately interested, took the painting, put on his glasses and looked at it carefully, marveling at the texture and signature of the painting.
“It’s really a Picasso painting!”
(End of this chapter)
