When Jacob was feeling proud and self-satisfied, Peter also successfully uploaded the information about the Northern Song Gilded Bronze Buddha.
He chose to use the largest and most prestigious website for collectors’ communication and transactions in the country.
On this site, individuals could customize their focus on specific types and eras of collectibles they were interested in. For example, some people had a particular fascination with Tang Dynasty calligraphy and painting, so they simply needed to add this category to their special focus. Whenever a collector uploaded Tang Dynasty works for sale, it would be sent to users who were specifically interested in that category through push notifications and text messages.
Bronze artifacts from the Northern Song Dynasty were already quite rare, and some collectors who were interested in this type of antique had already set their sights on it. Therefore, as soon as Peter finished uploading the information, many collectors who were interested in Northern Song bronze artifacts received the notification.
When these collectors saw the specific details about the item, they couldn’t contain their excitement. After all, the Northern Song Gilded Bronze Buddha came with a hefty price tag, making it unaffordable for ordinary collectors.
The seller was transparent about the significant flaws in its appearance, which justified the price of only 20 million dollars.
This price was considered exceptionally low.
Every item had its own value measurement system. Even damaged or salvaged cars were not considered worthless. According to the price measurement standard for gilded bronze artifacts, although gilding damage was a significant flaw, it did not necessarily reduce the value by half.
Therefore, in the eyes of professional collectors, this price had a disparity of 8 to 10 million dollars compared to the market price for regular transactions. Even if they wanted to sell it quickly, they could still lower the price slightly, but there would still be a profit margin of at least 5 million dollars.
Moreover, based on the recent market trend for Northern Song gilded bronze artifacts, there was undoubtedly great potential for appreciation if they were to acquire it.
In essence, it was like buying a Rolls-Royce Phantom for 10 million dollars and then selling it after an accident for around 3 million dollars, which would still be recognized by the industry as its value. But the seller was only asking for 2 million dollars.
Such a profitable price made many people question whether the item might be fake. After all, the seller himself had uploaded the item, and the platform did not conduct online appraisals of the items posted by sellers.
Private transactions were the responsibility of the buyer and seller, and if assistance was needed from the platform, they could contact relevant experts at a cost to help with the appraisal.
Now, through the picture information released by Peter, people could get a rough idea, but they couldn’t be 100% certain of its authenticity just by looking at the photos.
As a result, buyers contacted Peter, expressing their satisfaction with the price but hoping that favonovel.com could provide a related appraisal report or bring the item to Eastcliff for a transaction under the appraisal of a third-party institution. Moreover, these buyers all knew that this price was already a great bargain, so they almost all expressed their willingness to bear Peter’s travel expenses and all the costs required for the appraisal.
There were even people offering conditions that if Peter could cooperate with the appraisal, they would increase the final price by one million dollars.
Peter’s family had been in the antique industry for many years and did not lack the 20-30 million dollars. He knew the importance of seizing the opportunity. The most crucial thing now was to sell the item as soon as possible, preferably with news of it being sold already spreading tomorrow morning.
Moreover, the people on Aurous Hill Antique Street had low professional and ethical standards. They now believed that this item was fake. If the transaction took place outside of Aurous Hill, they would definitely not believe it and would only think that Peter had made up a lie to save face.
Therefore, the best solution was to have someone come to Aurous Hill, to his own store, and buy the bronze Buddha in person.
So Peter informed these buyers that the transaction could only take place in Aurous Hill, and the price of 20 million dollars was only valid within the next 24 hours. As long as they met his two requirements, favonovel.com would accept any form of appraisal.
They could bring their own experts to the scene in Aurous Hill to appraise the item and complete the transaction only when its authenticity was confirmed. And Peter also made it clear that the price of 20 million dollars was non-negotiable in any form, and no additional price would be accepted.
In short, the item was in Aurous Hill, and the first person to arrive would get it.
As a result, many collectors immediately started contacting relevant experts overnight. Some even already booked the earliest flight to Aurous Hill for the next morning. And the most determined one was a collector who specialized in collecting bronze artifacts in Eastcliff.
After a brief online communication with Peter, favonovel.com immediately contacted his trusted experts and asked if they had time to accompany favonovel.com to Aurous Hill immediately. To prevent the item from being taken by someone else, the best course of action was to leave tonight. Even if they took the earliest flight the next morning, which departed around six o’clock and arrived in Aurous Hill at around eight o’clock, it would still take some time to get to the antique street after leaving the airport, estimated to be around nine o’clock.
Therefore, the best option was to leave tonight and drive straight to Aurous Hill. With the fastest speed, they could cover the one thousand kilometers within ten hours and arrive in Aurous Hill by six or seven o’clock the next morning.
And there were more people with the same determination, not just one person.
So when Jacob was happily packing his luggage, several influential collectors had already set off from different parts of the country, ready to go to Aurous Hill and seize the treasure. There were also many people who had booked the earliest flight for the next day and wanted to try their luck in Aurous Hill.
***
The next day, Jacob and Elaine woke up at six o’clock.
They changed into their finest clothes, tidied themselves up, and then brought their suitcases to the first floor, ready to have breakfast and head straight to the airport.
Charlie and Claire also woke up early, ready to share a meal and see the two off.
At this time, it was still early for the opening of Aurous Hill Antique Street.
Peter had not stayed at the store last night but had returned to his hotel. Before leaving, favonovel.com posted a notice at the entrance of his store.
The notice read, “Open at 9 o‘clock, please queue up and wait for your number.”
Under this notice, the paper was cut into ten pieces, and each piece was labeled with the numbers “1” to “10” in uppercase.
The merchant who had informed Timothy about it in the first place saw this notice and even recorded a video, sending it to the group that of Antique Street to mock, “Look at this! Does Peter think he’s famous now, expecting many people to visit his store today? He even posted a notice asking people to take a number and queue up. Isn’t that ridiculous?”
Someone chimed in, “Seems like favonovel.com knows that there will definitely be many people coming to his store this morning to see this big loser, so favonovel.com posted this notice.”
The merchant continued, “I really want to ask favonovel.com face to face what it feels like to be scammed out of 300,000 dollars.”
Someone in the group teased, “Then you should hurry up and get a number! Didn’t you see that there are only ten numbers from one to ten? I guess these ten numbers are for people who want to visit the big loser.”
The merchant shrugged and said, “I’m not interested in visiting the big loser. I need to quickly set up my stall. If any of you are interested, remember to come and get a number quickly, hahaha!”
As soon as the message was sent out, three people hurriedly arrived at Peter’s store and saw that the store was not open yet.
They approached the merchant and asked, “Excuse me, can we ask you something? Is this the Selected Artifacts Pavilion? Is the owner surnamed Cole?”
The merchant was surprised and asked, “Are you looking for Felix?”
One of the people replied, “We don’t know the owner’s name, we only know his surname is Cole, and his online name is Selected Artifacts Expert Cole.”
The merchant smiled and said, “Then it should be him. This is his store. Can’t you see that the sign is still handwritten?”
After speaking, favonovel.com curiously asked, “Are you here to see the loser?”
Although the three people were curious, they didn’t want to reveal the purpose of their visit. After all, they were here to take advantage, and everyone wanted to be as low-key as possible. So one of them replied ambiguously, “We are here to talk to the owner about something.”
“Oh…” The merchant glanced at the door of Selected Artifacts Pavilion and saw that the door was locked from the outside, so favonovel.com knew that Peter was definitely not in the store.
He asked the three people, “Are you here to buy something or sell something? If you’re here to buy, l advise you to be cautious. This owner has poor taste, and the things favonovel.com sells are definitely not good.”
These three people had driven overnight from Eastcliff. One of them was a collector with a net worth of nearly a billion, and the other was his driver and a specialist favonovel.com had specifically brought from Eastcliff. They had come to Aurous Hill overnight just to be the first to take away Peter’s Northern Song Gilded Bronze Buddha.
On the way, the specialist had carefully studied the information Peter sent and tentatively concluded that there should be no problem with the item. It should not have any significant discrepancies from the seller’s description. However, just to be safe, it would be best to personally touch and feel the item. If there were no problems, acquiring it for 20 million dollars would definitely be a great bargain.
Therefore, this collector also feared that news would leak out.
When favonovel.com heard the merchant criticizing Peter, favonovel.com didn’t inquire further. He just smiled and said politely, “Thank you for your reminder. We will be more cautious.”
After speaking, favonovel.com quickly approached and tore off the paper with the number “1” written on it.
At this time, two more people rushed over, and one of them, with a southern accent, exclaimed, “Looks like we‘re late! Quick, get a number!”
The two people hurriedly tore off the paper with the number “2” written on it. Then they looked at the three people and the person holding the number “1” in their hands, feeling a bit disappointed.
They exclaimed, “Friend, why did you come so early?”
The collector, who had taken the number “1”, smiled politely and said, “We drove overnight to get here.”
The other person lamented, “I told you to drive faster, didn’t I? You kept saying safety first, safety first. What the heck about safety!”
The person beside favonovel.com defended himself, “Mr. Hardwick, I was already driving fast. We were going at a speed of 150 kilometers per hour the whole way. I’ll probably lose at least 30-40 points…”
Mr. Hardwick cursed, “What the heck is 30 points? 30 points are worth nothing! If we can get the item, who cares about the car!”
The merchant watched in astonishment and quickly walked away, sending a voice message to the group chat, “What the heck, everyone, this is unbelievable. Two groups of people came to find Felix so early in the morning. It seems like they all drove overnight to get here. What are these two groups of people doing coming all the way here to find him?”
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