Mr. Qin of Beijing would never have dreamed that a "broken robe" he bought for 90,000 yuan that year could finally be sold at auction for 130 million yuan.
Now Mr. Qin still has palpitations when he recalls this incident. He would never have imagined that his bold decision would successfully "pick up a leak" of a treasure. It was the most correct decision he had ever made in his lifetime, and he would remember this experience for the rest of his life.
The image originates from the internet
According to Mr. Qin's recollection, in 2005 he participated in an auction at The Beijing Wenjiu Auction Company, and because he was a collector who loved antiques, although he was no better than other collectors, he heard that there were all kinds of rare treasures, and he couldn't help but come to see it.
At first, Mr. Qin just sat quietly under the auction hall and watched, and did not have the impulse to buy, because the antiques auctioned were all priceless, and the high price was prohibitive.
Mr. Qin was shy, and could only watch others continue to bid and sell, but he could only watch with his eyes, until a lot marked as "yellow satin robes in the late Qing Dynasty" appeared, which completely aroused Mr. Qin's desire to buy.
This lot is called "yellow satin robes in the late Qing Dynasty", in fact, in the eyes of photographers at that time, it was not even a robe, but just an old and worn satin quilt.
Therefore, this piece of cloth, which the auctioneer prides itself on being a robe from the end of the Qing Dynasty, even if it is only priced at 90,000 yuan, has not been cared for from beginning to end. In the face of such an embarrassing situation, even the auctioneer is only hastily introduced, and finally can only end with a "stream auction".
However, since it is a lot that has already been auctioned, how did Mr. Qin finally shoot this product? Why would he buy this lot that no one was bidding on? What was he thinking?
Finding the clue, picking up the leak successfully
In fact, when this lot was exhibited, Mr. Qin did not dare to agree for a while. Because its style and collection value are not enough for people to give up 90,000 yuan to photograph it, because it is too ordinary in many lots.
Although it is no longer remarkable, Mr. Qin still "favors" it because it is not expensive. But is it just for that reason? Is an unattended lot worth Mr. Qin spending 90,000 yuan? Did he discover any secrets?
It turned out that Mr. Qin, who was bold and careful in the auction hall, did find the hint of this "robe", and Mr. Qin, who was as delicate as a hair, found that it was faintly revealing exquisite patterns and words through this "yellow satin quilt". This discovery surprised Mr. Qin, and his heart was full of turmoil.
This strange discovery made Mr. Qin's impulse to buy and buy increased greatly, and he was eager to try many times, but he still resisted the impulse because of the auction price of 90,000 yuan. Despite this, Mr. Qin did not make this discovery known, and he secretly swore in his heart that he was bound to win this lot.
After the "Yellow Satin Robes in the Late Qing Dynasty" was filmed, Mr. Qin withdrew. After returning home, he told his wife about this magical discovery, and her wife felt that Mr. Qin was "thinking too much". When Mr. Qin asked to go to the bank to withdraw 90,000 yuan to buy the lot, his wife resolutely refused.
Forced to be helpless, Mr. Qin had to find relatives and friends to cobble together 90,000 yuan. Mr. Qin put 90,000 yuan into his bag, and his face was full of happy smiles. He seemed to have foreseen that he was about to come and jumped the "dragon gate".
In addition to being overjoyed, Mr. Qin was a little worried, he was afraid that the auction company would not sell to him in the end. Therefore, Mr. Qin the night before was insomnia.
Early the next morning, Mr. Qin came to the auction company. Who knew that the staff had not yet gone to work, he had arrived too early! Mr. Qin waited at the door of the company for about half an hour, and the auction company finally opened its doors.
When Mr. Qin named the "yellow satin robe at the end of the Qing Dynasty", the auction company did not mention how happy it was: "It is a great thing that someone suddenly comes to the door to buy something that cannot be auctioned." ”
Soon, the two sides traded at the previous list price of 90,000 yuan. After completing all the formalities, Mr. Qin returned home happily with this "treasure".
When he got home, his wife was still angry about his borrowing money, so when he got home, his wife didn't say a word to him. Seeing that his wife was still angry, Mr. Qin went straight back to the study.
In the study, Mr. Qin carefully opened the "robes". When he unwrapped the surface of the yellow satin quilt, he was stunned by the appearance of something in the mezzanine.
Only to see that the yellow satin hides a beautiful "quilt", its beauty and luster completely attracted Mr. Qin's attention. As a lover of ancient cultural relics, Mr. Qin has never seen such a beautiful thing.
In addition to being amazed, Mr. Qin shouted his wife's name in an extremely excited tone. The wife came in impatiently, expressing particular annoyance with Mr. Qin's behavior. But when she saw this "quilt", her eyes widened at once.
To this end, the couple carefully studied this "quilt", whether it is the fabric or the workmanship is ingenious and beautiful. Although they don't know what this is, they basically conclude that the value will certainly not be lower than the original auction price.
With this joy, Mr. Qin came to an ancient cultural relics appraisal institution. When he took out this "quilt", the expert's face suddenly showed a surprised expression. Through this, Mr. Qin has roughly understood its value, so when the appraisal expert said, "This is a quilt covering a dead person, unlucky, and needs to be sold as soon as possible", Mr. Qin sensed that the "expert" was deceiving him. Therefore, even if the experts later said that they could find someone to buy it back at twice the price, Mr. Qin directly refused.
After that, Mr. Qin found his friend Li Yanjun, who studied jade, and asked him for help. Although Li Yanjun did jade research, he still had some knowledge of silk and religious writing. When Li Yanjun saw this quilt that Mr. Qin had brought, he was very shocked and said, "This is not an ordinary thing, it should come from the court." Finally, Li Yanjun suggested that Mr. Qin find some more famous experts to identify.
Listening to Li Yanjun's suggestion, Mr. Qin found Zhang Shufen, a researcher at the Palace Museum and a famous cultural relics appraiser. She just looked at it and concluded that this was absolutely extraordinary. After a series of identification procedures, it was determined that this "quilt" was made to be a Sutra of The Silk Dravidian.
Zhang Shufen
The value of the Sutra is self-evident. It is a funerary vessel woven with golden Sanskrit scriptures. It was mainly used after the death of emperors, concubines and princes and ministers of the Qing Dynasty. Depending on the grade and official position, the colors and decorations used are also different. The Dravidian sutra in Mr. Qin's hand is the best of its kind in terms of material and pattern, so Zhang Shufen speculates: "This sutra should be used after the death of the emperor, empress, or crown prince, as for who uses it, there is no way to study it at present." ”
In order to find out the origin of this sutra, Mr. Qin found another senior monk. This high monk was the sixth grandson of the Qianlong Emperor, so he had the most say in the origin of this sutra.
Mr. Qin recalled, "When Master Hongdao saw this quilt, he suddenly stood up from the bed, excitedly said that it was something from his ancestors, and asked Mr. Qin where he got it." Master Hongdao also said, "This is not only used by the imperial family, but also by the Qianlong Emperor." ”
Mr. Qin, who heard these words, was momentarily dazed, he did not know what it meant. Coupled with the testimony of Master Hongdao and the conclusions of several previous appraisers, the experts finally identified that the sutra was from the tomb of the Qianlong Emperor and was the "past life quilt" that Qianlong buried on his body, and the common people commonly known as the shroud. Since it was used by the Qianlong Emperor, the value was also evident.
After the matter was exposed, the general manager of the previous auction company and the person who handled this quilt were very emotional: "People who engage in collection are looking forward to 'picking up leaks', who knows that this Mr. Qin really picked up a big leak!"
So, why did this quilt fall to auction? Why is it displayed under the wrapping of robes? Logically, shouldn't it be in the tomb of the Qianlong Emperor? Behind this rare lot, what kind of unknown legend is hidden? These mysteries also begin in 1928 when sun Dianying, the "great thief of Tanglin", began.
Traced back to the roots, legendary
In 1928, the Great Thief sun Dianying of Tanglin led people to loot the Cixi Mausoleum, and the gold and silver jewelry that accompanied the funeral were looted, and even the 820 pearls on the Dravidian Sutra covered by Cixi's body were also removed, with a valuation of 160,000 taels of silver and a huge value.
At that time, Sun Dianying and his men "did not know gold and jade with their eyes", they only stole gold and silver jewelry, and finally threw aside the Dravidian Sutra after the pearl was disassembled. A few years later, the damp and broken scriptures were reframed under the restoration of the Palace Museum and are still stored in the cultural relics warehouse of the Qing Dynasty Tombs.
Sun Dianying
Yu Shanpu, who works at the museum, said that after Sun Dianying and these bandits had stolen Cixi's mausoleum, they turned around and ran to Qianlong's mausoleum. As for why only Cixi's scriptures were left behind, but when the Qianlong scriptures were taken away, there were different speculations about them from all walks of life, but there was no certainty.
Some people say that they accidentally fell or even lost during smuggling; others speculated that it was caused by the bandits who were with Sun Dianying. In short, it took nearly a century for this Dravidian sutra of Qianlong to reappear in the sky, and when it reappeared, it was in the form of a "broken robe."
Under the joint confirmation of appraisal experts and many cultural relics scholars, the historical value of Qianlong's Dravidian sutra and the value of art collection have once again refreshed people's cognition: first, this sutra is made of golden Brahman character Dravidian yellow satin, lined with nine dragons, all woven with gold thread; secondly, the longitude is marked with the position of shoulders and feet, which belongs to Qianlong's "tailor-made"; then, this Dravidian sutra is used to double-sided, belonging to the best of silk; fourth, the warp is made of Tibetan antelope wool twisted silk. Both sides are embellished with intricate patterns.
In fact, the above is only a dime a dozen of the value of this warp, and the value of craftsmanship and historical materials it brings is the most precious. As a result, this quilt will appear at auction again and again, attracting countless collectors to buy it. So, what kind of sky-high price can a piece of silk fabric sell? How did it come to prominence in the porcelain favored by collectors and become a hot antique story of the year?
Two auctions, sky-high prices
On January 6, 2008, the So-called "China's First Auction" of the Sutra was once again featured on the beijing auction floor in a new capacity, this time as the object of great attention and the priceless treasure that everyone competed for.
This piece marked "Qianlong Royal Silk Sutra Quilt" really lived up to expectations, and under the thousands of calls of the crowd, it made a stunning appearance as the finale lot.
At the beginning of the new year, the collectors were very excited and excited. Xu has heard of this lot long ago, so as soon as it appeared, it instantly attracted the attention of all the spectators present. Compared with the previous popular porcelain special, this silk fabric quilt is even better.
When the auctioneer shouted out the reserve price, there were countless card holders, and the scene was indescribably lively. Even if its starting price is more than one million, it still can't resist the fanatical yearning of collectors.
In the end, under the continuous bidding, the number of card raisers decreased one by one, not the enthusiasm decreased, but the offer was far beyond the scope they could bear. In the end, only the no. 2 and no. 15 holders remain.
After several rounds of bidding, the young lady of the No. 15 card came out on top with an offer of 65.5 million yuan and acquired the ownership of the quilt. When the auctioneer knocked down the hammer, the audience burst into warm applause.
Mr. Qin at the scene was full of tears, as a wise-eyed pearl-wise "sutra bole", the Dravidian sutra can be displayed again in front of the world, Mr. Qin is indispensable. Recalling that when he first filmed for 90,000 yuan and still suffered from the incomprehension and doubts of the people around him, Mr. Qin tearfully said that it was "like a dream".
Although Mr. Qin finally received a sky-high transaction fee of 65.5 million yuan, he was not happy. Because he felt that there were not many people coming this time, and the price was much lower than he expected.
Of course, people cannot explore the past, let alone predict the future. Ever since Mr. Qin auctioned this piece, he had lost everything to do with it, and whether it increased in value or decreased in price from then on had nothing to do with him. But at the auction two years later, this piece was once again in people's field of vision, and the high price made Mr. Qin regret it.
In 2010, at the "Sino-American Hongkaiwei Auction", a man holding No. 168 bought the precious quilt for 130 million. With the end of the auction, the quilt also disappeared completely in front of the public's eyes. As for when it will reappear, no one can guarantee it, but what is certain is that this sutra will surely rise to the top and become a dream that people can no longer reach. It may also be hidden and become a legend in history.
Some people say, "Mr. Qin has the wisdom to know the pearls, this is what he should have in his destiny"; others say: "Things are found in people, but they cannot be sought"; and some people regret that Mr. Qin sold it too early: "Mr. Qin sold it too early!" Or the lady was more powerful, selling 130 million." In short, the world's praise and criticism are mixed, and as for what exactly they feel, I am afraid that only the parties concerned can answer.
Of course, some people questioned: "Why can the Dravidian Sutra used by the Qianlong Emperor be auctioned off as a cultural relic that should belong to the national treasure level?" In fact, it is inevitable that some people will issue such questions, after all, they were once buried in the imperial tomb. As for why it was auctioned, we don't know, after all, the state has not issued a clear division of such collections. What do you think about that?