"This one lot is
The long-lost Qianlong Imperial Pen's original manuscript "Songyang Han Baitu"...
The starting price is 25 million yuan, start now! ”
At the auction of Beijing Poly Company, the host carefully displayed this ancient painting and auctioned it off.
"30 million!"
"35 million!"
...
"78 million!"
"78 million times a time! 78 million twice! Deal! ”
In the warm applause, this Qianlong Royal Brush Painting was auctioned by the buyer for a high price of 78 million yuan, plus a commission, up to 87.36 million yuan.
This scene is broadcast live on television,
In the eyes of two peasant brothers in Zhengzhou City, Henan Province,
They were stunned, a little disbelieving their eyes and ears.
"Big brother, have we been deceived?"
The younger brother rubbed his eyes, carefully looked at the painting on the TV screen, turned his head to his brother Zhu Yun, and issued such doubts.
"Like, too much like our paintings, 170,000 were sold to him, and he actually sold so much money, is it not a pit for us?"
My brother said very suspiciously.
What's going on?
Is a Qianlong imperial brush painting worth more than 80 million yuan really sold by two peasants 170,000 yuan?
What would these two peasant brothers do?
A lawsuit of more than 80 million
In September 2011, on the steps in front of the Zhengzhou Intermediate People's Court, two thin men with dark faces climbed the steps step by step, their steps very rapid and their expressions very anxious. The two were followed by a man who looked like an intellectual.
They were the Zhu Yun brothers and the lawyers they had hired.
They came this time to file a complaint.
Accused Liu Yan, a treasure expert who cheated away his heirlooms.
The brothers eagerly climbed the steps to the gate of the courthouse, but they were suddenly stunned, and some were cramped and did not dare to move forward.
The Zhu Yun brothers, who had been busy with Nongsang for most of their lives, came to the court for the first time, and they were suddenly shocked by the majestic court building in front of them.
The younger brother who was waiting in front of the court was still very confused, and the expert invited by such a reliable Henan Provincial Television Station was actually a liar, and he thought it should not be, he asked:
“
Big brother, how can you say that expert deceive us?
Isn't he an expert on television? If the experts of the TV station can't believe it, then who else can we believe? ”
"Who knows these days?"
But it was indeed our painting, and he bought it from us for seventeen thousand, and sold it for more than eighty million in one year.
This is obviously a lie to us. ”
Zhu Yun said helplessly.
As he spoke, Zhu Yun took out a bid book from Beijing Poly Company, which clearly stated that at the auction at the end of last year, the Qianlong Imperial Strokes were sold from the collector Liu Yan. whereas
The paintings of the Zhu Yun brothers were introduced by Liu Yan and sold to another buyer named Cheng Gong.
Zhu Yun brothers to
Fraud charges Cheng Gong and Treasure Hunting expert Liu Yan,
The lawsuit was successfully accepted by the Zhengzhou Intermediate People's Court.
The Zhu Yun brothers could only wait for the trial to begin, but their hearts were very uneasy, and they did not know whether this lawsuit could be won.
If you can't win the fight, the heirloom left by your ancestors can be considered to have been cheated away here
After all, I feel ashamed of my ancestors.
If the battle is won, then the Zhu Yun brothers and the two families can get rich overnight and become multi-millionaires.
The Zhu Yun brothers spent more than half a year in anxiety, and now, they finally waited for the court to open.
In April 2012, the sun was shining and spring was in full bloom. The Zhengzhou Intermediate People's Court held a hearing on the lawsuit, and the staff in charge of the lawsuit began to inquire about the specific situation of the original defendant and the defendant.
"That
Expert Liu Yan said
This one
The painting is fake, it is a high imitation,
Also help us introduce buyers, sell more money,
I sold it to that Cheng Gong.
170,000,
I saw it later
It is said on TV that it sold more than 80 million,
Know that you have been deceived. ”
Zhu Yun faced the court staff's questioning and recalled indignantly.
"I wasn't fully involved in this, I didn't buy the paintings.
I was just an introducer in the middle, and I didn't say that the painting was fake or that it was real. ”
Liu Yan, the treasure expert in the defendant's seat, is a different set of arguments.
And, Cheng Gong added:
"The antique market is what it is,
Buying low and selling high is a common thing,
When I bought it from them,
It's all your business, how can there be fraud?
”
Faced with the completely different claims of the two parties, the court also made difficulties and could only continue to investigate in depth and understand more details.
A prestigious treasure hunting show
Through the private prosecution of the plaintiff and the defendant and the visit and investigation of the relevant departments, the Zhengzhou Intermediate People's Court basically found out the basic ins and outs.
It all started in June 2009...
The Zhu Yun brothers worked as farmers during the day, and when they returned home at night, they often liked to watch treasure-hunting programs, among which their favorite was "The Gate of Huayu", which was very popular on Henan Provincial Television.
At that time, treasure hunting programs were also popular and were well received by all kinds of audiences. CCTV and various local satellite televisions have also launched a number of treasure hunting programs, such as "Treasure Hunt" and "World Collection".
On these programs, many long-lost antiques and famous relics have been seen in the sky, making great contributions to the country's search for and protection of cultural heritage.
In addition, such scenes often appear in the show:
An ordinary person, with a family heirloom treasure to the scene of the show, was identified as the real thing, and was often valued at millions, or even tens of millions.
The owner of the treasure also became rich overnight. Such a sight is always mouth-watering.
Seeing this, many people began to rummage through whether there were any ancestral treasures in their homes, or whether there were any cultural relics buried under their own yards, and the whole people set off a wave of "treasure hunting".
As an important birthplace of Chinese civilization, Henan has a long history and culture, and Luoyang, Kaifeng and other places were used as the capitals of many dynasties in ancient times, and the number of cultural relics buried underground can be imagined.
So, in
Henan, all kinds of rare treasures were displayed in front of the eyes of the world during that time,
It has also created a group of people who have made a fortune overnight.
Seeing this scene, Zhu Yun couldn't help it, he worked hard for most of his life, like serving his ancestors to treat the land, the result was not much income, and he is still poor.
If you can have an heirloom left by your ancestors and make yourself enjoy glory and wealth, it is really enviable.
As a result, a painting that had been sealed for a long time entered Zhu Yun's mind.
He opened the red lacquered wooden box in the house, pulled open the contents inside, took out a square rectangular shape at the bottom of the box, unwrapped the wrapped cloth, and inside was a small wooden box.
Zhu Yun carefully opened the wooden box and took out a rolled up painting.
Zhu Yun knew,
This treasure handed down from the ancestors is about to see the light of day again,
Whether it is true or not, let the experts know it at a glance.
In this way, after Zhu Yun and his brother consulted, they decided that the brothers would go to the scene of the program together and let the experts of Henan Satellite TV identify it.
At the end of September 2009, summer quietly passed, and the "autumn tiger" was violently wreaking havoc on the world.
The Zhu Yun brothers, after taking a bus for three hours, changed three buses, and came to the audition site of the "Gate of Huayu" program in Zhengzhou City.
At a glance, the people of Wuyang Wuyang lined up under the scorching sun, waiting for the appraisal of treasure experts. The program team will select a few treasures to enter the later live TV broadcast, and the others can be directly told by experts to say whether they are true or false.
The Zhu Yun brothers were drenched in sweat in the team, waiting for five or six hours, and finally it was their turn. The brothers perked up and walked into the hall nervously.
The first time I came to such a golden and brilliant place, the brothers were talking a little hesitantly.
"Specialized, expert good...
What our brothers bring today are paintings handed down from our ancestors, Qian, the Qianlong Emperor. Hemp, trouble experts help to look at it. ”
Zhu Yun stood two or three meters away from the expert seat, his body involuntarily leaned forward, and he half-bent down to say his intention to Liu Yan, an expert in treasure hunting.
Liu Yan took the painting handed by the staff, took a look at the brothers, unfolded the scroll, took a special magnifying glass, and carefully examined it.
Only to see that the expert had read the painting from beginning to end, and stayed in several places for a long time, Zhu Yun's nervous heart suddenly rose a little excited.
He thought that if experts could watch it for so long, it would most likely be true, otherwise experts would not have spent so long watching.
The more Zhu Yun thought about it, the more excited he became, and he shed beads of sweat in the cool hall with the air conditioner on.
After half a day, Liu Yan finally stopped observing and studying Qianlong's imperial brush strokes, only to see him raise his head, look at the Zhu Yun brothers, and say to them unhurriedly:
"Hmm... I haven't seen the painting through yet, I can't tell you the result, and I don't have enough time now. So, you go back first, and at night you take the painting to my quarters, and I'll look at it later. ”
Hearing such an answer, the Zhu Yun brothers were a little confused, they had never heard of such a situation.
However, the brothers could not be suspicious, and since the experts had said so, they just did it.
Moreover, this shows that
The possibility that this painting is a fake painting is very small, otherwise experts would not have taken the time to show themselves.
The Zhu Yun brothers carried such an idea, and soon after, according to the address provided by the staff, they came to the hotel where Liu Yan, an expert in treasure hunting, was staying.
Finding the corresponding room number, Zhu Yun knocked on the door.
Just after knocking for a while, I didn't ask who it was, and the door of the room opened. Opening the door, Liu Yan invited the Zhu Yun brothers into the house,
The whole performance is far less calm than when I was on TV during the day.
However, the Zhu Yun brothers did not notice this at all, and they only remembered it afterwards - Liu Yan hurriedly asked them to give him the painting, and then immediately studied it with a magnifying glass...
After a while, Liu Yan straightened up, pouted and shook his head regretfully at the brothers
This painting is very exquisite, but it is high imitation, not the real handiwork of Qianlong,
It's a pity.
The Zhu Yun brothers suddenly felt like a basin of cold water poured down, and the whole heart was cold and cold.
They came expectantly, but ended up with such an ending, they felt that their hopes were dashed.
"However, this painting is really good.
Although the value cannot be compared with the real painting, it is not worthless.
If there is a suitable buyer, it is still possible to sell thirty or fifty thousand.
Liu Yan calmed down and said without hurry or slowness.
Seeing that the brothers did not speak, Liu Yan took out a long box from the bag on the sofa and opened it to open a painting.
"This painting is also a high imitation of Qianlong's painting, it is more exquisite and more realistic than your painting, but it can only be sold for thirty thousand."
Liu Yan handed the painting to the brothers.
The Zhu Yun brothers took a closer look, and it was indeed more exquisite and larger than their own paintings. They thought to themselves that their paintings would not sell for thirty thousand.
Looking at the somewhat disappointed Zhu Yun brothers, Liu Yan very righteously promised them to help them find a buyer and sell as much as possible.
The Zhu Yun brothers were very excited, thinking to themselves, thirty or fifty thousand is not a small amount for themselves, if they can sell it, it is not a vain run, and the experts personally help sell, it will certainly be no problem.
The Zhu Yun brothers were extremely grateful to Liu Yan, so they left first with the painting and waited at home for Liu Yan's echo.
The next few days passed unusually slowly, the Zhu Yun brothers looked at the mobile phone from time to time, whether the experts had called, but they had not yet waited.
After more than half a month, they finally waited for Liu Yan's call...
Authentic and fake ancient painting auctions and experts
"Come here, the buyer has found it, it is a gentleman from Beijing, he recently came to Zhengzhou on a business trip, I will help you talk about the price together."
The expert on the other end of the phone said to the brothers.
The Zhu Yun brothers did not dare to delay for a moment, threw the farm work to their families, and immediately got on the bus to zhengzhou city again.
Arriving at Liu Yan's residence, the Zhu Yun brothers met that one
Buyer from Beijing
Cheng Gong.
With the help of Liu Yan, this one
Mr. Cheng Gong successfully bought the paintings of the Zhu Yun brothers for 170,000 yuan.
Cheng Gong showed a very embarrassed look, saying that he had lost money... In turn, I said it again, but looking at the face of the experts, the loss is a loss.
The Zhu Yun brothers, who had received 170,000 cash, were happily unable to stand still, felt that they had taken advantage of a big advantage, thanked Liu Yan and pulled him to invite him to dinner, but Liu Yan insisted on refusing.
The Zhu Yun brothers returned home, divided the money, and continued to live happily as usual, but from time to time they would show off this matter in the village.
The brothers are still paying attention to the very hot treasure hunting program, and watching more and more similar programs.
More than a year later, at the end of the following year, Zhu Yun returned from farm work and turned on the TV as usual to watch the treasure hunting program for a break.
Suddenly
A painting "exploded" his eyeballs — the transaction price shown on the screen was 78 million.
Zhu Yun stared at the screen dumbfounded, because of the painting,
How to look like the "Songyang Hanbotu" that I sold last year.
He called his younger brother next door, and the brothers suspected they had been deceived, so they took a long-distance train to the Beijing Poly company that was said on TV and bought the auction books for that auction.
As soon as they saw the word "Liu Yan", they knew that they had been deceived by the double reed of the expert and Cheng Gong.
Regrets
The brothers immediately called Liu Yan's phone,
Want to ask the truth,
But how to play is turned off,
It turned out that he had long been blackmailed by Liu Yan.
They can only seek legal help, so the scene at the beginning of this article occurs - the Zhu Yun brothers sue Liu Yan and Cheng Gong in court...
After a detailed investigation, the court decided to list the incident as a criminal investigation case on the grounds of insufficient evidence and hand it over to the public security organs for investigation.
Therefore, the Zhu Yun brothers came from the court to the Public Security Bureau, and the criminal police of the Public Security Bureau told them after investigating and collecting evidence.
Liu Yan and Cheng Gong in this incident did not constitute an economic crime, so they could not be filed.
Therefore, the Public Security Bureau sent the file back to the court again.
That's it
When the court got the case, it could only continue to investigate, and this investigation really found two other problems.
On the one hand, the defendant Cheng Gong claimed that
This painting is not worth more than eighty million at all, and no one will shoot it at auction.
thereupon
He set up a bureau and gave money to a friend to help buy the painting at a high price, thus increasing the value of the painting.
It seems that this is just a wave of left-right inverted right-handed operations.
But
Whether what Cheng Gong said is credible or not still needs to be carefully examined.
On the other hand, liu yan, an expert in treasure hunting, was actually more than one person.
The court found it
Two Liu Yan experts, one permanently resides in Beijing and the other lives in Dongguan, Guangdong.
Strangely, the resumes of the two are very similar, which makes it difficult for everyone to distinguish.
The two Liu Yan experts said to each other that the other had stolen their resumes, but they had not argued about a result, and it was still difficult to distinguish between true and false.
The Zhu Yun brothers were looking for Liu Yan from Guangdong,
However, it is difficult to accurately judge the authenticity of this Liu Yan's information.
So far, the ancient painting fraud incident itself has not found much evidence, and there are more auctions and experts who are difficult to distinguish between true and false, which makes it difficult for the court to continue to carry out. Under the efforts of many parties in the later stage, the court did not collect enough evidence, so it did not make a clear judgment.
The matter gradually disappeared...
The reality of the cultural relics appraisal industry is worrying
From the experience of the Zhu Yun brothers, we can see that the experts in the mainland's cultural relics appraisal field are not so rigorous and authoritative, and they seem to be a little confused.
Indeed, the experience of the Zhu Yun brothers is only the tip of the iceberg in the field of cultural relics identification. It should be known that in recent years, the large and small disputes in the cultural relics appraisal community have arisen one after another, and there are many cattle feathers.
For example, in 2000, the businessman Xie Genrongtuo copied a precious cultural relic" "Golden Silk Robe".
And a lot of money invited Yang Boda and other five appraisal experts in the cultural relics industry to identify the counterfeit "golden robe" as a genuine handiwork.
And jointly issued an appraisal certificate worth 2.4 billion.
Xie Genrong used this fake "golden robe" and appraisal certificate to deceive five branches of the Beijing Construction Bank.
A total of 660 million yuan of huge funds.
Eight years later, the fraud case surfaced, and as much as 540 million yuan of arrears remained unreturned to the bank.
And in the "World Collection" program that was popular in previous years,
Due to the misjudgment of the three experts, the host Wang Gang smashed the "sweet white glaze cup" valued at 200 million yuan, leaving the mainland to lose an extremely precious cultural relic.
Such incidents are not uncommon...
The root cause is that in the appraisal of cultural relics, the mainland's legal system is not perfect enough, the experts in the collection and appraisal of cultural relics are uneven, and the review mechanism for such qualification certificates is not perfect, resulting in "pseudo experts" flying all over the sky.
In previous years, after numerous incidents similar to the Zhu Yun brothers, the public doubted the credibility of cultural relics identification and collection experts.
Therefore, after the treasure hunting program has been hot for a while, there are fewer and fewer such programs, and so far, most of the treasure hunting programs have been discontinued.
The eyes of the masses are shining, and the "pseudo-experts" in the antique world may be able to make waves for a period of time, but after the people wake up, these "pseudo-experts" have nowhere to hide.
At the same time, it is also hoped that the state will revise and improve relevant laws and regulations as soon as possible, as well as improve the assessment system for antique experts, so as to escort the mainland's cultural relics appraisal and collection.
epilogue
Regardless of whether the value of this "Songyang Hanbaitu" can reach more than 80 million, it is a precious cultural relic of the mainland.
Fortunately, this Qianlong Imperial Brush Painting was not damaged by this incident or exiled abroad. This is fortunate for the country.
For the Zhu Yun brothers, the heirloom that was originally worth tens of millions of dollars was lost in vain because of mishearing and mistrust, which was indeed enough to regret the intestines.
However, after all, this is a national cultural relic, and it is the most precious treasure handed down by the ancestors, so it can be transferred to the mainland market intact, which can also be regarded as a good deed.
What the broad masses of the people hate most is some so-called appraisal
"Expert",
Regardless of his true level of ability, he should not have used this method to let two farmers who were not familiar with cultural relics and antiques sell "Songyang HanBotu"
Even if the law does not punish such behavior, he deserves moral repudiation.
Finally, I would like to advise everyone that antique trading is risky and that you need to be cautious when entering the market.
Protecting cultural relics starts with me!