introduction
The idiom "Earth is big and the things are vast", from Han Yu's "Pinghuai West Monument": "The earth is big and the things are vast, and the tillers are in between". The area of the mainland of 9.6 million square kilometers ranks third in the world, which is indeed called "the land is large"; and in this land, there is a long history and culture, and due to the different terrain and terrain, it has bred strange mountains and rocks, rare birds and beasts, and indeed deserves to be said to be "knowledgeable". Although the category is rich, but its number is also different, it is often said that "things are rare and expensive", so those rare things have a very high collection value, but also make "collection" become a favorite thing for many people.
Generally speaking, collectors collect valuable antiques or other rare objects. As more and more people are enthusiastic about this way, the price of treasures has also been raised higher and higher, for example, in 2017, a piece of Armor Plate from the Southern Song Dynasty was auctioned for more than 200 million yuan, and many cultural relics collected in the National Museum and other places are even more valuable, and their historical and cultural significance cannot even be measured by money.
It is precisely because the price of cultural relics is extremely high, the space for profit from them is also very large, and often "a million profits", so cultural relics counterfeiting has become a means for many lawbreakers to quickly accumulate wealth. Objectively speaking, the collection industry is an industry with a high degree of popularity but very few people who really "know how". Many people do not understand the characteristics of each dynasty artifact or the value of each treasure before entering the collecting circle, so they are easily deceived by cultural relics dealers or counterfeiters.
01
As early as 1994, the mainland had cracked a large-scale case of "Northern Wei pottery figurines" - this batch of "Northern Wei pottery figurines" even passed the expert appraisal organized by the China History Museum and the detection of carbon-14 dating. At the beginning, in order to protect these cultural relics, the China History Museum spent 800,000 yuan to buy them three times, and the Palace Museum also spent 100,000 yuan to buy them twice. However, soon after, several batches of "Northern Wei pottery figurines" appeared in large numbers in the Beijing antique market, and this abnormal situation aroused the vigilance of experts. After a survey, everyone found that these "Northern Wei pottery figurines" were all imitated by a man with a high surname in Henan Province, who often followed the footsteps of the archaeological team and went to the ancient tombs of various dynasties to take soil and burn related utensils, which is the reason why the pottery figurines fired by them can be fake and real. Later, in order to avoid being held accountable, he would also add his own money to the hidden place of the cultural relics, which can be said to be "everything to the extreme" for counterfeiting.
It is precisely because in the cultural relics and antiques market, the good and the bad are mixed, and it is difficult to distinguish between true and false, so in order to identify common fake cultural relics or fake treasures, "treasure hunting" programs are popular for a while, and they are also popular with many audiences. Many of these shows not only ask experts to identify on the spot, but also have special provisions to improve ratings – for example, on some shows, if they are identified as fakes, they will be smashed on the spot. In most people's existing impressions, counterfeits mainly exist in ancient paintings, utensils, coins, jewelry and handicrafts, and naturally formed strange stones are relatively rarely counterfeited. Unfortunately, there are exceptions to everything, and unlucky stone collectors will also be "flickered and lame".
Among the strange stones, the heat is a stone called "meat stone", which, as the name suggests, is a stone with a shape and appearance similar to meat. The formation of this stone has higher geological requirements and is very rare in nature. When it comes to meat stones, we have to mention the famous "Dongpo meat-shaped stone" (also known as braised meat stone), which is currently hidden in the National Palace Museum in Taipei, and is called the "treasure of the three major town courtyards" along with jade cabbage and Mao Gongding. As a treasure of the town courtyard, the original flesh-shaped stone of Dongpo is not revealed, and even VIP visitors can only see a 1:1 copy of the original copy.
The Dongpo flesh-shaped stone is a piece of pure natural jade, which is believed to have been presented to the palace by the second Prince of Zhasak Abao of the Alxa Palace during the Kangxi Dynasty, and has been collected by the Qing court ever since. The shape, color and texture of the Dongpo flesh-shaped stone are naturally formed, without any artificial carving, only the skin has been slightly dyed in the "amber blanching" method, and its "fat and thin" layers are clear, and even the pores on the pork skin can be seen, which is the first-class treasure in the meatstone, and its value is difficult to look back on by other stones.
There is also a very precious meat stone named "Honey Sauce Chicken Leg", also produced in the Alxa Desert, which is a natural Gobi stone. Because its shape is too similar to a chicken leg, many people think that it is a stone carving, after all, the Tibetan stone community believes that "three points true, seven points of image" has been rare in real numbers, and this hieroglyphic strange stone far exceeds seven points, so it is normal to suspect it. It wasn't until 2010 that many stone collectors saw it in Shanghai and were convinced that it was natural. The appearance of the stone has the characteristics of chicken legs, and the meat, bone, skin, and pores are clearly visible, which is really amazing. However, the "honey sauce chicken leg" is now a private collection of collector Cheng Yulong, which is rare to see from the outside world. In addition, there are natural agate stone "braised elbow" produced in Jinhua, Zhejiang, and natural yellow wax stone "Tong'an Feng meat" from Yichun, Jiangxi, all of which are rare meat stones with high artistic and ornamental value.
02
In a treasure hunting show, a man brought a piece of "braised meat", which is a typical piece of meat stone, the texture and color of the surface are quite realistic, and even have texture layering, which is very appetizing to watch. The man said that he loved collecting so much that he even sold his villa in order to buy this piece of "braised meat", spending a total of 500,000 yuan. Many people at the scene lamented for his persistence, and this piece of "braised meat" also aroused everyone's interest, but many people held a breath for him, afraid that his bamboo basket would be empty. When he heard him say that he spent 500,000 yuan on this, the expert also directly pointed out: "You are really bold." ”
There was a certain dispute between the experts on the site during the identification, some people thought it was naturally formed, and some people thought it was processed. After careful analysis, experts finally unanimously agreed that this piece of "braised meat" belongs to the process of meat stone, that is, based on natural meat stone, artificially cut and polished a part and finally formed. Generally speaking, if it is judged to be a craft meat stone, it is not valuable, the 500,000 yuan is equivalent to water drifting, but this piece of meat stone is somewhat special - most of the stone is pure natural formation, the artificial processing part is very limited, so it also has a very high value. According to expert estimates, this piece of "braised meat" can be worth about 2 million yuan.
However, experts also said again that the man's courage is really not small, because at that time the artificial meat stone has been more flooded, once you look away, this piece of meat stone is all artificially carved, then its value will be greatly discounted, it is likely that even 50,000 yuan can not be sold, the man will also lose his money. Fortunately, the man finally "gambled up", and experts also warned him: "Don't sell, it is best to hand it over to the museum." In the view of experts, this piece of meat stone collection value is extremely high, if accidentally damaged is also a major loss to the cultural relics industry, so it is recommended that he hand it over to the local museum for safekeeping.
Although meat stone was a treasure that was difficult to buy at that time, once the trend passed, the current meat stone has been basically ignored - the main reason for this situation is that the cost of meat stone is too low. Folk craftsmen in the Qing Dynasty were enough to deepen the surface color of the stone, and the current level of craftsmanship is needless to say. The layering of "meat stone" is not difficult to manufacture in the hands of the master, and the special fuel coloring can also create a color similar to that of natural minerals, which makes artificial meat stone almost indistinguishable from natural meat stone. Second, the origin of meat stone is quite extensive, so it is difficult to identify the authenticity of meat stone through the place of origin and other ways, so artificial meat stone is flooded in the market for a while.
epilogue
According to relevant information, the cost of artificially forged meat and stone is less than 500 yuan, and after the counterfeiting is completed, it will often sell tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of high prices when it is sold on the antique market. This kind of counterfeiting is difficult to see with the naked eye, and not everyone will carry sophisticated testing instruments when buying antiques, after many collectors have been deceived, this popular stone has become the object of "everyone shouting and beating", and its heat has gradually faded. In "Dream of the Red Chamber", it is said that "when the fake is true, it is also false", in the case of the flood of fake goods, the real natural meat stone has also been implicated in the situation of no one's attention, and people's enthusiasm for mining and collection has naturally gradually decreased.
References: "Pinghuai West Monument", "Dream of the Red Chamber"