665. 664. On the Street (3/5)

Chapter 665

When Li Du took out the painting, he also took out the appraisal report jointly issued by the Los Angeles Art Collection Center and Christie's oil painting appraisal experts.

Jacob laughed when he saw the appraisal report, and said, "They did the appraisal for you? Little Potter, this time the matter is simple, maybe you don't need my help."

Potter asked curiously, "Why do you say that, Uncle Jacob?"

Jacob said: "Three of the appraisers of this painting are my friends. I know them well. They are upright and capable, and the appraisal results are authoritative enough."

Li Du smiled. It seemed that the two groups of people Rogge helped him find were very reliable.

That being said, Jacob still carefully appraised the portrait.

He also brought a small machine that could analyze the paint and canvas of the portrait.

Li Du asked curiously: "Is this a carbon-14 analysis tool?"

He has heard of this archaeological and cultural relic identification technology for a long time, but has never had the chance to meet.

The old man shook his head and smiled: "No, the carbon-14 identification method is not suitable for oil paintings. One is that the accuracy is not enough, and the other is that the sample size required is relatively large, but not all oil paintings can provide such a large sample size."

However, the identification method of this machine is similar to the carbon 14 identification method, and it identifies cesium 137 and strontium 90.

Cesium 137 and strontium 90 are two special isotopes released by nuclear weapon explosions in the 1940s and 1950s. They have terrifying penetrating power and penetrate the soil layers, animals and plants of the entire earth.

Among them, the creation of oil paintings requires the use of glue and natural oils, which are also the objects of penetration of the two isotopes.

Before the nuclear explosion, these two isotopes had never occurred in nature.

Therefore, if experts find these two isotopes in an oil painting before 1945, there is only one conclusion—this oil painting is a fake after 1945.

"What if these paintings were forged before 1945?" Li Du asked.

The old man patiently explained: "Because the counterfeiting technology has been developed by leaps and bounds only after World War II, before 1945, the oil painting counterfeiting technology was immature and it was easy to identify."

"In addition, Van Gogh's paintings only began to dominate the art market after World War II. Before that, no one would make great efforts to create fakes."

"Of course, these reasons are not absolute, but just for reference. It mainly depends on professional analysis and identification. From the lines and colors, we can identify the difference between genuine and fake paintings."

There is no crime without buying and selling. This sentence is very suitable for art counterfeiting.

The final appraisal result is the same as the appraisal report, these are two real paintings.

Potter nodded in satisfaction, and said, "Then let's negotiate the value of the two paintings. If the price is right, I can buy them together."

"Together?" Li Du clicked his tongue, this is really unusually rich.

Porter said: "I have an elder who wants to give a gift to an important client. The client likes oil paintings, so I thought these two paintings should satisfy him."

Li Du exclaimed, "Using tens of millions to give gifts? Your business is too big."

Potter didn't continue to talk about this topic, he smiled and said: "I don't know much about these, let's talk about the price."

The prices of the two paintings are based on the market prices of other paintings. When authenticating the paintings before, two groups of experts had already given him advice.

Hans is an expert in asking prices all over the place to pay back the money, and Li Du got angry with him, so the price will be negotiated by him.

Hans said: "According to the results of our inquiries through collectors, museums and auction institutions, the price of "Scheveningen Beach" is 32 million, and the price of "Leaving the Church of Nuenen" is 20 million."

Potter was about to speak, Jacob laughed, he stopped Potter, motioned himself to come.

It was another lengthy negotiation, during which the two sides made various phone calls and sought advice from friends for reference. Finally, the price was settled:

The price of "Scheveningen Beach" is 30 million, and the price of "Leaving the Church of Nuenen" is 16 million.

Li Du accepted this price, which was about the same as the suggested price given by the two groups of experts. Obviously, the other party was not Kaizi, so it was not easy to be fooled.

A total of 46 million, the two paintings were traded, and Li Du's wallet bulged again.

He called Roger and lawyer Bauer to complete the acquisition of Norman's shares.

These two people together own 1% of the equity, and Li Dude bought it with the purchase price of Tatiq. At that time, he spent 11.2 million to acquire 8/1000 of the equity. This acquisition Ten thousandths, the price is fourteen million.

After the acquisition, Li Du owns 8.8% of the shares of Hai Rui Group and is an important shareholder.

He can't spend the remaining 32 million U.S. dollars, and he still has a lot of taxes that he hasn't paid. He has to keep the money to pay taxes, otherwise he will be targeted by the U.S. tax bureau, and he will be miserable.

Having earned enough money from fire opal, Li Du wanted to go back and continue to do it.

He has already planned to work hard to mine fire opal in the United States, dig it for two years, and help Hai Rui Group complete its transformation.

As for Hai Rui Group's inability to eat his fire opal? Don't be afraid, he can sell to other luxury companies.

In the ranking of the world's top luxury goods companies, Hai Rui Group's comprehensive strength doesn't even rank in the top 50. Other big companies still have a huge market to tap.

After resting for a few days, Li Du returned to the national park full of ambition.

Then when he was about to lease the land, he was rejected...

Li Du asked in surprise: "Why do you refuse me to enter the national park?"

The manager in charge of the ticket office smiled and said, "We don't deny you entry, but we can no longer allow you to go in to find gems. You have already been honored in our Treasure Hunting Hall of Fame."

Li Du looked blank: "Damn, what's going on?"

He thought that the fact that he helped Rose clean up Surji, Hughes and others last time came out, which aroused the hatred of the national park management.

In fact, this is not the case, at least the main reason is not this.

It was Owen who gave him a chance. Owen told the National Park that Li Du had found more than 30 pieces of fire opal here at one time.

There is a very funny rule in the national park. If there are more than 24 pieces of fire opal harvested by ore pickers within a year, they will be sent to the Hall of Fame and banned from entering...

This regulation is said to be to protect precious gemstone resources. According to probability theory, it is difficult for ordinary people to get 24 gemstones within a year. If the number exceeds this value, it proves that illegal means were used.

The ore pickers all know this rule. This rule is actually a formalism. The park security has no right to inspect the harvest of the ore pickers. Therefore, as long as you don’t make too much noise and get the gems out and dispose of them yourself, no one knows how much you can harvest in a year. .

Li Du didn't know this rule, so he rushed to the street...