War Photographer's Notebook

"So this sword was really given to me? Are you sure?"

On the top floor of the parade jewelry store, in Taxi's studio, Wei Ran asked again as if to confirm. He had to confirm again that this sword was too special, and there might be some unknown secret behind it.

"certainly"

Tassie spread her hands, "It's already yours. In addition, Matthew's mother asked me to tell you something else about this little gift."

Sure enough, something happened!

Wei Ran was relieved after hearing what the other party said, but then he heard Taxi say, "That's what she said, this sword is yours, no matter what you do with it.

But if you plan to unearth any big news from this sword that can be made into a movie, or plan to go to Antarctica to see the body, it's best to wait until next winter. "

"No more?" Wei Ran asked in shock.

"Gone"

Taxi spread his hands and explained, "They don't care why this broken sword and its original owner appeared in Antarctica, but they really don't want this sword to affect their scientific research progress."

"That's it?"

Wei Ran was in trouble again. Based on his understanding, if it could be proven that this sword was really issued during World War II, especially if it was found in Antarctica, then its value would probably be at least equal to that of a less valuable sword. German Field Marshal's Staff from World War II.

Or to put it more bluntly - it's probably worth $10.

If Matthew's parents were to give him $10 as a gift, he would probably reject it without even thinking about it. But he hesitated when it came to a sword that might have been poisoned by scorpion feces.

Does he want this? He wants it too much!

Regardless of whether it is true or not, he is a historian after all. But after excluding those historical photos, the collection he has as a historian is far behind, let alone compared with Mr. Alexander, even compared with Professor Alexei. Not as good as.

"Taxi, are you sure Matthew's parents really know the value of this sword?" Wei Ran asked again.

"I checked it for them"

Tassie said confidently, "In the previous auctions, the highest price paid for such a sword was about 16,000 US dollars, and"

"But this sword is probably worth a hundred thousand dollars."

Wei Ran looked at the other person and said, "It was found in Antarctica, and the style is different from the existing ones. If that body can be put up for auction, I won't be surprised if it sells for 50 US dollars."

"So expensive?"

Taxi was stunned for a moment, and then said happily as if she didn't know which tendon was wrong, "Congratulations Victor, you are going to get rich."

"I"

Wei Ran wanted to bite his cheek, "Taxi, you didn't take drugs last night or this morning, right? Do you really not understand what I am saying?"

"Of course I understand"

Tassie said nonchalantly, "First of all, this is a gift from Matthew's parents. Secondly, one hundred thousand or five hundred thousand dollars is indeed a lot of money to them.

But they are really not short of money, or rather, they have nothing to spend money on. Even if the sword was sold for a million dollars, it would all end up in Matthew's account like their wages. But he's not even an adult yet, so how much can he spend? "

I.

Wei Ran realized that his flirtatious look was thrown to the telephone pole. Not to mention that Taxi in front of him was abnormal, even Matthew and Matthew's parents were probably not normal either.

But thinking about it, if that couple were normal, they wouldn't need Matthew to take care of them.

"Anyway, just accept it," Tassie said nonchalantly, "otherwise Matthew will be sad. He has always wanted to give this gift to you."

"Why don't you give this to Mr. Charlotte?"

Wei Ran asked relentlessly. It stands to reason that the British Mr. Charlotte and them can definitely be regarded as "close friends since the Gubi Well Desert in North Africa during World War II."

"Why are you as verbose as a woman?"

Taxi, who didn't know whether to live or die, popped out another stupid sentence that was enough to make Wei Ran hit the ceiling again, "Whether it's the ancestral friendship that helped us find it, or that movie, or my mysophobia and Monica's Social issues, aren’t these the changes you have brought to us? Compared to these, what is this gift?”

Taking a deep breath, Wei Ran finally decided not to waste time on this topic with this weirdo with a brain problem, and simply said with a smile, "Okay, okay, I will accept this gift."

"In that case, let's go back quickly!"

Taxi stood up as he spoke, "If I remember correctly, there will be a parade on this street starting at noon today, and I don't want to be blocked here."

"Don't worry." Wei Ran put the sword in his hand back on the table, "Help me look at something."

"What is it?" Taxi asked casually, "We can start..."

"Let's talk after watching it"

Before Wei Ran finished speaking, he took out the gold-case hunting pocket watch he got when he woke up from his pocket and placed it on the table.

"Antique pocket watch?"

Upon seeing this, Taxi sat down again, reached for the pocket watch on the table, opened it and took a look. Then, Wei Ran got what he wanted and saw the wonderful expression on the other person's face reappear when he saw the sword. . "Where did you get it?"

As Taxi spoke, he had already taken out a few tissues and placed them in the center of the table, and then carefully placed the pocket watch on the tissues.

Before Wei Ran could answer, he had already stood up and walked into the bathroom. While washing his hands, he said firmly, "Have you heard of Louis Monet?"

"Monet? That French painter?"

Wei Ran asked back. After all, he had taken an art appreciation class at Hongqi Forest Farm, and he still had some impression of this surname.

"Painter? No no no, I said yes Louis Monet, not Oscar Claude Monet"

Tassie had already walked out of the bathroom while speaking, and while carefully wiping off the water stains with the fragrance of hand sanitizer on his hands with a dry towel, he explained, "Louis Monet is also a Frenchman, but he is not a painter. "

At this point, Tassie corrected himself, "No, it should be said that he is not only a painter, but also a great watchmaker, the greatest watchmaker in history. The third timer he invented improved the time accuracy. Advancing to 60ths of a second, he is a milestone watchmaker.”

"You mean, this pocket watch is the work of Monet?" Wei Ran picked up the pocket watch on the tissue and asked in surprise.

"It has his mark on it"

Tassie had already put on several rubber finger cots as he spoke, took the pocket watch and pointed at the engraving on the back case, suppressing his excitement and whispered, "He made this for the Queen of France, Napoleon's second wife." Pocket watch!

And look at the design of these features and the timing of their first appearance in the history of watchmaking. It is possible that Napoleon had already passed away when Monet made this pocket watch.

I even suspect that it didn’t have time to be delivered to the queen. Just like the fate of Breguet No. 160, a good timer will always miss its original owner due to time.

Of course, if the queen had used this pocket watch, then it probably accompanied the queen through the last few years of her life. "

"Don't you suspect that this watch is fake?"

Although Wei Ran didn't understand everything the other party had just said, he still asked the doubts in his heart with great interest.

"Do you suspect that that tattered fruit knife is fake?" Taxi raised his chin towards the navy sword that was reduced to a "fruit knife" on the table.

"Taxi, now I feel that you are a normal and smart person who can communicate." Wei Ran said in a dumbfounded voice.

"We just have different areas of expertise"

After checking it, Taxi looked at Wei Ran expectantly, "Victor, do you need me to help you maintain this pocket watch?"

"Of course" Wei Ran nodded knowingly, "That's why I took it out."

"Thank you!"

Taxi thanked her enthusiastically, turned around and walked to the workbench not far away, and began the maintenance work.

However, he just carefully pried open the movement cover and took a look, then stopped, controlled the machine on the table to take a photo of the movement that was still moving inside, and then carefully closed the cover that had just been removed. Open lid.

"What's wrong?" Wei Ran asked in confusion.

"The inside of this watch is very clean, as clean as the inside of the mechanical watch I made when I was suffering from mysophobia. It does not need maintenance at all." Taxi explained regretfully.

"If you really like it so much, just take it apart and take a look."

Weiran stated his attitude and bottom line indifferently, "It doesn't matter even if it is dismantled into parts, as long as you can reassemble it."

"Forget it, every disassembly and assembly will actually affect the accuracy of the timer."

As Taxi spoke, he sent the pocket watch into a machine, and after some operations, he pointed at the data displayed on the screen and said with admiration, "The error is plus or minus 7 seconds per day! It's incredible! It actually keeps such time. Accurate! Even many mechanical watches today cannot achieve this kind of accuracy.”

This is probably due to the metal book.

Wei Ran rubbed the tiger's mouth and muttered secretly, then asked, "Taxi, how much do you think this pocket watch can be sold for?"

"Sell?"

Taxi glanced at Wei Ran and couldn't help but said, "Only an idiot would do that."

Halfway through the words, he finally gave the answer in the eyes of Wei Ran Dao Man, "It's hard to say. I can only say that no matter what price it is sold at, it will be a loss-making business, so we will change it." Measure it."

"Like using this?" Wei Ran picked up the sword again and asked.

"it?"

Tassie snorted disdainfully and said while putting the pocket watch into a small silk pocket, "Let's put it this way, Victor, if you take this pocket watch to the Louvre, they will definitely be very happy. They will exchange some collectibles with you. Of course, compared to these, you may have to face another trouble."

"What's the trouble?" Wei Ran asked as he took the silk bag containing the pocket watch from the other party.

"I don't know where you got this pocket watch."

Tassie pointed out the window, "But I can guarantee that it will be difficult for you to take it out of France legally.

Even if the customs won't stop you for questioning, the news that you own this watch will spread throughout Europe, and there may be more art thieves visiting your home than cockroaches. "

"This is nothing but trouble."

Wei Ran secretly curled his lips, since the legal way didn't work, then he would take it away illegally, no no, in a non-scientific way.