The Rise of the Ranch King

Chapter 44 44. Auction

"One thing I have to tell you is that usually the big shots don't participate in the bidding in person. After locking the lot, they will ask their assistant or entrust a third-party intermediary to attend and direct the bidding over the phone."

Lin Feng knew the reason. In addition to being very busy, big shots were also worried about being maliciously raised by other bidders. After all, the circles of big shots were complicated.

I once heard about a mainland boss who participated in an antique auction and was maliciously teased because he did not understand the value of the items. He sold a piece of porcelain worth only a few hundred thousand yuan to millions, and suffered a huge loss.

Paul added: "Of course there are also people who do it themselves. The main reason is that they are too rich and bored. They don't care about the value of the auction, they only care about whether they like it or not."

"Have you seen that person? He is the chief assistant of California real estate developer Eli Broad. He frequents auctions of all sizes. Everyone in the circle knows about it, but no one dares to trick him."

Paul pointed to a man.

That man kept talking on the phone, and there were several others in the whole venue who were as busy as him.

Tonight's bidding items were placed in the exhibition hall, surrounded by fences. Lin Feng could only take another look at his jade through the transparent glass box.

“It didn’t go away, it just continued to exist in a different way.”

This sentence seems to be his own jade, and he will exchange it for himself a box of banknotes in a few hours.

Recalling the scene of cutting the golden apple that day, it is still vivid in my mind.

This is thanks to Ernest's assistant. Fortunately, he chased him out of the building and held down his car door.

At six o'clock in the evening, Paul said it was time to go to the Space Needle for a buffet.

He was going too, and Lin Feng was very happy.

The auction house has booked the revolving restaurant on the top floor, and everyone who appears there is related to tonight's auction.

It is said that not seeing the Space Needle in Seattle is like being in Paris and not seeing the Eiffel Tower.

When the night lights are turned on, the building appears white as a whole. From the outside, the revolving restaurant looks like a huge alien flying saucer, with a full sense of science fiction.

I thought I would feel a sense of enlightenment after going up, but I found that the view was not very wide, because the surrounding buildings were all very high, and the luminous building directly in front was even taller than the Space Needle.

Paul told him that the Space Needle was really eye-catching when it was first built, but as the times developed and high-rise buildings became more common, it became less outstanding.

Of course, the Space Needle is still very popular, and there are fireworks displays on New Year's Day.

The buffet restaurant is generally good and has everything you need.

The big screen in the middle is live broadcasting the auction site, and you can see that the bidders have already taken their seats and are waiting for the announcement to officially begin.

Lin Feng was a little nervous, feeling like he was checking his time points after the college entrance examination.

Paul next to him was munching on chicken legs and steak. He was really hungry after a busy day!

Through the big screen, Lin Feng wanted to look for the shadow of the domestic technology giant, but Paul regretfully said that they were unable to attend due to internal issues within the company and entrusted a third-party intermediary to participate in the bidding.

However, Lin Feng correctly guessed the identity of the giants, it was the couple with an age difference of nearly twenty years.

There were many Asian faces at the scene, and it seemed that Orientals preferred jade.

After a brief introduction, the auction will immediately enter its theme.

The first thing that appeared was a canvas oil painting called "Desire". Lin Feng didn't understand the long string of letters of the artist's name, which didn't seem to matter because the starting price was only one thousand US dollars.

After more than ten rounds of bidding increases, the price finally reached 20,000 US dollars, and it was bought by a bearded old man who looked very much like Marx.

The auctioneer's speaking speed is very rhythmic, calm at first, and gradually speeds up as the price rises, creating a sense of oppression for the bidders.

In the revolving restaurant, everyone applauds after every collection is photographed.

The opening auction items were all small items worth tens of thousands or even thousands of dollars. A 6.5-carat emerald ring only fetched $3600, as well as thousands of pieces of European medieval silverware, etc.

There were some exquisite gadgets that Lin Feng wanted to take pictures of. For example, a dragon-shaped jade pendant from the late Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. The starting price was less than 10,000 US dollars, but it was bought by a Chinese for 40,000 US dollars.

As it approached 35pm, the auction site reached a climax. An oil painting titled "Girl's Rose" had already been bid for US$, and some people were still raising the bid.

Paul knocked on the table lightly, asking Lin Feng to pay attention to the auctioneer's movements. The auctioneer leaned forward, staring at the bidders below with longing eyes, raising his hand to ask if anyone was willing to continue to increase the price, and holding the hammer tightly with the other hand.

The price continued to rise, from 45 US dollars to 50 US dollars, and finally settled at 62 US dollars.

This is the highest price achieved so far.

There was a burst of warm applause in the revolving restaurant, and the person who stood up and cheered must be the original owner of the oil painting.

Paul pinched his chin and said: "I have been to Sotheby's auction site, and the price increases of those billionaires are often measured in millions, as if it is a numbers game."

Indeed, it feels like playing house in comparison. But there is a small advantage, that is, it is more down-to-earth, and the auctioneer seems less serious.

Halfway through the auction, the atmosphere was getting better and better, bidders were bidding more and more frequently, and lots with very high premium rates frequently appeared.

Lin Feng played a little game with Paul, predicting what the final hammer price of the next item would be.

The closer wins, the loser gets a beer.

As a result, Paul ran to the toilet several times within half an hour, but Lin Feng was fine.

He defeated the expert Paul with just his intuition, leaving the latter to drink his beer again and again.

"Hey, it's your turn!" Paul poked Lin Feng's arm and said.

It was close to ten o'clock in the evening, and the most exciting scene for Lin Feng finally came.

His emerald was wheeled onto the field in a glass box, and the appearance of the emerald caused a burst of cheers.

Because it is green and translucent under the light, and no impurities can be seen.

"Dear guests, I would like to introduce to you tonight's grand finale."

"The one on my left is a glass imperial green jadeite. Our starting price is US$30. All consignors on site, online, and over the phone, please start bidding."

Paul said softly: "The show is about to begin, don't blink."

A few seconds after the shooting started, an Asian-faced aunt jumped a few gears and directly raised the price to 50.

Before Lin Feng could silently convert it into RMB, the price jumped to 60.

Several Europeans were also very interested in this piece of jade and made bids one after another.

The aunt who was determined to win did not hesitate and continued to raise her hand.

"80 million!"

It jumped directly up to 20, approaching the million mark.

"You are about to become a multi-millionaire, I mean RMB." Paul whispered.

"It's 80 now. Is there anyone who can give me 100 million? Henry, what do you think?"

The auctioneer flirted with one of the bidders at the scene, and it seemed that the two had a good relationship.

Lin Feng wanted to know who the client of the domestic giant was. Paul pointed to a middle-aged woman wearing a dark red cheongsam on the right side of the big screen.

As she spoke, she raised her hand, indicating that the number would be increased to one million.

This was the highest price in today's auction, and there was a burst of cheers in the promotional restaurant!

Although they are not collectors, they are very engaged in watching it.

Someone looked around at other people's faces, trying to find out the owner of this jade.

Lin Feng remained calm and simply clinked wine glasses with Paul and continued to look at the screen calmly.

However, he is happy inside. Just like Paul said, he is now only one step away from being worth tens of millions of yuan.

(End of this chapter)