437 Bizarre Deity Statue (1/2)
”We can do business immediately. You give me the painting, then I will immediately transfer you the money,” Andrea said, while laughing. He seemed to have noticed Mo Wen's suspicion.
The faces of both Jiang Siyin and Yang Ting instantly became uglier than bitter gourds. They secretly cursed Mo Wen for being so lucky.
”As you seem like a righteous person, I'll trust you.” Mo Wen nodded his head. After all, this white man had spoken up for them. Moreover, Mo Wen found him pleasing to the eye, so he tossed the white man the painting.
Andrea hurriedly caught the original Da Vinci, giving Mo Wen an incredulous look.
He couldn't believe that Mo Wen had actually treated an original of the Master Da Vinci so casually! In the eyes of Italians, Da Vinci's paintings were national treasures!
”Mr. Mo Wen, please give me your account number. I will immediately make the transfer.” Andrea took out his laptop and swiftly logged into his personal bank account. If Andrea's identity was true, with his status, immediately transferring 60 million USD would not pose a problem.
”Save yourself the trouble. You can just donate the money straight to the charitable organization of our Hua Xia Country. Of course, I will ask you donate it in the name of my wife, Shen Jing,” Mo Wen said.
After all, he planned to donate the money anyway. Andrea would be doing him a favor and saving him the time.
”Why are you placing so much trust in me?” Andrea stared at Mo Wen, surprised.
”Oh, I just know that you wouldn't dare to pocket this money,” Mo Wen said, smiling.
”Mr. Mo Wen is indeed someone with vision and courage. You are a true philanthropist.” Andrea nodded slightly.
What Mo Wen said was true. He wouldn't dare pocket this money. Unless his identity was fake, doing so would harm his reputation. Moreover, 60 million USD was too little an amount for him to bother with have any funny thoughts.
The auction continued. One by one, the items were placed on the stage to be auctioned off. Most of them were ancient artifacts with historical value.
In some countries, it was considered illegal to auction these kinds of artifacts. However, now that they were on the open sea, no one really cared or was there to regulate them.
Mo Wen noticed that many of the auction items came from Hua Xia. In fact, at least one-third of the auction items were ancient artifacts from Hua Xia.
Many people were passionate about them especially. Every time one of these items appeared, many people would bid for it.
Shen Jing watched as piece after piece of the Hua Xia artifacts were auctioned off, soon to be moved overseas by the new owners. She gave a slight sigh.
For many years, the tomb raiders in the country had always run rampant. As such, many national artifacts were moved overseas every year.
In most cases, one artifact would be sold at a low price by an artifact merchant. Then, it would appear in international auctions, where some rich patriots would buy them at astronomical prices. In this way, large amounts of wealth ended up in the hands of foreigners.
Mo Wen did not give such things much thought. After all, what he considered to be valuable was different than most normal people. As his concept of value was fundamentally different, he was not as emotional as Shen Jing regarding the objects at the auction.
”The next item that will be auctioned is an ancient artifact from Hua Xia. This item has at least three thousand years of history and is an ancient relic. Although there are no specific records for it, such an ancient artifact is rare indeed,” the auctioneer announced.
A bizarre bronze statue was immediately placed on the auction block. It had a human's body and a serpent's tail. On its back were seven hands, while another pair of hands was on the front of its chest. It was also holding a Flying Serpent.
The design of the bronze statue was bizarre, causing it to look like a demon from the legends. It had a thick aura of history to it, and everyone could sense its old age.
The bronze statue's starting bid was two million USD, which was far below Da Vinci's painting. However, this was normal, as although this item was ancient, the collective value of an ancient artifact did not depend solely upon whether it was ancient or not. Hence, some things may be ancient, but may still not be worth much.
In fact, the value of ancient artifacts usually was determined by the roles they played in history. For example, a bowl that was used by an emperor would have a value far beyond that of a normal bowl. Hence, as Da Vinci's work was related to the Western Renaissance era and he himself was a world-renowned scholar, every single one of his works was worth a fortune.Find authorized novels in Webnovel，faster updates, better experience，Please click for visiting.
Although a two million USD starting bid was far less than the starting bid for the Da Vinci painting, among artifacts, the price was actually quite high. One other reason that it had such a high starting bid, aside from its being ancient, was also due to its very possibly being related to ancient religions and legends. If its actual origins could be investigated, then its value would surely multiply.
”Are you interested in that bronze statue?” Shen Jing asked Mo Wen, while staring at him curiously. Mo Wen's gaze seemed to be transfixed on it.
”That is a deity statue. In the ancient times, everyone worshipped it,” Mo Wen said plainly.
Mo Wen could sense some peculiar aura coming from the bronze statue. As for what it was exactly, he couldn't quite tell. But, he had definitely encountered a similar phenomenon before. In his previous life, the deity statue of the Divine Pill Sect's Patriarch had a similar aura.