Chapter 332 Another Visit to The City of Angels (2/2)

Chicano put on a pair of gloves, and then carefully examined the Spirit of Ecstasy. After that, he turned on the laptop he had with him to search for information online.

By the time Li Du and the rest had finished eating, he was also almost done with his research. He nodded and said, ”This Spirit of Ecstasy ornament is great, but for something salvaged from a wrecked car, is this not a little too well-maintained?”

Hans said, ”Are you saying that our hood ornament isn't from a legitimate source? Buddy, this is a tad insulting to us.”

Chicano was insistent. ”I’ve checked the information to do with this hood ornament. The car it was attached to was destroyed in a high-speed car accident, and the front of the car had hit the truck. In that case, how’s it possible for the hood ornament to be in such good condition?”

”If you know enough about the hood ornament,” Hans said, ”you should know that when the speed exceeds 50 miles per hour, it will hide in the engine compartment to be protected from sand and wind.”

Chicano nodded and said, ”Right, that's it.”

Hans continued, ”When the accident took place, the speed had already exceeded 100 miles per hour!”

Chicano shrugged, and seemed to have accepted what Hans said.

The hood ornament’s good condition had caused him to worry that it could have been a stolen item. However, he was consoled by the fact that Rolls-Royce hood ornaments were well-protected and not easy to steal.

First of all, when the car was turned off, the Spirit of Ecstasy mascot would automatically be concealed within the hood for protection; it would not emerge from the hood until the car was restarted.

Second, sensors were installed in the car—should the engine be running and the car was not moving, if someone tried to touch it, the sensors would immediately send a signal to the central computer. The hood ornament would then descend into the hood to be hidden immediately.

Li Du had seen the evaluation online previously; the ornament descent was particularly fast, almost like it were being teleported—one would need to watch it through a slow-motion lens.

After prolonged consideration, Chicano finally agreed to buy this hood ornament.

Following this would be the price war, which Hans had full control over.

How could Chicano the artist be any match for Hans? To practice his bargaining skills, Hans had made his rounds at the marketplace to hone his ability to negotiate.

After some time, the negotiation was concluded, and the deal was sealed for 30,000 dollars.

This was the price both Li Du and Hans had in mind; it was considered an achievement to have been able to sell the hood ornament at this price.

During the transaction, Chicano saw the umbrella and asked in surprise, ”You also have the Roll-Royce Phantom Umbrella? I'm keen to buy it.”

Hans rejected him firmly: ”Sorry, Mr. Chicano. I’m happy doing business with you, but the umbrella already has an owner.”

Disappointed, Chicano asked, ”Is that so? That's a pity, how much is he offering? I would like to counter offer.”

Hans smiled and said, ”No, it’s not about the price, but reputation. We’re treasure hunters—for us, our reputation is our brand name. We could not possibly back out of deals we’ve already finished negotiating.”

A look of admiration came over the artist’s face. He offered his hand. ”I’m glad to meet such an honorable friend. Next time, for matters relating to cars and sculpting, we should once again work together.”

Chicano had bought this hood ornament not only to collect it, but also to examine it for his craft of sculpting.

Each Spirit of Ecstasy mascot was a work of art, having resulted from many processes.

This included two manual polishing processes: the first was to polish the wax model when it was first removed from the mold, and the second was to shape it according to the mold. For the second polishing process, the Spirit of Ecstasy was polished at least eight times by hand, and then polished in a machine using mixed polishing material for 65 minutes.