Chapter 365 Pass off Fish Eyes as Pearls (1/2)

Chapter 365: Pass off Fish Eyes as Pearls

Translator: Nyoi-Bo StudioEditor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Before Li Du had come to Holbrook, he had done some research.

From what he understood, the most valuable type of rosewood was the threatened species of the Chinese and Vietnamese fragrant rosewood. At one time, they had almost nearly been depleted. Basically, they were priceless.

There was an annual supply of about 5,000 tons of rosewood. The log of the rosewood tree was more than 6 feet long. High-quality rosewood, especially logs from older trees, could fetch a price of 250,000 to 400,000 dollars per ton.

And this was just the price of the raw materials; once it was made into beautiful, polished furniture, the price was even more astounding.

The huge profit to be made attracted a large number of swindlers to the industry who created fake furniture. Many dishonest business owners used African padauk to imitate rosewood. Many people also used Mexican cocobolo—or cocobolo from other countries—to pass off as Laos rosewood by giving it a dye wash or a coat of paint.

Li Du suspected that all these pieces of furniture were imitations. The owner of the Mahogany Gallery could have fled with the money after holding the clearance sale.

This was the most reasonable explanation as to why the store owner would leave so much ”mahogany” furniture behind. If it were genuine, Li Du didn’t believe the excuse that the store owner had just forgotten to bring it along to the new location.

Besides, what Lil’ Rick had said last night at the bar had made him suspicious as well. ”Let’s see if you can still be so imperious when the auction is over!”

Lil’ Rick’s words could be interpreted as either the Ricks would do so well at the auction that Li Du would not be able to get any units, or that the Ricks knew of a problem with the units which could be used as a trap for him!

Hans searched the web for a while and shook his head. ”There’s not much about … wait, found it! Here’s a post about the Delon Mahogany Gallery.”

Li Du asked, ”Is it a news report or something?”

”No, someone posted in a forum to complain that he bought some mahogany furniture only to be ridiculed by his Chinese friends that he had bought an imitation,” said Hans. ”He also said that many forums and news sites had colluded with the Delon Mahogany Gallery. Many threads and posts were being deleted when people raised doubts or questioned the authenticity of the furniture from there.”

Li Du’s eyebrows were still closely knit together. He took out a small book which he had bought for the trip: ”The Past and Present of Asian rosewood.”

”What’s the problem?” Hans asked.

Li Du said, ”I can see the furniture inside through the seams. My family’s secret art of prospecting tells me these units are not valuable.”

”Not valuable?” Hans exclaimed in disappointment. ”None of them?”

Li Du didn’t want to make an absolute statement. So he replied vaguely, ”Well, I can’t see clearly from here, perhaps I’m wrong. I need to have a better look.”

As he spoke, he started to carefully examine the furniture. With the little bug hovering above the mahogany furniture, Li Du also looked at the information from the book to check the authenticity.

Mahogany furniture was a favorite amongst the nobles and wealthy around the world because of its beauty. There were many hues of colors due to the different species of rosewood: purplish red, yellowish red, reddish brown, and more. These were all the natural colors of various species of rosewood.

In addition, the mahogany wood grain was simple, beautiful, elegant, and fresh, even after the coat of lacquer and wax, the wood grain was still clearly visible.

But when fake mahogany furniture was coated with the lacquer, the color became dull and the wood grain disappeared.

Although he knew all this information, Li Du was still unable to tell the difference. The furniture inside was purplish red, and with the layer of lacquer and wax, he was unable to give a conclusion as he was not a rosewood connoisseur.

There was one accurate way to appraise mahogany furniture: measure the pore density of the wood. The best rosewood had the lowest pore density.

However, Li Du was unable to even touch the furniture, let alone conduct all these tests.

There was a section on types of deceptive methods used to imitate mahogany furniture in his small book. One common way was called ”structural fraud.”

The mortise and tenon joinery used in the creation process of the mahogany furniture required exact precision in order to fit perfectly.