Chapter 200: Genuine or Fake?
The two people beside Arabella Donovan perked up. The Kerr mother and son, sitting not far away, also noticed her strange reaction and looked over with concern.
"Miss Donovan, did something happen?"
Hearing Ms. Kerr’s inquiry, Arabella Donovan suddenly remembered that the Kerr family partnered with the auction house. The Heart of the Ocean set from earlier had come from them.
So she asked tentatively, "Does this auction also sell forgeries?"
"Forgeries?" Ms. Kerr exclaimed, then realized she’d been too loud and quickly lowered her voice. "Usually not. Especially at an auction house like the Pavilion of Many Treasures. They have a resident team of appraisal experts. A major mistake like auctioning a forgery shouldn’t happen under normal circumstances."
"That’s right. If an auction house dared to pass off a forgery as the real thing, its reputation would be ruined if it were discovered later. That kind of blunder just doesn’t happen."
Arabella Donovan nodded without another word, seemingly accepting their explanation.
Caspian Rhodes, however, thought otherwise. For one, he believed Arabella Donovan wouldn’t make baseless claims. For another, her question reminded him of that time in Zane Lynch’s office—the PR department head—when she had instantly identified the Qing Dynasty Peacock Blue Glaze Porcelain on display as a forgery.
At the time, he hadn’t thought much of it, assuming Arabella had simply foreseen that the PR head would surreptitiously swap out the antique.
’But thinking about it more carefully now,’ he mused, ’could it be that she actually has the ability to appraise these things? To tell a genuine antique from a fake with just a single glance?’
Just as Caspian Rhodes was lost in thought, the auctioneer on stage suddenly smiled. "This vase, while beautiful, is not a genuine piece."
Ms. Kerr: "???"
Kieran Kerr: "???"
The entire audience: "???"
Caspian Rhodes: "..."
After a moment of dead silence, the room erupted in discussion.
"What’s going on? They’re auctioning a forgery? Was there a procedural error? Or did the appraisers mess up? This has to be considered an auction incident, right?"
"Regardless, putting a forgery up for auction is unacceptable. The auction house better give us an explanation."
"Exactly! What is going on? We deserve an explanation."
The auctioneer seemed to have anticipated this reaction. Completely unfazed, he simply raised a hand with a faint smile, signaling for the crowd to quiet down.
"Ladies and gentlemen, please calm down and allow me to explain. This Yuan Dynasty blue-and-white chrysanthemum-scroll antique vase is indeed a forgery—or, to be precise, a replica. The genuine piece was unfortunately lost during the wars a century ago. To this day, no one knows the whereabouts of this treasure."
"This replica before you was personally crafted a century ago by the renowned master of ceramics, Mr. Shaw. Mr. Shaw adored the original blue-and-white chrysanthemum-scroll vase. He was heartbroken to learn of its loss and lamented that the world could no longer witness its magnificent structure and design. So, he requested the design schematics from a museum that had preserved them and spent three full years creating the very vase you see before you."
The auctioneer had barely finished his explanation when another wave of murmurs swept through the crowd.
"Mr. Shaw? You mean the master of ceramics from a century ago, Sheldon Shaw? That’s the Master Shaw who was hailed as one of the ’Two Contemporary Masters’ alongside the great traditional painter of his time!"
"One of his early blue-and-white porcelain vases was recently auctioned overseas. The opening bid was thirty million, and it sold for a staggering one hundred and twenty million! His work is no less valuable than a genuine antique!"
"So that’s why." Listening to the buzz around them, the Kerr mother and son finally understood why the auction house would knowingly add a forgery to its list. But...
"How did Miss Donovan know the vase was a forgery?"
In an instant, everyone nearby turned to look at Arabella Donovan.
Arabella Donovan, who was reaching for something, paused. Then, with a light laugh, she said, "Actually, it’s because I happened to see a news report about this vase going missing. When I saw it just now, I was confused. ’Hasn’t this piece been lost?’ I wondered. ’Did they find it?’ I never imagined there was a master-crafted replica."
The reason was plausible enough. Ms. Kerr’s intuition told her there was more to it, but since Arabella had given her explanation, it wouldn’t be polite to press further. She simply nodded in understanding and dropped the subject.
Only the two men sitting beside Arabella knew the truth.
’Of course I knew. The real one is currently sitting on the main altar of my family’s run-down Sacred Temple, being used to hold flowers.’
Caspian Rhodes: "???"
Brandon Jennings: "!!!"
’What the hell? Her family’s temple uses a priceless antique as a flower vase? Just what kind of family is she from to be so extravagant?’
Luckily, Arabella didn’t know what they were thinking, or she would have retorted. ’Sure, it’s an antique, but wasn’t it made to be a vase in the first place? Besides, my family’s "run-down" Sacred Temple is an antique in itself. What’s the big deal about using an antique vase to hold flowers?’
While the group was still muttering about the vase’s authenticity, some guests who were already captivated by its shape and pattern eagerly started bidding.
Because it was the work of a master, and with the allure of its connection to a lost treasure, the vase was essentially one-of-a-kind. With that selling point, its opening bid was higher than the previous lots of jade ornaments and calligraphy.
"Five million."
"Six million."
"Seven million."
"..."
The celebrity effect was undeniably potent. In just a few minutes, the famous master’s replica vase sold for the high price of thirty-five million to a wealthy businessman with a passion for collecting old artifacts.
The next few lots were fairly standard. The final prices didn’t fall below ten million, but none fetched a colossal sum of over one hundred million, either.
After a long wait, Arabella finally saw the large stone she had been eagerly anticipating.
When the dusty raw stone, housed in a glass case, was wheeled onto the stage, many people were taken aback. They hadn’t expected to see such a shabby-looking item up for auction.
"Next is Lot 18, a raw stone provided by a mysterious tycoon, weighing in at eighteen pounds..."
The auctioneer was passionately trying to praise the unremarkable stone to the heavens, but in the eyes of the audience, his flowery words were far less captivating than the initial phrase "mysterious tycoon."
"What kind of mysterious tycoon collects a worthless rock like this?"
"Exactly. He probably got cheated by a dealer after a bad bet on a stone. With that crack running right through the middle, it’s guaranteed there’s no green inside. Buying it would be a complete waste of money."
"Webb is the expert in this field. If you say so, it must be true."
The crowd murmured in agreement, and the auctioneer’s next words seemed to confirm their suspicions.
"The tycoon’s only request is that the winning bidder cut the stone open publicly, in his presence. Now, for any guests interested in this raw stone, please take note. The opening bid is... fifty thousand."