Chapter 959: Picking up leaks
Frank’s words really sounded like that, but he was still directly slapped in the face by Brina, his precious daughter.
"Dad, do you believe these words? In the first two years after the death of this wandering painter, the price of his paintings increased a lot because of some speculation. However, in the past two years, not many people have speculated anymore. This painter's remaining works have almost no room for appreciation
He is not a talented painter like Van Gogh. I think it is basically impossible for his paintings to appreciate in value in the future. This painting will only continue to depreciate if you keep it in your hands. It is the wisest choice to sell it at a high price now, just 10,000. U.S. dollars.”
Frank felt heartbroken for a while after hearing what his daughter said.
They weren't even considered boyfriend and girlfriend, but their elbows were already turned out so much.
“Just fifty thousand dollars.”
Chen Feng said. Although Brina helps him negotiate the price, he can't not give Frank any face, right?
It doesn’t matter if it’s father and daughter who are bargaining like this, but he is an outsider after all, so he can’t keep Frank from stepping down.
Of course, he can't really be taken for granted. The true valuation of this painting was revealed by Brina, and he certainly can't continue to buy it for $100,000.
When Chen Feng said this, Brina and Frank both looked at Chen Feng in surprise.
They are all smart people, and they soon understood the reason why Chen Feng asked for $50,000, so as to give the father, daughter and himself a step up.
Frank doesn’t really want money, nor does he mean to trick Chen Feng. In art collection, one is willing to sell and the other is willing to buy. There is no such thing as high price or low price.
"Chen, I'm sorry, I did exaggerate the price just now. The original estimate of this painting was only 20,000 US dollars at most, so just give me 20,000 US dollars."
Frank It's not that he doesn't know how to be a good person, especially since his daughter just exposed his old background. If he calmly accepts Chen Feng's second offer, will he still have this old face?
Seeing that he was not being polite, Chen Feng smiled and nodded: "Okay, just 20,000 US dollars. We will draw up a contract later and we will close the deal right away."
"Okay, you are really generous. "
If this painting can be sold for 20,000 US dollars, Frank will certainly not lose money. As his daughter said just now, there is not much room for appreciation in the value of this painting in the future, so there is no doubt that he will sell it at this time. is very wise.
Brina saw that the two had reached a verbal agreement, so she said nothing more.
Next, Chen Feng looked at the other paintings in his collection, but unfortunately none of them met Chen Feng's requirements.
After Frank showed him the collection, Clark, who came up from downstairs, took him to see the postcard collection.
After finally reading the postcard, Frank had already drawn up a sales contract for the painting. The content was very simple. After Chen Feng took a rough look at it, he signed it.
Chen Feng will take the painting away first and pay Frank within three days.
When we returned to the hotel, it was almost ten o'clock in the evening.
In the hotel room, Chen Feng stared intently at the "Rose" he had just bought. It contained enough life energy for him to absorb for an hour. This was really an unexpected surprise for him. Especially since it only cost 20,000 US dollars and less than 200,000 Longguo coins, it was a bargain.
When he came from China this time, he only brought three photos containing life energy and two scrolls of calligraphy. According to the amount of ten minutes of absorption every three days, he could barely sustain himself for two months.
It’s not that he doesn’t want to bring more, but it’s very inconvenient to bring some artwork abroad. Besides, he may not be able to stay in America for two months.
But in order to make up for the shortcomings of these artistic works, it was necessary for him to add some when he came to America this time.
This "Rose" undoubtedly gave him a surprise, and he plans to continue his efforts, hoping to find more works that meet the requirements here.
Brina came out of the bathroom after taking a bath and saw Chen Feng standing in front of the "Rose" painting, staring at it motionlessly, and said with a smile: "My dear, it seems that you are really very beautiful." I like this painting. Although I don’t know much about painting, in my opinion, this painting is much better than the works of famous painters. I really don’t know why you like it so much.”
After hearing what she said, Chen Feng stopped absorbing the life energy in the painting, turned to look at her with a smile and said: "I don't know much about painting. The reason why I bought it was not mainly for collection, but simply I like it and think it suits my taste. ”
Brina shook her head when she heard this and said: "I know you are rich, but you spent so much money to buy it, not for collection, which really surprises me."
"Mainly not for it. Collection." Chen Feng corrected, "I only buy it if I like it. This is the collection. Yes. I don’t buy these works of art for investment or economic reasons, but purely for personal preference.”
“Okay, I understand, so you are going to the art fair tomorrow. I will only buy those works of art based on my own preferences, right?”
“Yes, it mainly depends on whether it suits my eyes. The popularity of the creator depends purely on whether you like it or not.”
"You are really willful, but this is your freedom. I will go with you tomorrow and I will see what kind of art you will buy."
...
No words all night , after the two had breakfast together the next morning, they set out to visit the expo.
The expo here is very different from the ones in China. They are all held in a large venue. Each stall has a variety of art works on display, including various sculptures and sculptures. There are various kinds of ornaments, oil paintings, photography works, and even colorful silk scarves, clothes, etc.
In fact, most of the exhibitors are some well-known galleries and some personal works recommended by art agents.
Chen Feng originally came with high expectations, thinking that since it was such a big art fair, there should be many art works that met his requirements. However, after walking around, none of the works met the standards.
This made Chen Feng really feel like he had seen a ghost.
Yesterday, he easily got the art work he wanted at Brina's house, and it was just a painting by a wandering painter from Frank's personal collection. Frank's total collection of paintings was only a few pieces. number.
Now he has seen hundreds of art works at this art fair, but none of them meet the requirements.
The greater the hope, the greater the disappointment.
Chen Feng reluctantly walked around this large venue again, looking at basically every stall, but the result was still the same, none of the works met his requirements.
In the end, Chen Feng could only come here happily and leave disappointed.
Brina was surprised when she saw that he had been shopping for a long time, but there was not a single work that she liked. After all, in such a large art fair, there were hundreds if not thousands of works on display. It was amazing that Chen Feng didn't like any of them.
On the way back, Brina saw that Chen Feng was not in a good mood, so she said, "I know a flea market with an art thrift store inside. Are you interested in checking it out?"
Chen Feng asked nonchalantly: "Is it close?"
Brina replied: "It's not far. Now we can change the route and we should be there in ten minutes."
Chen Feng thought for a while, it would be okay to go back now. The most important thing is that he is still a little unwilling. It’s all out, you can’t get nothing.
So, I nodded in agreement. Ten minutes later, the car arrived.
Brina took him to the art thrift store with familiarity. The store was not very big, only thirty or forty square meters, and there were messy items inside. There are many works of art, especially the walls on both sides are covered with various paintings.
Chen Feng just looked up slightly and was stunned after taking a quick glance.
With just a quick glance, Chen Feng discovered that two of the dozen or so paintings hanging randomly on a wall contained life energy.
He looked towards the other wall and miraculously found another one.
Chen Feng suddenly had the feeling that "you can't find anything even if you break through iron shoes, and it takes no effort to get it."
“This art thrift store has been open for decades and is somewhat famous in Los Angeles. Most of it is art collected from various channels, and a small half is the work of some unknown artists. It’s on consignment here, you can take a look at it.”
While Brina was introducing, she was also looking at the various artworks in the store, including various ornaments, sculptures, porcelain, etc.
There is a counter at the door, and sitting inside is an old white man with white hair and beard. He looks to be in his seventies or eighties. At this time, he is wearing reading glasses and holding a small porcelain bottle in his hand. Looking closely, he didn't pay much attention to the arrival of Chen Feng and the others.
Chen Feng walked over and asked directly: "Sorry, excuse me, how do you sell these paintings hanging on the wall?"
When Chen Feng said this, the old man looked up at him. After hearing this, Brina came over curiously and asked curiously: "Do you want to buy paintings here?"
Before, she accompanied Chen Feng to visit the expo for a long time and looked at at least a few There were hundreds of works of art, but Chen Feng didn't want to buy any of them.
Now when I arrived at this thrift store, I already wanted to buy something as soon as I walked in.
"Yes, if the price is right, I would like to buy some here."
While answering Brina's question, Chen Feng looked at the old man again.
Of course the old man heard what he said. His eyes immediately lit up and he said with a smile: "These paintings hanging on the wall are all the best products of our store. I specially selected them from hundreds of paintings. There is a lot of room for appreciation. Therefore, each of these paintings is worth no less than 500 US dollars!" Chen Feng couldn't help but widen his eyes.
Of course, he didn't think the other party's asking price was too expensive, but that it was too cheap.
Among the three paintings he took a fancy to just now, the one with the least amount of life energy was enough for him to breathe for half an hour, while the one with the most contained enough life energy for him to breathe for at least an hour.
So, 500 US dollars, which is only three or four thousand dragon national coins, is really too cheap.
However, in the eyes of the old man and Brina, his questions and expressions made them think that Chen Feng was too expensive.
The old man immediately added with some guilt: "If you just buy one painting, it will cost at least 500 US dollars. If you buy multiple paintings, there will definitely be a certain discount."
Brina immediately said: "I have visited your store several times with my father before. In my memory, none of the most expensive paintings on your wall cost more than 300 US dollars. Did I remember it wrong?"
When the old man heard this, he looked at Brina carefully and seemed to have some impression. After all, Brina was quite beautiful. He said a little embarrassedly: "That was before. Now you know, everything is there. Price increase, it’s up to us Of course, the art market has also risen, and the price of US$500 is really not expensive.”
Of course Chen Feng didn’t care about the small amount of money, and immediately said: “I plan to buy three paintings, the package price is US$1,200, how about it? "
The old man immediately shouted: "Deal!"
Brina didn't say anything more when she saw this. She knew that Chen Feng didn't care about the money, not to mention that he had already negotiated the price.
"Then please take down this one, this one, and this one over here."
"Okay, sir, I'll get it for you right away."
White people The old man came out of the counter with a warm smile on his face and took down the three paintings as requested by Chen Feng.
Getting these three paintings has made the trip worthwhile.
But Chen Feng was obviously not satisfied yet, so he asked: "Do you have any other inventory in your store? Especially paintings and photography."
"Of course, my store is a time-honored one. It was founded by my grandfather. Our store has a special warehouse that stores a lot of various artworks. There must be what you need. I can take you to see it. . ”
“Okay, I’ll trouble you.”
The old man knew that he had met a big customer, so he immediately stopped opening the store and took the two of them to the warehouse very enthusiastically.
The distance is not very far, it only takes a few minutes to drive there.
The other party's warehouse did not disappoint Chen Feng. It took Chen Feng nearly an hour to find several works that met the requirements, including five paintings and two photography works.
It’s still a package price, so I got it for $3,000.
Chen Feng is happy, and so is the shop owner. It seems like a win-win situation.
After putting these works of art in the car, Chen Feng asked Brina to take him to the flea market. He wanted to go to several other art thrift stores to see if they could find treasures.
As a result, I visited two more stores in succession, but found nothing.
Although Chen Feng was a little disappointed, overall he was very satisfied. After all, he had only spent more than four thousand US dollars, or twenty to thirty thousand dragon national coins, to buy eight works that met the standard, which was enough for him to use here for two or three months.
"This is the last store. After visiting this store, it's time for us to have lunch."
Under the leadership of Brina, the two came to the last art store in the flea market. shop.
This store is larger in size. The store looks to be 200 square meters. The decoration layout is very modern. There are also three staff members in the store. In addition to the cashier at the counter, there are also two shopping guides.
After the two of them walked around, Chen Feng didn’t see anything that met the requirements. When he was about to go out, one of the male shopping guides asked: "Sir, what do you want to buy?" Artworks? Our store has a variety of artworks from all over the world. The ones displayed in the store are only some of them. We have made a list of the rest. You can take a look. Maybe there is something that satisfies you. ”
< br>"Okay, let me take a look." Chen Feng agreed.
After hearing this and asking him to wait a moment, the shopping guide went to the counter and quickly brought a tablet computer, from which he opened the product catalog for Chen Feng to view.
Chen Feng was operating on his tablet, flipping through page after page, and he found a work that he seemed to be satisfied with. The catalog was not only illustrated with pictures and texts, but some also included videos shot in person. Just very professional.
(End of this chapter)