Chapter 637: Make a fortune
From the quilt at the bottom of the big wardrobe, Kang Shude found a cardboard box about the size of an octavo paper and ten centimeters high.
After opening it, it turned out to be something like a large box full of leader medals, at least hundreds of them.
Needless to say, Ning Weimin has a natural affinity for these red collections due to his previous career.
So when he looked outside the house, he saw that the old man had spread all these medals on the writing table.
He threw away the cigarette butt, entered the house uninvited, and took the initiative to stand behind the old man and watch.
Not to mention, it is indeed a collection of cultural people.
The quality and texture of these commemorative medals that the old man poured out of the paper box are really good, but they are better than those collected by ordinary people.
There are not many products on the market.
There are not many "little heads" like a penny, long strips of plexiglass with the words "Long Live XXX" hot-stamped on them, and plastic leaders' heads.
They all add up to less than ten.
These things used to be readily available in cultural stores for only three to five cents.
As for the other one hundred and eighty, they are all at least five cents in size and made of high-quality materials.
Metal, ceramic, luminous, and three-dimensional, there is a dazzling array of them.
Like the long metal strip that the Prime Minister often wore in the past, with red enamel and gold letters "Serving the People".
There are also commemorative medals from the revolutionary holy places of Shaoshan, Jinggangshan, Zunyi, and Yan'an, which are considered ordinary here.
The "Little Tiananmen" is the size of a watch dial, with red enamel on both sides and a golden "big head" with radiating light.
Even the "military star" of the navy, the helmsman who sails the sea, and the joy of plum blossoms and snow all over the sky are not valuable.
Because among all the badges there is a pure white tin badge from 1945.
It was made by students from Yan'an Lu Xun Institute of Literature and Art for members of the "Seven Presidiums".
Badges like this made before liberation are the rarest and rarest, and can almost be regarded as orphans.
Thirty years later it will be worth at least a thousand, or at most tens of thousands.
But having said that, the market for this kind of red collection belongs to a niche category after all.
The price ceiling is almost the same.
As for the current situation, the market is even worse, because everyone has it and no one wants it.
Unless they are made of special materials such as gold, silver, or jade, such badges can currently only be sold to scrap stations as scrap metal.
To put it bluntly, although finding these things is better than finding nothing at all, it is still better than nothing.
According to Ning Weimin's estimation, all the medals in this box, whether today or in the future, cannot equal the copper wax drill he just found under the bed.
He is still the one who firmly holds the advantage in this bet.
So he started playing again.
"Oh, old man, your luck is really not very good. After working hard for a long time, I found these things in the closet, but no one wants the medals now. I'm just going to give it to you... Hey, Even based on the original price of these things, it’s not much more than fifty yuan.”
“I admit that I was lucky enough to find these two cranes. . But luck is also a kind of strength. Especially in today's society. No matter whether it is a black cat or a white cat, it is a good cat if it can catch mice. Of course, I am a good cat. Is that true?"
"I think let's forget it for today. Don't think about trying to pick on me. Let's get over it and go eat. It's hard to find anything more valuable than my pair of cranes in this house. Let's not make any bets, so we can just go through the desk together. It’s nothing.”
Of course, Ning Weimin said this because he was sure that he would win.
I also want to give the old man a way out of the ladder and let the matter rest. It is indeed a good intention.
But he didn't expect that Kang Shude would not appreciate it, and even snorted and gave him a cold face.
"Good boy, are you talking about what's on your mind? I know you haven't been thinking about serious things recently. You just want to show off your war-free card? It's useless!"
"I also told you You, I have to let you copy the book today. There is no way you can get through with just these two wax tools!"
"Take a good look at what I have in my hand. What is it! These are also things in a paper box, do you know them?"
As he spoke, the old man spread his hands and placed two small black things about half a height on the glass plate of the desk. superior.
Only two sounds of "pah" and "pah" were heard, showing a hard and heavy texture. The surprised Ning Weimin took a closer look and found it even more strange. What the old man took out were actually two chess pieces.
One is a horse and the other is a bishop.
"These... aren't these just the two chess pieces? What's new?"
Ning Weimin had no idea why, so he picked it up and looked at it carefully, only to realize that this The two chess pieces are made of metal.
But apart from the fact that it is slightly larger than ordinary chess pieces and the workmanship is extremely exquisite, as if it is something of some age, there is nothing more special about it.
"Old man, what's the deal with these two chess pieces? Don't tell me. Just by looking at them, you can tell that these two things have extraordinary origins. What kind of princes and nobles left them behind? You have to give them to me. Evidence..."
"You are talking nonsense! I think you are fooled!"
I never expected that Kang Shude was blowing his beard and staring. Still popular.
“Thanks to all the scrap metal you’ve spent years wasting away! You can’t even weigh it in your hands! Are the weights of these two chess pieces correct?”
Hey, don't tell me, even though he was scolded to death, the last sentence was so enlightening that Ning Weimin finally felt that something was wrong.
Yes, these two chess pieces are a bit too heavy.
He weighed it one by one and dropped it, and his heart suddenly shuddered.
"You, you mean, this, this is gold?"
The old man did not speak this time, and raised his brows with a rather disdainful look.
Ning Weimin stopped talking nonsense and took action instead of moving. He took the chess pieces and ran outside to shine them in the sun.
The hair-like scratches in the black paint are indeed incredibly bright.
But when he turned the chess piece over and looked at it, he felt confused again.
Because the black paint on the chassis has been worn away a lot, the color of the metal inside is particularly obvious, which is not the color that gold should be.
"Master, this...isn't this wrong? This...the hair is red and purple! It looks like copper to me, but...it doesn't look like..."
"Come on, shut up as soon as possible. If you keep talking nonsense, I will slap you in the mouth. What do you call this? You are ignorant and have no skills."
Kang Shude also walked out of the room, First, he stretched out his hand to take the chess piece from Ning Weimin's hand and scolded him a few times.
While stroking the two chess pieces, a slight smile appeared on his lips.
"When I was young, I made a fortune from this thing. I didn't expect to meet him again today."
Then I finally started to teach Ning Weimin.
"Do you know the Red Revolution in Russia in 1917? That year, earth-shaking changes took place in Russia, so a large number of Russian nobles flocked to our country to take refuge. Those people first went to Harbin in a mighty way and transformed it into a small Oriental city. Paris. Then because they couldn’t live in it, they later came to the capital and Tianjin.” Records, personal chefs, and even pianos and carriages greatly promoted the economic and cultural prosperity of Beijing and Tianjin. Many dance halls and restaurants were opened everywhere in Beijing and Tianjin. The exotic flavor of Russia.”
“Especially the Tianjin Russian Concession, which has the largest influx of Russians because there are no political concerns. In order to meet the daily needs of these Russian nobles, Tianjin not only has bread. There are houses, Russian restaurants, and Orthodox churches. Except for the Neva River, everything the Russian nobles need is there. Some Russian nobles even threatened to build a Neva Street in Jinmen.”
"However, the good times don't last long. How can you do nothing if you can't get out and have nothing to eat? Within a few years, the wallets of the Russian aristocrats will quickly shrink, and they will gradually become poorer and almost unable to eat. What should we do? Just take it seriously. Yeah. The first thing the Russian nobles exchanged for bread was Russian blankets. They were warm and very popular. Then when they were sold out, they started selling other daily necessities, such as tea sets, wine sets, soaps, perfumes, leather shoes and clothes..."
“I still remember that in the autumn of 1935, Mr. Song and I went to Dongjiaomin Lane for business. At the entrance of the Orthodox Church there, I saw a Russian woman who claimed to be a nobleman, looking for rich people to sell on the street. Two Western wine glasses made of red and purple metal. The woman said they were ancestral wine glasses, and they were sold for gold prices. I saw that they were ridiculed by many people. The woman was well-dressed and well-behaved, and she didn’t argue when others were teasing her. Her expression remained the same, and she still insisted on her opinion. "
"I found that the workmanship of the wine glass was exquisite, the weight was heavy enough, and the texture was very close to gold. Apart from the strange color, I couldn't find any other faults. So I boldly made a price, forty yuan. But the woman shook her head and still didn't agree. Yes. I am more sure that she is not a liar.”
“It doesn’t matter if you don’t want to sell. Russian aristocrats are actually the same as our prodigal sons. They can’t help but make fun of her. . As soon as I told her, it's useless if people here don't recognize your good things. If you are really a noble, I must not live on these two things. In order to save you, I have already given it. It's a price of one or two and a half gold. No one is more sincere than me. Why do you care about me so much? It affects your status. I am just an ordinary businessman. I have to make a profit to make a living, even if you help me. Help me. She thought about it and agreed to sell it to me."
"But when Mr. Song came out and I showed it to him, he also thought the texture of the two wine glasses was strange, so we talked about it. When he got home, he couldn't wait to touch it with a touchstone and double-checked it with sulfuric acid. Unexpectedly, it was confirmed to be gold. I couldn't help but be overjoyed. I weighed the two wine glasses and found that there were four small ones. I made a fortune. "
"But that's not the end. Later, because it was difficult to explain why it was gold, Mr. Song and I wanted to figure out what was going on, so we didn't rush to sell it. Instead, I asked around and found a professor from the Department of Chemical Engineering of Yanjing University."
"The professor saw this wine set and frankly said it was from Russia. Gold - the purest purple gold. It is called the world's three major golds along with platinum and gold. It is a kind of natural gold. Its main components are gold and rhodium, so it is also called rhodium because of its high hardness and strong oxidation resistance. , it can keep the color from fading and is beautiful to wear, so Russian nobles love to use this precious metal to make jewelry. ”
"The professor also said that in terms of value, platinum is several times more valuable than gold, but purple gold is several times more valuable than platinum, making it the world's most precious metal. He is personally willing to pay 500 oceans for the pair of wine glasses, hoping to keep them As a sample. In this way, Mr. Song sold these two wine glasses after consulting me. I made a profit of more than ten times, which was equivalent to making fifteen 'little yellow croakers' at that time..." br>
Good guy!
When Ning Weimin heard this, he could no longer suppress his surprise.
I cried out with a sound of "ah".
(End of this chapter)