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Recently, the author has the opportunity to visit the Blue and White Glazed Red Porcelain Museum in Shekou, Shenzhen, which is the only museum in China with this theme. The curator is called Yang Wei, a native of Wuhan. He was once rated as one of the top ten collectors in Wuhan and is now the vice president of the Hubei Province Antiques and Art Chamber of Commerce. In 1995, Yang Wei began to worship Mr. Zhang Pusheng, a senior porcelain researcher at the Nanjing Museum. For more than 20 years, he has focused on the collection of red and white porcelain in blue and white glaze. A large amount of capital was invested in it, and most of the 480 pieces of blue and white glazed red porcelain in his museum were returned from abroad.
In the chat, I learned about their strategy of bidding for Chinese antiques at overseas auctions.
“In general, as long as there is a more expensive auction item in an auction special, foreign auction houses must charge the Chinese buyers a bid bond, but for some buyers who have previously paid the auction and have good reputation, they are often exempt from the deposit. For some auctions where the quality of the auction is not high and the price is not high, the auction house can often exempt the buyer from the deposit. However, if a buyer has a default record of not paying, he will be recorded. Blacklists, in the future, at this auction house, and in their global chain stores can no longer participate in the bidding. Especially in the big auction houses such as Christie’s and Sotheby’s, once the record of default, the buyer is not only in the global Christie’s Sotheby’s can’t register for bidding, and it’s not available in other auction houses in the UK or the US, because their auction house associations will jointly report blacklists, and everyone will reject the defaulters.”
This reminds me of the experience of the Bang Muss auction house in San Francisco a year ago. San Francisco's Bonhams is located in the urban-rural junction of San Francisco. The office is more like a large factory in a "tofu block". The "factory" separates the pre-show hall and the auction house, and has its own free parking lot. It is very close to the highway and the traffic is very convenient. When we arrived at the auction house, the auction just started, and the auctioneer announced rules and precautions there. There are only three or five people in the market, and some oil paintings are hanging on the walls around the auction hall for people to watch. The mood of the auctioneer did not seem to be disturbed by the empty auction hall, and began to seriously quote the price. Although there are not many buyers on the spot, there are not many auctions because the auction site offers three other bidding service modes. One of them is a written entrusted bidding method, which is controlled by the auctioneer himself; one is the telephone commissioned bidding, which is indicated by the staff of the entrusted seats on both sides of the auction house; in addition, a staff member sitting next to the auction table keeps reporting Online bids, their sitting position and non-stop quotes give a sense of freshness. The multi-model bidding mechanism made up for the lack of popularity on the field, and the audience turnover rate was about 50%. Perhaps it is precisely because of the provision of a variety of off-the-shelf bidding services, so that buyers do not have to come to the scene to placard!
Several mainland counterparts have become interested in the beautiful European silverware, and have also gone through the bidding process. The procedure for the first time to pass the bidding is so simple: don't use any bank certificate, passport, contact number and personal signature. Completed, full of trust in customers. Later, they also bought three of the lots by telephone, which is very convenient and concise!
I asked: "If you find something wrong after you buy it, would you like to return it?"
Their answer: "When a buyer buys a lot, he feels that there is something wrong with the authenticity. You can apply to the auction house for no payment. As long as you make sense, you can return the goods after paying the auction house buyer's commission. This is not counted as a breach of contract, and its name will not be blacklisted. If a well-known appraisal expert gives an appraisal report stating that the lottery is a false reason, it can be returned without even paying a commission."
Chinese people who buy porcelain at foreign auction houses often discuss "marking". "The 'Bid' people often sit down and discuss the matter in the vicinity of the auction before the start of the auction. Generally, five or six powerful people will discuss together. Some people will pretend to be buyers. 'Bid-mark' activities, I want to add some money. (For details, please see the published article "How to buy Chinese art in foreign countries".) Our 'marked' can be successful in most cases with high success rate. At 70%. The auction house does not like the buyer to use the 'circumference' method to suppress the price, but because there is no evidence, it cannot be eliminated. Generally, foreign buyers will also 'circle the standard', but the way is different from the Chinese. They use the dark mark method to re-price to determine the attribution."
“Overseas porcelain and antiques buyers will build some WeChat groups, and usually carry out some exchanges and cooperation, such as the British porcelain group, the European porcelain group, the French antique group, etc., the people of each group often cross each other. The people in the group basically have similar hobbies. The level of appreciation is close, the strength is also equal, and as few as five or six people can form a group."
“Sometimes, there are several auctions held in different places in a day, and the buyers are separated, so they can only stay in one auction site, and then use the phone to contact other auction house staff to bid for the bid. Sometimes, the buyer also According to the photos sent online by the auction house, the authenticity judgment can be made. When the thing is very 'opening the door' (true), the auction house is used to bid for the auction house. If there is any doubt, we often put the photos of the lot in the buyer group. If someone arrives at the scene, they will talk about their opinions. We will learn from each other and help, so that local buyers can get first-hand information. Help yourself judge and bid. ”
“Foreign small and medium-sized auction houses can often negotiate private purchases with buyers after the auction. Some Chinese people like to drill this loophole. The first one on the court will never be arbitrarily. Once someone bids, they will fight. The bidder waits for the auction. After the auction is over, the buyer will negotiate with the auction house to buy it. After the auction house negotiates with the seller, it will often shoot below the original reserve price, and the seller only needs to pay the auction house. Money is definitely much cheaper than the reserve price plus the commission."
Sometimes they also "calculate" familiar Chinese sellers.
“On one occasion, we found that the auction cover of an auction house was in the hands of a Chinese collector in the porcelain group. Everyone even knew that he bought it for more than 100,000 yuan. When the lot was in After the auction started at 400,000 yuan, the Chinese buyers who knew the situation did not bid at the same time, and finally the auction was auctioned. Then, the buyers went to the auction house to buy it. In the negotiations, the buyers It has already reached 700,000 yuan, exceeding the reserve price reported on the auction floor. The Chinese seller is still unwilling to sell, and the business has not been able to reach it. But if everyone is going to fight on the court, it will definitely exceed 400,000 yuan. It is really possible. If you fight for more than seven or eight hundred thousand, you won’t stop."
When I asked: "If a buyer exposes his or her bidding intentions in the group, will it attract more buyers to compete?"
They replied: "Generally not, but because of the involvement of powerful buyers, some people who are not strong enough and who lack confidence will give up the willingness to bid."
“Some small and medium-sized auctions generally only have “general goods”, and the boutiques have been bought before the auction. There is a good relationship between the buyer and the auction house. After seeing a good lot, they will pass the auction house. The seller contacted the direct purchase. If the price is right, the seller and the auction house will consider the possibility of the auction or the possibility of not paying the high price, and will agree to the buyer to buy out in advance, and then announce the lot from the field' Withdrawal'. Other buyers came from afar, probably just to buy this thing, and they were helpless when they came to the scene. Buyers are trying their best not to compete and buy their favorite auction items. The boutique has not yet been printed, and the people who have been known have bought it first, but even if they have not taken the film, the buyer has to pay the auction commission."
"Some buyers have been wandering around the country for a long time. It is not convenient to take the goods and take them. Therefore, the auction house has the responsibility of mailing the lot. They will charge the buyer a certain postage fee and packaging fee. And insurance."
When I asked: "A very fragile and delicate craft like porcelain, is this mail safe?" They replied: "No problem, you have received a lot of money, and you are also insured. The auction house will over-package. The mailed porcelain is absolutely safe."
When I asked: "When mailing into the Mainland, do you want to pay customs duties?" They replied: "Almost half of the porcelain can be sent directly to our home. Half of the items will be notified by the local customs to pick up the goods and go to the customs. After the customs duties and VAT are completed, the goods can be taken away."
Kangxi's early dappled mountain water blue and white glaze red pen holder
“This is our “Kangxi’s early ramie blue-and-white glaze red pen holder”, which was bought at the Bonds auction in Bond Street, London in November 2014. This pen holder is the British collector’s antique dealer Marchant (its The family began to engage in Chinese antiques from 1912. In 1998, it was purchased from a Oriental art company called Berwald until the auction. There are very few large pens in the blue and white glaze of the painting. So far, it has only been found in the collection of the Paris Museum and the Butler family, but the painter is not as good as our blue-and-white glaze museum, so this pen holder is a masterpiece of the same subject of Kangxi."
The following is a section published on June 14th in the "Overseas Big League", signed by Ye Hao, describing the auction process of a Canadian auction house: how to bid for Chinese antiques abroad.
Ming Hongwu glaze red pot
“This is a Hongwu glazed red pot. An old man from Taiwan in the 1960s left some items for his grandchildren after his death. In 1998, the grandson immigrated to Canada, his grandfather’s The pot has been placed in the basement of his home until the beginning of this year. The family contacted the old Toronto-based auction house Waddingtons. The estimate was only 3,000-4,000 Canadian dollars. At the auction site, the phone commissioned a total of 5 lines, all the way From 3,500 Canadian dollars to 1 million. Only three people on the line continue to bite, and the scene is estimated to be lively. When I passed the 1 million, I heard applause on the phone. When I passed 2 million, it was 噼噼啪啪A burst of applause. The voice of the phone is very magnetic, the little brother is cute, all the way to praise our eyes: 'The whole auction, you only take this one, this is actually so popular, how do you pick things After '2 million, there are only two bidders on the line chasing. The final price is 2.6 million Canadian dollars, plus commission of nearly 3 million Canadian dollars, more than 15 million yuan, a premium of 750 times!
Finally, Director Yang Wei said: "The people we buy antiques abroad are most afraid of the rich people like Liu Yiqian who only buy and do not sell, you will never fight for them."
When I was about to send a manuscript, I just got the news. In the middle of the night of June 23, the famous collector Liu Yiqian bought three ancient paintings and calligraphy at Sotheby's in Paris. The price was about 258 euros, and the commission may be equivalent to nearly 30 million yuan. (See Liu Yiqian's WeChat screenshot below). I don’t know what kind of dreams that have been hard to “snap” buyers abroad. !
[Article source: Ji Tao's blog, Bei Chuang Exhibition]
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