The person on the phone said they would come down soon, but Sophia still waited almost an hour before seeing anyone.
Deron specializes in auctioning antiques and treasures.
This time, Sophia contacted Auctioneer Zhena from Deron. Professor Zhou had once entrusted Deron to auction several collectibles, all handled by Auctioneer Zhena.
No matter what Auctioneer Zhena thought or how she felt, at least when she came downstairs to meet Sophia, she wore a friendly smile on her face.
"Sophia, hello!"
They shook hands and exchanged greetings.
Sophia said directly, "I came because I have a few collectibles I want you to help evaluate."
With that, Sophia took several wooden boxes out of her backpack.
As soon as the wooden box was opened, a faint fragrance came out.
Sophia opened the box, revealing a piece of yellow jade. Just by looking, the color and quality of the jade were excellent.
When she took it out, even Auctioneer Zhena was amazed, "What a fine jade!"
Most jade pieces are white or green. Usually, the greener the jade, the more valuable it is. Yellow jade is generally mid-to-low grade, but this yellow jade pendant was different. Its texture was hard and crystal clear, looking really good.
Auctioneer Zhena said, "This jade looks good, it seems to be Hetian yellow jade."
Using "seems" showed she thought it was just ordinary yellow jade.
The value difference between normal yellow jade and Hetian yellow jade is huge — one is mid-low grade, the other top grade.
"Although the material is less good, the craftsmanship is nice, so it still adds value to this collectible."
"But for the exact value, I need to go back and have my team evaluate it before giving you an answer."
Auctioneer Zhena spoke politely.
Sophia felt a bit surprised.
Then Auctioneer Zhena made a call to send someone down, and she led Sophia to the sixth floor.
"I'll have someone take photos first."
Auctioneer Zhena said.
Sophia closed the wooden box. During this, Auctioneer Zhena added, "I think your box is nice. It might sell for a good price, maybe even more than the jade."
"This box should be made of rosewood."
Sophia smiled faintly but didn't quite agree in her heart.
"Looks like you know a bit about this."
Auctioneer Zhena raised her eyebrows slightly.
When she called Amelia, she asked some questions and learned Sophia and Amelia were not in the same field.
Sophia didn't respond.
When they arrived on the sixth floor, the photographer was already ready.
Sophia had brought six collectibles in total.
The photo session lasted more than an hour.
Afterwards, Auctioneer Zhena gathered experts to do a preliminary appraisal of the items.
The evaluation showed the total value of the six collectibles was nearly two million.
For most people, this price was already very high.
But Sophia knew where these items came from and was clear their true value should be more than that.
After hesitating for a moment, she turned and called Amelia.
Shortly after the call ended, someone knocked on the door.
A woman in professional attire came in, followed by a man and a woman, all around their forties or fifties.
"Professor Zhou called us. He was afraid we'd miss some good collectibles, so he asked us to come see. Where are the items?"
Both wore black-framed glasses. They glanced at the people present, then their eyes landed on the table.
"Let's go next door!"
The woman wearing the knitted sweater, Sophia, along with Auctioneer Zhena from the Deron group, spoke.
"There is a more professional device next door, not just relying on personal experience for judgment."
Sophia followed them to the laboratory.
They spent almost a whole day going back and forth.
By the time Sophia returned to the hotel, it was already dark.
The result of the day's appraisal showed that the price of the six pieces had quadrupled.
But this was purely because of the quality of the jade in the pieces.
Sophia still wasn't fully satisfied. She went online to compare auction prices of other antiques.
Clearly, the history of Zhao Kingdom, which lasted seven or eight hundred years, gave these jade pieces high value.
Moreover, there had always been controversy over the existence of Zhao Kingdom in history.
The people at Deron obviously hadn't connected these jade pieces with the Zhao Kingdom.
Now Sophia needed to find a way to prove it.
She was getting ready to pack and check out the next day.
Before leaving, she planned to do some shopping.
Early the next morning, Sophia was woken by a phone call.
"Sophia, the batch of jade you brought yesterday is very likely from the Yuan Zhao period. Please come quickly."
Hurrying to pack, Sophia took a taxi to the Deron building.
On the way, she received a notification.
A while ago, an ancient tomb was discovered in the Central Plains area. After expert research during this period, it was confirmed to be from the Yuan Zhao period.
The existence of Zhao Kingdom was once controversial online, mainly due to the lack of evidence. Zhao Kingdom lasted a short time, and many traces were erased by history.
Sophia arrived in about twenty minutes.
On the sixth floor, more people were there than the day before. It looked like company executives had come.
Auctioneer Zhena caught sight of Sophia and immediately opened the door to greet her.
"Sophia, today our top experts from the company are present. Although the evaluation is not yet complete, my initial estimate is that each piece could be worth tens of millions."
Because the Yuan Zhao burial artifacts were unearthed, even if Sophia's items were not genuine, as high-quality replicas their prices would still be high.
Sophia didn't expect such a coincidence.
"How long until the results come out?"
Auctioneer Zhena replied, "The next auction will be in one month. The experts will finish the evaluation within this week. After that, we will negotiate the minimum price with you and sign the agreement. Then our team will start preparing the auction process. We will send you an invitation."
This meant Sophia would need to stay here for another week.
That was fine — Sophia could use the time to enjoy herself.
While chatting with Auctioneer Zhena, someone came out to invite Sophia inside.
The experts inside were curious about the origin of the jade pieces.
Sophia asked, "Can I not answer that question?"
The expert paused after hearing her answer, then said, "You don't have to, but the source might affect our valuation."
Sophia smiled, "The origin of these jade pieces is indeed inconvenient to disclose."
The experts glanced at each other and gave up.
The Deron group had strong backing and would help improve the story behind these items.
Sophia had little information herself and couldn't provide any useful references, so she didn't stay long and left.
After leaving, Sophia hired a car.
This time coming to the provincial city, she hadn't brought much.
She went straight to a big mall, bought a set of high-end skincare products from a luxury brand, and a few sets of designer makeup.
She hadn't planned to stay so long, and didn't bring many clothes, so she just kept buying.