"This was bought with a friend who collects things, see if it's suitable." Mr. Hu tidied up the newspaper wrapping around the cup to one side.

  "Good." Gu Ming nodded and took out a magnifying glass to examine it carefully.

  When this cup was first taken out, Gu Ming not only felt that the color of the cup was a bit dull, but also thought that the shape of the cup looked ordinary and uninteresting.

  Take out a magnifying glass and take a closer look, you can find that the surface of this cup has a slight jade-like luster, with a sense of horniness. Preliminary estimates are made from animal horns, but it is not clear what kind of horn is used to make this.

  Gu Mei carefully observed while stretching out her left hand and gently stroked the cup.

  As soon as the cup was in hand, a not-too-hot warmth was transmitted, and a joyful feeling arose in my heart. At the same time, a series of "mooooo" sounds echoed from the bottom of my heart, only this "mooooo" sound seemed to be sharper and more crisp than usual cow sounds.

  It seems this corner cup is indeed an antique!

  "This cup looks like it should be a corner cup." Gu Ming continued to stroke the surface of the cup, feeling the various temperatures transmitted by the cup, and muttered to himself.

  "This is an angular cup and it should be a Qing dynasty angular cup." Mr. Hu replied.

  "Oh." Gu Ming looked at Mr. Hu and nodded slightly.

  Carefully observing its shape and decoration, Gu Ming judged that this corner cup was a work of the mid-to-late Qing dynasty. Because it had not been well-preserved, the glaze lacked luster and the carving was relatively rough, with an unrefined design layout, indicating that it was made by a folk artisan rather than a literati potter.

  The outer wall of the cup is carved with Hehe Erxian, bats, pine trees and other objects. Hehe Erxian holds a lotus flower in one hand and hugs a box in the other, symbolizing peace and beauty. The bat represents good fortune and the pine tree represents longevity.

  There is a style on the wall of the cup, which may be a poem, but the words are unclear and it is very likely to be engraved later.

  Horn cups also come in many varieties, such as water buffalo horn and yellow cattle horn, but their prices vary greatly. The most valuable among them is naturally the cup made from rhinoceros horn.

  Rhino horns are extremely rare. Because rhinos are endangered and protected animals, there are virtually no rhino horns on the market today, and even ancient ones will be eroded over time, so the number of surviving rhino horn carvings is very small. There are fewer than 4,000 existing rhino horn carvings in the world, mostly from the Ming and Qing dynasties.

  Rhino horn carvings have long been renowned as rare and precious ancient artifacts, used by high-ranking officials, nobles, and royalty to flaunt their wealth.

  Gu Xiang had followed Professor Wang and seen many antiques, but he had never seen a real rhinoceros horn cup, most of the time he just looked at pictures.

  Looking at the scalding cup in her hand, Gu Mei secretly suspected that this thing was probably not rhinoceros horn. If it were rhinoceros horn, then she had picked up a great bargain. But if it weren't, then the craftsmanship of the cup itself wasn't very good either, and it probably wouldn't be worth much money.

  "Mr. Hu, what horn is this cup made of?" asked Gu Ming.

  "It should be rhinoceros horn." Mr. Hu said with a glint in his eyes, vaguely.

  Gu Xiang didn't mind this either. When Mr. Hu introduced it earlier, he only said it was a horn cup without specifying what kind of horn it was. It seems that even he himself wasn't quite clear about it. Now saying it's a rhinoceros horn is just to increase the value of the cup.

  His attitude gave Gu Mian a small hint, the real rhinoceros horn cup. Not to mention anything else, the medicinal value of the rhinoceros horn itself makes its price high and unyielding.

  Rhino horns are divided into two types, Asian rhinoceros and African rhinoceros. From the current auction situation, the price of Asian rhinoceros horn is about 8 to 10 times that of African rhinoceros horn. Rhino horn has a reputation for being worth its weight in gold, with the current price of African rhinoceros horn at around 500 yuan per gram.

  If Mr. Hu really thought this corner cup was a rhinoceros horn, he wouldn't have casually wrapped it in newspaper and put it in a bag that didn't look very sturdy either, and when answering her question, his voice unknowingly lowered a bit, obviously without any confidence.

  To be honest, Gu Meng was not quite sure if this cup was made of rhinoceros horn or not. She had never seen a real rhinoceros horn cup before and only knew a little about it. As for the method of identification, she did know some ways. One important point in identifying a rhinoceros horn cup is to look at its texture.

  In the longitudinal section, there are longitudinal uniform parallel textures on the longitudinal surface of this horn cup, which extend deep into the interior and are very natural. This texture is similar to bamboo fibers and is usually called "bamboo fiber texture", which is a characteristic of rhinoceros horn.

  She remembered that her teacher had mentioned before that the black water buffalo horn also had this texture, but it was intersecting, not parallel. The fake synthetic one also has such a texture, but it's superficial and doesn't penetrate to the inside.

  From the side, there are skin-like bumps on the rhino horn's surface, which is a characteristic that only real rhino horns have and cannot be replicated by fakes.

  Another point is that the luster reflected by rhino horn products usually gives people a "desired but not transparent" sense of brightness, and anything that is not transparent or can be seen through to the inside is a fake.

  Gu Mian held the horn cup in her hand and looked at it with a transparent light. Although the glossiness of this horn cup was not particularly good, she had managed to make it look like it wasn't.

  It seems that this horn cup is indeed made of rhinoceros horn.

  However, these methods of identification are not complete, and this is just what Gu Miao remembers more clearly, and it cannot be judged solely on the basis of these points that the corner cup is rhinoceros horn.

  She had never actually handled a genuine rhinoceros horn cup before and didn't know what it felt like, and many times theoretical knowledge was put into practice when there was still a certain gap between the actual situation, otherwise everyone wouldn't need a special appraiser, just buy an appraisal book.

  "How about it, will you take it?" Mr. Hu asked, seeing that Gu Mian had been staring at it for half a day without reacting.

  If it were the old Gu Miao without any special abilities, she would probably still be hesitant about whether to take this horn cup or not. But now that she has her special ability, her left hand which touched the horn cup clearly told her that this thing is an antique, regardless of whether it's a rhinoceros horn cup or not. It has certain collection value.

  She knew very well that this thing was a real antique, and if she didn't accept it, it would be an insult to her left hand. Boss Zheng had brought her to Jibao Mountain House to work, and if she didn't make some achievements, it wouldn't look good! After waiting for so many days, a customer who came to sell things finally arrived, and if she didn't seize the opportunity, she would really have to go hit the wall.

  The collection is to be collected, the key issue is the price, and she has not forgotten that the upper limit given by Jin Ge is 3,000 yuan. If Mr. Hu's offer exceeds it, she will have to discuss with Jin Ge again.

  "Mr. Hu, I don't know about this corner cup, how much do you plan to sell it for?" Gu Ming put the corner cup back on the table and asked with a smile.

  "5,000 yuan." Mr. Hu hesitated for a moment before quoting his price.

  Gu Mei didn't say a word, she just slightly furrowed her brow and looked at the corner cup several times. She neither said that the price was suitable nor unsuitable.

  As expected, Mr. Hu saw Gu Qing like this and immediately spoke up: "This horn cup was picked up by me in an antique shop, my friends all say that this is a rhinoceros horn cup. 5,000 yuan is not expensive."

  "Mr. Hu is right, if it's really a rhinoceros horn cup, 5,000 yuan is not expensive at all. However... forgive my ignorance, I can only tell that this cup might be from the Qing dynasty." Gu Mei made a subtle expression, she didn't say that the cup was not a rhinoceros horn cup, but rather said what she could judge for herself.

  Although it's a bit unscrupulous to do so, as Jin Ge said, "no business is not deceitful". Since they've already set the price, she can't just foolishly offer to pay more, can she?

  Collecting antiques is really a matter of fate. Some people hold priceless treasures in their hands without realizing it, treating them as worthless trinkets. But once they change hands and someone else picks them up, they immediately become precious and valuable, doubling in worth. Such things are not uncommon in the antique business.

  Mr. Hu quoted a price of 6,000 yuan. Gu Ming then knew that the other party actually didn't know if this corner cup was really a rhinoceros horn cup or not. A real rhinoceros horn cup would cost at least tens of millions to buy.

  "What do you mean?" Mr. Hu asked reluctantly.

  "How about 2,000 yuan?" Gu Mian thought for half a day and finally decided not to be too black-hearted in pressing the price, so she gave a tentative number first.

  "You're pouring too much!" Mr. Hu's body moved slightly, and he quickly glanced at Gu Mei before pretending to put away the wine cup.

  Gu Meng suppressed the urge to rush over and stop Mr. Hu's actions, maintaining a smile on her face as she asked: "What do you mean, Mr. Hu?"

  She also guessed that this price might not be to Mr. Hu's liking, now all that's left is to have a good talk about the price.

  "Two thousand is too little." Mr. Hu stroked the corner of his cup: "I didn't even spend that much to buy it."

  "That... Mr. Hu also needs to show his sincerity." Gu Mei looked a bit embarrassed.

  Mr. Hu heard Gu Ming say this and hesitated for a moment before reporting another number.

  Gu Xiang kept repeating the four words "no trickery in business" in her mind, slowly haggling with Mr. Hu.

  In the end, inexperienced Gu Miao still lost the deal and didn't have the heart to go all out, selling it for 4,500 yuan, exceeding the highest limit set by Jin Ge.

  After she paid 4,500 yuan to Mr. Hu, he didn't even look at the corner cup and left Jibao Mountain House quickly, as if there was a ghost chasing him from behind, and soon disappeared.

  Gu Meng looked at his opponent's hasty departure, as if afraid that she would change her mind, and couldn't help but be stunned.

  Oh no, it turns out Mr. Hu has been taking her for a fool all along!

  Amitabha Buddha, who is the foolish one being slaughtered? Heaven knows, don't blame her for being too cunning, can only blame Mr. Hu for not recognizing the goods.

  Thank you ee_ch for the peace symbol, thank you Mo Ai, Wu Xin, and ee_11 for the small pink tickets. Thank you all for your support~~~~~ By the way, I'm writing this to earn a living, I don't have the ability to spend extra money on that stuff, so I won't do anything else. Pink tickets are still welcome, 30 chapters plus one more, please everyone support me~~~~~~ Seeking pink tickets, seeking subscriptions~~~~~ Speaking of which, I have many rewards, why no one subscribed? Don't like it anymore? 55555

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