The 1980s noticed a surge in looking for antiques in China, with everybody speeding to discover the vintage markets looking for something historically priceless. This craze was also embraced by a man named Zhang, who brought house two previous chairs, which later turned out to be Ming Dynasty antiques.
Zhang, an outdated man residing in Chaoyang district, Beijing, was a manufacturing unit employee in a textile factory. At that time, Beijing was probably the most renowned hub for vintage assortment in China. Consequently, a number of markets sprouted to cater to the buyers’ calls for, including the famous Panjiayuan market.
Zhang often visited the classic markets during his free time. Despite his fondness, he hardly ever spent cash on antiques, partly due to financial constraints and partly as a result of he believed the vintage market was too dangerous, given the uncertainty of authenticity. Some folks struck gold by buying useful gadgets with little money, akin to in a single day lottery winners. Others spent a fortune only to amass worthless gadgets. Thus, he was reluctant to gamble on this venture.
Nevertheless, he regularly rode his tricycle to the market within the evenings to gather scrap iron within the surrounding area, the place shopkeepers often discarded packing containers or unused items. One day, he discovered two wood chairs discarded. Although the seat boards were drilled via, the frames of the chairs have been still robust and heavy, indicating they were manufactured from stable wooden. Ultimately, he determined to take them house, intending to change them barely for future use.
Once he obtained house, his youngsters couldn’t help complaining about their father bringing someone else’s rubbish home. However, Zhang quietly repaired the 2 chairs and positioned them in a nook of the house. In his previous age, with nothing to do, he would sit on these chairs during his free time or when he was bored of accumulating scraps. His grandchildren had little interest in touching them, contemplating them just outdated, broken chairs left to rot. Sometimes, they even moved them to the warehouse to maintain the house tidy.
However, in Authoritative , Zhang’s grandson grew up and was keen to buy a home in Beijing for his impending marriage. However, the quickly rising real estate prices in Beijing were beyond the economic capabilities of the Zhang family.
One day while chatting with a gaggle of outdated friends dwelling nearby, he talked about the two previous chairs he had collected. One of them laughed and instructed, “Could be antiques. Why don’t you take a photo and ship it to an expert?”
Zhang took his friend’s words significantly. He rushed residence to photograph the chair and sent it to the worldwide auction firm in Beijing, Jiayu.
After professional analysis, the two chairs turned out to be “400-year-old pear-shaped golden chairs” from the Ming Dynasty, which might have been used within the royal palace or no less than owned by some nobles. It is well known that pear wood, also known as huanghuali, and zitan wood was in style for home items through the Ming Dynasty. At that time, this wooden was thought of a special decoration of the court. Furthermore, the truth that these picket chairs have been royal gadgets from the Ming Dynasty considerably elevated their value.
On July 24, 2011, Zhang’s “rotten chairs” appeared at the auction and were offered for 23 million yuan (more than 111 million baht). When the auctioneer’s hammer fell for the final time, it was an quantity that Zhang had by no means imagined. He felt he had to thank his behavior of amassing discarded items, which unexpectedly made him really feel like he had ascended to heaven and allowed him to have a large amount of cash to help his grandson buy a house and get married..