The antique matter was handed over to George Berkeley and Hua Sheng Shi, and Xia Yu became more relaxed.
The employees left by the Galaxy Fund continue to operate London Gold, but because the price of London Gold has been rising steadily, the workload is not large. Most of the time, they just look at it and watch the funds increase...
And the Bright Fund does not need to be in charge of Xia Yu. George Berkeley can easily deal with things like buying bank stocks and speculating in US dollars/pound sterling.
Therefore, Xia Yu continued to devote his energy to the construction and improvement of Huashang Bank.
Unconsciously, time came to September.
Sotheby's auction house finally recovered all shares and completed the privatization.
From the beginning to the completion of the acquisition, a total of 240 million pounds was spent.
After the acquisition, Xia Yu personally went to Sotheby's auction house, and after some understanding, he left the original general manager Ron Eric.
Ron Eric is just a professional manager. The information provided by the Bright Fund shows that he is a pure person with high professional ethics. Although he has a good relationship with Sam Nelson, he does not have many other complicated relationships.
Moreover, Xia Yu discovered that Ron Eric had spent fifteen years in the position of general manager, and he knew so well about Sotheby's auction house, and even the company was able to develop to this level.
Xia Yu was not worried about what he was doing, so he simply let him continue to control Sotheby's auction house.
However, like the heads of the cashier, finance and personnel departments, Xia Yu dismissed mercilessly.
Korn Ferry has developed very well in the UK business, and Xia Yu easily found satisfactory talents to fill the vacancies.
Afterwards, Xia Yu had a good chat with Ron Eric all morning, and told him about the future development direction of Sotheby’s auction house and the strategies available for development. At the same time, he also injected 30 million pounds into the acquisition. Art center and exhibition gallery, establishment of branches, contracted artists, etc.
After dealing with Sotheby's auction house, another good news came, and the transaction with the Eskenazi family was completed.
The equity held by the Bright Fund was valued at 28 million pounds.
The 6,218 Chinese cultural relics of the Eskenazi family cost 53 million pounds, an average of less than 10,000 pounds.
Although the good and the bad are mixed, in Xia Yu's view, the total value is definitely far more than 53 million pounds. This price is absolutely super value. After 40 years of existence, this batch of antiques is worth at least tens of billions of yuan.
However, compared to the purchase of Huashengshi from ordinary people or poor aristocrats who do not know the goods, the current price must be high. After all, the Eskenazi family has been running the antique and cultural relics business, and there are still some vision and thinking.
In the end, the Bright Fund paid out the equity in Eskenazi Co., Ltd., plus 25 million pounds in cash, to obtain all the antiques.
Due to the large number of antiques, even Xia Yu's country manor could not fit.
Therefore, Xia Yu bought another manor near the manor and asked Hua Shengshi to pull all the antiques over for temporary storage.
Thinking of obtaining such a large amount of Chinese antiques, Xia Yu couldn't help but itch, and drove with Li Qian and others.
Entering the manor, Xia Yu found that the entire hall was piled up with old wooden boxes, and many of the outer edges of the boxes were rotten. Hua Shengshi was picking up a group of gray-haired elders. He heard four in just five or six seconds. Personally wailing, it is a pity that the antiques are not well preserved.
"Old Hua, gentlemen, good afternoon!"
To this group of people, Xia Yu had a very good attitude, and said with a smile after stepping into the door.
"Mr. Xia, hello!"
...
After some greetings, Xia Yu let these old men busy first, and found Hua Shengshi alone to understand the relevant situation.
"Old Hua, what's the situation now?"
"Mr. Xia, because I was in a hurry, I didn’t even open the box and ordered the box to buy. Therefore, no protective measures were taken to protect the antiques. These antiques are accumulated in the treasure house of the Eskenazi family. There are some antiques. Because something went wrong in the transportation, preservation, etc., serious damage was caused."
"Now that all the antiques are shipped back, we are re-unpacking them and sorting them, and taking preliminary protective measures. After finishing the sorting, it is best to airlift them back to Xiangjiang."
Hua Shengshi said with a distressed expression that for him, who would take back the Chinese cultural relics as a lifelong wish, he was distressed to die when he saw pieces of high-value Chinese cultural relics being damaged.
But it's been a long time since things happened. It's useless to accuse the Eskenazi family and the robbers. They can only do their best to protect them.
A pity flashed in Xia Yu’s eyes, and he comforted Hua Shengshi: “Old Hua, this is no way. Think about it. Although part of it was damaged, most of it was taken back from the British. A great happy event!"
"Yes, it's definitely a great happy event..."
Hua Shengshi muttered to himself.
After sighing, Hua Shengshi cleared up his mood and said to Xia Yu: "Mr. Xia, some of them have been sorted out and stored. Would you like to go over and take a look?"
"Let's go!"
Xia Yu said immediately, and then Hua Shengshi led the way towards a room inside.
"squeak……"
After opening the door, Xia Yu saw neatly arranged boxes one after another. The boxes were already covered. From the outside, he didn't know what was inside.
Seeing Hua Shengshi walking over to open the lid of a box, Xia Yu directly stopped him and ordered Li Wuming to do it.
Soon, the lids of boxes all over the floor were opened.
The boxes are all bronze!
Dun, 簠, bronze knives, bells, etc. are all small and medium bronzes, and heavy bronzes like tripods have not been seen.
Xia Yu walked inside again, looking at the box beside him from time to time.
When he reached the innermost point, his pupils shrank sharply, his eyes fixedly looking at the bronzes in the three large boxes in front of him.
It turned out to be the head of the Old Summer Palace!
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, there are seven!
It accounts for more than half of the twelve beast heads in Yuanmingyuan!
Xia Yu crouched down and observed carefully.
Seeing Xia Yu's movements, Hua Shengshi thought Xia Yu was interested, so he introduced: "Mr. Xia, these seven bronze wares are seven of the twelve animal heads in Yuanmingyuan. It is estimated that they were designed by the Italian court painter Castiglione and the French. The Eskenazi family thinks it has a good value specially singled it out."
Xia Yu nodded slightly without answering, continuing to observe.
Cow head, monkey head, tiger head, rabbit head, rat head, chicken head and dragon head!
Among them, the previous lives of the cow head, monkey head, tiger head, rabbit head, and rat head are already real.
The whereabouts of the chicken head has been unknown.
As for the dragon head, it is suspected to have appeared in a small auction in Paris, France in 2018. It was bought by a Chinese buyer in Taiwan Province. Whether it is true or not is uncertain, because there has been no news since then.
These are indeed in the hands of the Eskenazi family!
Looking at these beast heads, Xia Yu's eyes were full of emotion. Every beast head in the previous life will cause a huge sensation, and even just a few news can make headlines.
Western capitalists manipulate public opinion, use the national self-confidence and emotions of the Chinese people to make money, and lie on the Chinese people to **** blood. Xia Yu couldn't help gritting his teeth after seeing the news on the Internet in his previous life.
Unexpectedly, in this life, these beast heads that affected the emotions of the people of the country would come to him so easily, and there were seven at once!
"Fortunately, when these beastheads are in my hands, they will no longer be a tool to grab the interests of the people and hurt the feelings of the people."
Xia Yu thought to himself that at this moment he had decided that other antiques might be sold, but these beast heads would definitely not be sold!
And I have to do my best to collect the other five beast heads!
As for the result, I can only say that I will do everything in my life!
Xia Yu shook his head slightly, got up and said to Hua Shengshi: "Old Hua, I like these beast heads very much. You must keep them well. I will also inquire about it later and try to buy the remaining five beast heads."
Hua Shengshi was taken aback and said with a big smile: "Good Mr. Xia!"
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