Antique collection is a hobby of many people. But to continue, it needs the support of funds, ordinary people, if there is no strong ability to distinguish antiques, to participate in the collection of antiques, they need financial support.
There is such an ordinary person, he began the antique collection road because of a bronze mirror, 18 years, he spent tens of millions to buy 1500 pieces of rags, and now worth more than 1 billion.
What is the reason for an ordinary person to spend so much money to buy a bunch of things that others look like crap?
A road to collecting artifacts that begins with a tattered bronze mirror
This ordinary citizen was named Hu Wengao, an ordinary citizen of Shanxi Province.
He has been addicted to antique collection for many years, and since the first collection many years ago, the road to cultural relics collection has not stopped, and once he has collected one piece, he wants to collect the second piece. So far, the collection has filled the three rooms of the home.
Hu Wengao's road to collecting begins with a trip from work in the 90s. On that day, Hu Wengao walked home from work as usual, and saw that there were vendors selling copper mirrors in the street stalls.
The bronze mirror on the stall, which is said to have come out of the grave, is considered by many to be ominous, and the bronze mirror looks very old, like a worthless "rag".
In fact, at that time, Hu Wengao did not know anything about the appreciation of cultural relics and antiques, that is, he felt that one of the bronze mirrors looked very characteristic, and he saw it at a glance.
Asked the following price, it is not very expensive, it cost more than fifty pieces to buy the bronze mirror, which became the first cultural relics collected by Hu Wengao, thus opening an indissoluble relationship with the antique collection.
At the beginning, the first cultural relics collected by Hu Wengao was a copper mirror, and when he saw the first glance of this bronze mirror, he decided to buy it, more than 50 pieces, not a heavy gold, but at that time it was not a small amount, at least a few meals.
With the money of a few meals, i bought a bronze mirror that many people did not understand.
Due to the sale of antique collections, his wife and Hu Wengao divorced
Later, Hu Wengao successively entered a number of collections. Collecting antiques is originally a very expensive thing, and for ordinary people Hu Wengao, to continue his hobby, he needs financial support. In fact, at that time, Hu Wengao's monthly salary was still high, which can be said to be the well-off income of that year.
However, he invested almost all of his income in antique collections, and he became poor himself.
At this time, family and friends did not understand, Hu Wengao's wife often complained to her husband, spending a lot of money to buy a pile of rags, without any use.
By 2005, Hu Wengao basically invested 200,000 sons in antiques every year. Hu Wengao was obsessed with his hobbies, but his wife was still very opposed to this behavior.
First of all, Hu Wengao's hobby has made the family unable to make ends meet. Secondly, Hu Wengao is not an expert in antiques, and he will not distinguish many antiques from the profession, but the items bought with heavy money are not necessarily genuine.
It's not worth it to spend a lot of money for a crap, or even make your life difficult. In addition, many of these objects were dug out of the grave, which the wife thought was very unlucky and normal to object.
Later, because of the antique collection, Hu Wengao spent all his years of savings, he also sold his hotel, the ancestral home in the family was sold, and his wife divorced him because of Hu Wengao's crazy behavior.
Although Hu Wengao did not want to divorce, in the marriage and antique collection, he preferred to choose his hobbies, and the two eventually divorced. Hu Wengao is also considered a madman and idiot in the antique collection, believing that he has fallen into the magic.
It cost tens of millions to buy 1500 pieces of rags, which are now worth more than 1 billion
After the divorce, Hu Wengao became alone and was completely addicted to antiques. He often went all over the country to see, simply did nothing, and ran out all day to see where there were cultural relics and continue his collection tour.
By 2008, for 18 years, Hu Wengao had spent tens of millions of dollars on antiques, and he had bought more than 1,500 pieces of what everyone thought was "broken goods".
These collections involve many aspects, in addition to copper mirrors, there are also jade, stone tools, bone tools, porcelain, pottery, bronze and so on. In fact, it is mainly bronze and jade. The number of bronzes amounts to more than 250 pieces, and the number of jades is more than 500 pieces.
In fact, Hu Wengao did not spend money to buy things casually, and in the early days, he really did not understand anything. Because all kinds of antiques actually carry ancient history and culture, but also represent the artistic aesthetics and craft inheritance of a period.
To appreciate antiques, you must learn to understand antiques. Therefore, while the collection is increasing, Hu Wengao is also learning various archaeological knowledge and cultural relics knowledge. At the same time, he also participated in the courses of some of the industry's top heritage experts.
In the process of constantly seeking treasures, Hu Wengao also studied with many antique dealers and cultural relics dealers. Through continuous study and practice, Hu Wengao has a certain research on antique appreciation. It can be said that it has gradually entered the industry, not a small white.
The museum wanted Hu Wengao to donate the collection, but was refused
Obsessed with collecting antiques for many years, to the point of selling property, Hu Wengao is already a celebrity in the local area.
Some antique experts heard Hu Wengao's story and came to Hu Wengao's home to see the antiques he had collected for many years. Hu Wengao is also happy to show his treasure to everyone, and shows the collection of the three aspects of the house slowly.
Hu Wengao's home is simply a private small museum, full of collections, so that experts are shocked. Later, after the identification of experts, 90% of the antiques collected by Hu Wengao were genuine, and they were cultural relics of level three or above, all of which were valuable.
The bronze mirror bought for 50 yuan is also an antique from more than 2,000 years ago, and it is now worth more than a million. In addition, many of the largest jade collections in it are not ordinary products, and even valuable. According to statistics, the cultural relics in Hu Wengao's home are worth at least one billion.
Overnight, the crap that others thought were rags had become priceless treasures, and Hu Wengao had become a new celebrity in the collecting world.
Many of Hu Wengao's collections are of great historical research value, just when Shenmu County planned to build a local museum, the relevant staff found Hu Wengao, hoping that he could donate cultural relics, so that he could better protect cultural relics, and also let more people understand the value of cultural relics.
Hu Wengao said that he is willing to donate cultural relics and is willing to contribute to the protection of cultural relics. However, when he collected the cultural relics in these three rooms, he had already spent all his savings, hoping that the state could make paid donations, otherwise he really had nothing. Later, because the compensation price could not be negotiated, the donation plan could not be implemented.
However, in fact, Hu Wengao's collection is not to sell to make money, Hu Wengao said that even if the donation plan is not implemented, he will not sell cultural relics at will, but will only keep various collections well.