citation
In the early 90s of last century, Gao Hui, an angler in Inner Mongolia, caught a gold medal from the lake while fishing, and he took the gold medal to find an expert to identify, and the experts told him after appraisal, "This is a Liao Dynasty leader gold medal, and the text on the gold medal is Khitan ..." The expert suggested that Gao Hui donate the gold medal to the Archaeological Research Institute. Gao Hui was reluctant and said perfunctorily, "I'll take it home and ask my family first, and then I'll think about it." The expert left waited for gao hui's figure, the right waited for no news of the gold medal of the leader, so he personally visited the door, what the expert did not expect was that Gao Hui actually beat the gold medal of the Liao Dynasty into a pair of gold bracelets, the expert was heartbroken, beat his chest and shouted: "Foolishness! ”
Fishing to catch a gold medal
Gao Hui, who lives in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, is a veteran fishing enthusiast who goes fishing in rivers or lakes outside the city whenever he has free time. One day in June 1991, Gao Hui went fishing in a lake on the outskirts of Hohhot after eating breakfast as usual. After catching a few small fish, Gao Hui's fish hook was hung by something, he gently dragged twice, but did not pull, Gao Hui thought that the fish hook hooked the water grass or stone, so he dragged the fishing rod hard, it was difficult to pull the fish hook up, after pulling out of the water, he found that there was a yellow orange and orange metal plate hanging on the fish hook.
After removing the brand from the fish hook, Gao Hui found that the yellow metal brand was very heavy. Could it be that it is made of gold? Gao Hui repeatedly fiddled with the golden yellow sign and found that there were artificially cast words on both sides of the sign, but he did not recognize this kind of writing. Weighing the metal plate, Gao Hui was excited, he felt that the metal plate, even if it was not made of gold, must be an antique, so he carefully carried the gold medal into his pocket and brought it home.
After returning home, Gao Hui played with the metal brand every day, and the more he played, the more he felt that the brand was unusual. Therefore, Gao Hui took the sign to the Inner Mongolia Archaeological Research Institute not far from his home, and wanted to ask experts to help identify what the metal brand was.
Liao Dynasty leading gold medal
An expert surnamed Li from the Institute of Archaeology received Gao Hui, who took the metal sign that Gao Hui handed over, and when his eyes lit up, he repeatedly flipped the metal sign and looked at it carefully with a magnifying glass. I saw that the metal plate was like a small sword made of gold, it was wide and narrow, the upper part of the body was in the shape of a sword, the sword was cast with some characters, and the lower part was an oval knot, and the knot was cast with a high-relief oval dragon-shaped plate.
The metal plate is 13.3 cm high, 3.9 cm at its widest point, cm at its narrowest point, and the dragon-shaped plate is 3.3 cm high, 3.9 cm wide, 0.4 cm thick, weighs 141.3 g, and is made of gold. The most eye-catching place of the whole metal card is the dragon-shaped plate in the lower part, which is carved with a huge dragon head facing the right, the dragon's eyes are wide, the nose is high, and the dragon mane is bursting. The front of the metal plate is cast in 7 Khitan scripts, which are translated from top to bottom as "General Jingo Wei Order", and the back of the plate is flat and textless.
After carefully identifying the metal plate, Expert Li solemnly told Gao Hui: "This is a leading gold medal of the Liao Dynasty, and the text on it is Khitan script, which is an extremely precious cultural relic." ”
Subsequently, Expert Li inquired about the origin of Gao Hui's gold medal, and Gao Hui told Expert Li about his fishing to the gold medal without reservation. After listening to Gao Hui's account, Expert Li said to him: "This leading gold medal is extremely rare and is a precious cultural relic, and I hope that you will donate the gold medal to the Institute of Archaeology so that we can do research..."
Gao Hui heard that Expert Li asked him to donate the gold medal, and his head shook like a rattle. He told Expert Li: "Although the gold medal was caught by my fishing, my father likes this gold medal very much, and I can't donate it privately, I have to go home and discuss it with my father." ”
Expert Li saw that Gao Hui did not want to donate gold medals, he said to Gao Hui emotionally: "According to national laws, whether it is picked up on the ground or excavated underground cultural relics, its ownership rights belong to the state, let you donate gold medals is not a forced levy, collecting your gold medal is also paid, if you can take the initiative to donate the gold medal to the Archaeological Research Institute, the Archaeological Research Institute will issue you with honorary certificates and bonuses." ”
Gao Hui nervously held the gold medal in his hand after listening to Expert Li's words, and he told Expert Li: "Even if I want to collect, I have to go back to discuss with my father, and if he agrees to collect, I will send the gold medal to the institute again." ”
Expert Li saw that Gao Hui did not have the intention of donating, so he left Gao Hui's home address and contact information, let Gao Hui go home first to discuss with his family, consider that if they agree to donate, they are welcome at any time.
Gold medals turn into gold bracelets
After Gao Hui left, Expert Li never forgot the gold medal of the Liao Dynasty leading soldiers. Anxiously waiting for several days, Li experts did not see Gao Hui to donate cultural relics, so he directly visited according to the address left by Gao Hui.
After Expert Li knocked on Gao Hui's door, he found that Gao Hui's expression was not as nervous as he was last time at the research institute. After Gao Hui let him into the house, he said to Expert Li with a relaxed look: "After I came back last time, I discussed donating gold medals with my father, but my father did not agree to donate. ”
Expert Li just wanted to open his mouth to persuade Gao Hui, only to see Gao Hui take out a box from the cabinet behind him, and pull out a pair of golden shining gold bracelets from the box, he put the gold bracelet in front of Expert Li and told Expert Li: "That gold medal has been melted, my father used it to beat a pair of gold bracelets, do you see them beautiful?" ”
When Expert Li learned that Gao Hui's father had actually melted the Liao Dynasty leading gold medal into a gold bracelet, his eyes were black at that time, and he almost fainted, he patted his thigh, and shouted bitterly: "Foolishness! It was the leading gold medal of the Liao Dynasty, and its value was hundreds or even thousands of times that of this pair of gold bracelets, and it was simply foolish for you to beat it into a gold bracelet. ”
Gao Hui did not realize his and his father's foolish behavior, and even said to Expert Li with a hippie smile: "Now don't bother, there is no longer a gold medal for the leader, this pair of gold bracelets will always belong to me, hahaha..."
epilogue
Gao Hui's act of destroying cultural relics is a criminal act. In the 1990s, gao hui's behavior in the unsound era of the Cultural Relics Protection Law made Expert Li feel sad, but there was nothing he could do about it. However, with the continuous improvement of China's "Cultural Relics Protection Law", this kind of ignorant behavior has been effectively curbed.
The value of cultural relics does not lie in how much it is worth, but in some historical information carried by this cultural relic, which is closely related to our culture, is a historical heritage, and is also a cultural inheritance, and the historical value carried by many cultural relics is much higher than its own physical value.
Gao Hui's destruction of cultural relics is not only a manifestation of immorality, but more importantly, he has also violated the bottom line of the law. However, the most sad thing is that a valuable historical relic has been lost in the world and can never be found again.