In the Museum of Yantai City, Shandong Province, there is a Qing Dynasty carved jade snuff bottle, which is exquisitely shaped and made of high-quality jadeite jade. According to expert research, this Qing Dynasty carved jade snuff bottle is Cixi's royal gift, and now it is the "treasure of the town hall" of the Yantai Museum, and the relevant agencies have estimated that the market value of this snuff bottle is currently more than 60 million yuan.
Speaking of the origin of this Qing Dynasty carved jade snuff bottle, many friends may not know that it was actually dug up by a farmer when planting land, and later the production team urgently needed a tractor to assist in production, so the farmer donated the snuff bottle and exchanged it for a tractor for the production team. More than 40 years later, the valuation of this Qing Dynasty carved jade snuff bottle has exceeded 60 million yuan, and I wonder if the farmer who donated it will feel that the decision to donate at that time was hasty and will regret it.
Dig up the treasure
In 1966, liu Huanyi of Lijia Village in Yantai, Shandong Province, was working in the field when he inadvertently planed out a small bottle glowing with turquoise luster and crystal clearness. Liu Huanyi picked up the small bottle, wiped the dirt on the top and found that the bottle body emitted a pale green glow, although he had no culture, but he could also see that the small bottle was definitely a treasure.
As we all know, 1966 is a special year, the country is setting off a storm of "breaking the four old", Liu Huan did not dare to say anything after digging up the treasure, he took the treasure home, cleaned the inside and outside of the baby with clean water and quietly hid it.
In 1975, the agricultural production in Lijia Village set off a climax, and all the production teams spontaneously organized themselves to scramble to get more land and grain. Liu Huanyi is the captain of the production team, most of the members of his production team are old, weak, sick and disabled, and the production tools of the production team are also very backward, in order not to let the members of the production team suffer losses, as the captain of the production team, Liu Huanyi wants to get a tractor for the production team.
However, in that era, there was still a planned economy, tractors were tight materials, and ordinary production teams could not get tractors at all. In order to get a tractor for the production team, Liu Huanyi applied to the commune many times, but there was no money in the commune, and it was impossible to equip them with tractors for the production team, and the leaders of the commune let Liu Huanyi think of his own way.
Donate a baby for a tractor
What can I think of? You know, in the mid-1970s, a Type 55 iron bull tractor cost more than 1100 yuan, and the production team simply could not come up with so much money.
Just when Liu Huan was at a loss, one night he suddenly thought of the small bottle he had dug out of the ground more than 10 years ago. He immediately found the small bottle, while rubbing it with his hand, while calculating what kind of treasure the small bottle would be, he felt that he had to take the small bottle to Qingdao for a trip, and find an expert to help see how much this small bottle was worth.
Thinking of this, Liu Huanyi was so excited that he did not sleep well all night. Early the next morning, he carefully put the small bottle in his pocket and took a car to the cultural relics store of the Qingdao Foreign Trade and Crafts Department. After entering the door of the cultural relics store, Liu Huanyi was still a little nervous, and he looked left and right in the cultural relics store to see if there were any cultural relics in the store that were the same as the small bottle in his pocket, and he wanted to make a reference.
The salesman of the cultural relics store saw Liu Huanyi's unnaturalness and asked directly: "Comrade, do you have anything to do?" As soon as Liu Huan saw the salesman asking himself, he put his hand into his pocket, took out the small bottle and handed it to the salesman, saying: "Comrade, can you help me see what this bottle is?" ”
The salesman of the cultural relics store is also very knowledgeable, he took the small bottle handed by Liu Huanyi, looked up and down a few times, and told Liu Huanyi: "This is a snuff bottle, the workmanship is quite good, where did you get it?" ”
As soon as Liu Huan heard the salesman's question, he told him about the process of digging up the bottle from the planting field, and then Liu Huan asked: "How much is this snuff bottle worth?" ”
The salesman listened to Liu Huanyi's question and did not reply to him directly, he asked Liu Huanyi to wait a while, he went to ask the leader, so he took the snuff bottle and went into the office inside.
Liu Huanyi stood nervously at the counter of the cultural relics store, his heart was very bottomless, he did not know how much the small bottle called the snuff bottle was worth, and he was worried about whether he would break the law by selling cultural relics without permission. Just as Liu Huan was waiting anxiously, he saw the salesman and a middle-aged man walk in from the back office.
The middle-aged man looked up and down at Liu Huanyi twice, and then asked again about the origin of the snuff bottle, after which he told Liu Huanyi: "This snuff bottle is a precious cultural relic, do you want to sell it to us?" ”
Liu Huanyi, who was honest and honest, was afraid of selling cultural relics and breaking the law, so he said to the middle-aged man: "I just want to exchange it for an Iron Bull 55 tractor for the production team." ”
The middle-aged man listened to Liu Huanyi's words for a while and said: "If you want to donate this nose pot to us, we are very happy, but your snuff bottle was found in Yantai, you had better donate it to the Yantai Cultural Relics Department, I have just called the Yantai Museum, you can go directly to the Yantai Museum to donate." ”
Liu Huanyi was a little overwhelmed by the words of the middle-aged man, but thinking that the state had regulations in this regard, Liu Huanyi reluctantly put away the snuff bottle and took the snuff bottle to the Yantai Museum.
The staff of the Yantai Museum received Liu Huanyi and announced to him the relevant laws and regulations on the protection of cultural relics, considering that Liu Huanyi took the initiative to hand over the cultural relics, and he wanted to use snuff bottles for a collective to exchange a tractor for official affairs, the museum agreed to reward them with a tractor for the production team.
When Liu Huan heard that the museum had agreed to reward their production team with a tractor, he was so happy that he almost did not jump up, and he excitedly signed a formality with the museum to donate cultural relics. It didn't take long for the Yantai Museum to deliver a brand-new Iron Bull 55 tractor to their production team. Since then, the "myth" of Liu Huanyi exchanging a "small bottle" for a tractor has spread in Lijia Village.
Carved jadeite cigarette pot
So, what kind of cultural relics is Liu Huanyi's "small bottle" of returning tractor?
In fact, the scientific name of this "small bottle" is snuff bottle, its raw material is jadeite, the age is The Qing Dynasty, so experts named it "Qing carved jadeite smoke pot". Let's first appreciate this snuff bottle: the snuff bottle is 6.4 cm high, the caliber is 1.81 cm, the bottom diameter is 1.8 cm, it is a round bottle shape with a short neck, wide shoulders, and a flat round abdomen, and the bottle has a pink tourmaline lid at the mouth, and the whole snuff bottle is well preserved without any flaws.
The raw material of the Qing carved jadeite cigarette pot is jadeite, the pot body is emerald green, and the mountain stone Zhilan carved by bas-relief on the pot body is reasonable in proportion, showing the classical flower diagram, with a strong late Qing Dynasty snuff bottle workmanship style.
So, what is the origin of this carved jadeite cigarette pot?
After investigation, experts finally confirmed that this snuff bottle was the object of Wang Yirong, a famous minister of the late Qing Dynasty. Wang Yirong is a famous epigrapher in modern times and the discoverer of oracle bones. In 1900, when the Eight-Power Alliance attacked Beijing, Wang Yirong, who was the overseer of the state, was appointed by Empress Dowager Cixi as the minister of training of the Beijing Division, responsible for defending Beijing. After the Eight-Power Coalition captured Beijing on August 14, Wang Yirong threw a well in his own courtyard and martyred the country.
Before Wang Yirong's death, Empress Dowager Cixi summoned him several times in order to boost his morale, and gave him this Qing Dynasty carved jade smoke pot. As for this snuff bottle, Wang Yirong has always regarded it as a treasure to carry with him. After he was martyred in a well, his son Wang Chonglie, after taking care of his father's affairs, took Wang Yirong's beloved snuff bottle to his home in Yantai to collect.
After Wang Chonglie's death in 1919, his family buried a snuff bottle as a funerary item in his grave, and Wang Chonglie's grave was in Lijia Village, Yantai City. In 1966, Wang Chonglie's tomb was destroyed by a group of young people in the name of "breaking the four olds", and this snuff bottle, wang Yirong's beloved snuff bottle, which may have been scattered underground during that movement, was subsequently dug up by Liu Huanyi.
epilogue
Qing Dynasty carved jade snuff bottle is a fine product in the culture of mainland snuff bottles, Liu Huan dug up the snuff bottle after knowing that it is a treasure, but did not occupy it as a possession, he exchanged the snuff bottle for a tractor for the collective interests, not only for the country to find a precious cultural relic, but also for the collective production, its character and behavior is admirable.
Later, this Qing Dynasty carved jade snuff bottle was rated as a national first-class cultural relic, and was collected in the Yantai Museum, which is one of the "treasures of the town hall" of the museum. More than 40 years later, the valuation of this Qing Dynasty carved jade snuff bottle has exceeded 60 million yuan.