Fake rough stones do exist at major jade auctions in China and Myanmar, but in very small quantities. This is because all the participants in these auctions are seasoned jade experts. The sales of these fake rough stones are mostly targeted at outsiders who want to invest in jade collections for appreciation. Director Qin has seen this phenomenon more than once, so he did not show any surprise.
Director Qin was there to cut the stone; whether it was real or fake was none of his business. Saying it out loud would offend people. So, he casually drew a line next to the "green" color and started the stone-cutting machine. Normally, such material doesn't need to be cut, but there aren't so many rules for fake raw stones.
"Click...click click..."
With a screeching sound of alloy gears rubbing against stone, gravel fragments scattered on the ground. A little over a minute later, the semi-circular piece of material had been cut in half, one half fixed on the stone-cutting machine, and the other half rolling onto the grass.
"Quick, quick, check if there's any jade inside!"
"Hey Lao Song, don't block my way! Have you found any jade yet?"
"Make way, let me see, these are my stones..."
After the stone-cutting machine stopped turning, everyone crowded around. The thirty or forty people formed a small circle, which was not easy to squeeze into. Mr. Li, the owner of the raw stone, was so anxious that he jumped up and down outside.
"Old Li, there's nothing inside..."
"Yeah, isn't that what you call breaking down the system?"
"Sigh, 2 million just vanished like that, Lao Li, your luck is just too bad! Even the green on the cut surface can ruin everything..."
The first few people who rushed to the front, after seeing the cut surface clearly, immediately let out a huge sigh. Even if they didn't know anything about jade gambling, they knew that if there was nothing inside, they would definitely lose money. Of course, even with their knowledge of jade, they still didn't expect that this rough stone was a complete fake.
"No jadeite? That can't be right! But... the person who sold it to me said there was at least some icy jadeite inside, right?"
Having finally squeezed his way into the circle, Mr. Li's forehead was covered in sweat, whether from anxiety or the heat, it was hard to tell. He grabbed Director Qin and said, "Cut it again, cut it in half again, maybe it's inside on the other side..."
Chapter 1077 Bean Seed VS Imperial Green
Mr. Li is in the copper mining business. Although he can't compare to Fatty Ma, whom Zhuang Rui knows, he's still worth hundreds of millions. Naturally, he wouldn't care about two million. The key issue is that he'd lose face. Why do Shanxi coal bosses drive Hummers in droves? It's all about saving face. In other words, they can afford to lose money but not face.
Those who can get involved in this jade gambling circle are basically as wealthy as Boss Li. They can afford to spend a few million to buy a stone and then gamble for a few million more. This is also a shortcut for them to change their status from peasant entrepreneurs to integrate into certain circles.
"Ahem, everyone step back a little, I'm going to make another cut..."
Director Qin did not show any impatience. He had seen many people like Boss Li. Before cutting the stone, they were all full of confidence, as if they could cut out imperial green jade from their rough stones. But when the stone was cut open, they looked like they had lost their parents.
"Everyone, make way, let Teacher Qin cut it again..."
"Old Li, this piece of material is basically ruined. Why bother cutting it?"
"That's hard to say. Didn't you see that the original cut surface was all green? Maybe the next cut will reveal jade..."
Mr. Li, though physically weakened, remained defiant, arguing with those who offered well advice or gloated over his misfortune. He argued that it was a matter of personal judgment, and besides being told a man was incompetent in bed, the thing a man feared most was being told he lacked discernment.
However, these bosses who are so engrossed in gambling on jade have forgotten a major taboo in business: there is a saying in the business world that you should not do what you are not familiar with. The most taboo thing is to rashly step into other fields. For example, if someone who is doing very well in the food industry is asked to go into finance, these two completely unrelated industries are likely to cause him to fail.
Although jade gambling is a derivative industry within the jadeite rough stone trading sector, it is, in a sense, already a very mature industrial chain. From the Myanmar public auction to the domestic public auction, and then to the hands of various jewelers, these links fully demonstrate the characteristics of jade gambling.
Therefore, these bosses who don't take jade gambling seriously are destined to suffer a big setback here. Although the jade industry is not as murky as the antique industry, it is not a place that ordinary people can easily navigate.
"Click...click click..."
The first cut confirmed Director Yu's judgment, and the second cut was even faster, without even needing to draw a line. With one cut, the raw stone fixed on the stone-cutting machine was split in two again.
Presumably to reassure Mr. Li, Director Yu cut the two rough stones, each weighing only four or five pounds, into several smaller pieces, each the size of a baby's fist. Mr. Li, his face dark with anger, finally recognized the truth and admitted that he had gambled away his fortune with the rough stone.
"Old Li, it's alright. Winning and losing are normal in jade gambling. Otherwise, what would it be called jade gambling?"
"Yeah, Lao Li, let's go to Myanmar together next time. I heard that all the stones in China come from there, and they all contain jade..."
"You're just kidding. All these stones of ours came from Myanmar. Why doesn't Old Li's stone have any?"
The emotions of failure and victory can affect others. The fact that the first rough stone was a complete failure made the bosses present a little uneasy and anxious. After all, among the many rough stones, Lao Li's stone was quite good. The fact that it could still fail made everyone less confident in their own rough stones.
Looking at the myriad of people in the scene, Zhuang Rui couldn't quite describe the feeling in his heart. If it weren't for his eyesight, he would probably still be struggling in the Zhonghai pawnshop. Even with Uncle De's help, he would probably only be a junior manager at the pawnshop, the kind of white-collar worker with a nine-to-five job.
Mr. Wang, being the founder of the jade gambling club, naturally wouldn't let this feeling of defeat spread. After clapping his hands to attract everyone's attention, he said, "Alright, let's start cutting the second rough stone. Old Li, don't be discouraged. When we have time, we'll invite some experts to give the members a lesson on jade rough stones, which will also improve our professional skills..."
To be honest, Mr. Wang was a little disappointed that the gamble on this stone didn't pay out. It wasn't that he wanted Mr. Li to win money; the key issue was that not many people were betting on this piece, and even with a 1 to 5 odds bet, it wasn't a lot of money.
But if it were one of those rough stones that had been bet heavily and won, Mr. Wang and the other two bookmakers would probably be furious. Mr. Wang didn't initially set up this jade gambling club with the intention of making money, but he couldn't just lose money for nothing, could he? Moreover, those heavy bets would directly cause Mr. Wang and the others' net worth to shrink significantly.
"Alright, let's begin cutting open the second rough stone..."
Director Yu realized that this was a game played by a group of rich, idle, and bored people. They had no knowledge of jade gambling at all. Let alone appreciating raw stones, these people couldn't even give an accurate definition of what jadeite raw stones are.
Perhaps these people really just use jade gambling as a way to fill their empty and boring lives. After figuring this out, Director Yu put the second rough stone on the stone-cutting machine, examined it briefly, and then started the machine to cut it in the middle.
A small window was rubbed open on the second rough stone, and through the layer of white mist-like crystals, one could vaguely see the green inside. However, this piece of stone was only the size of a fist, and the mist was so thick that even if jadeite was found inside, the quality would not be very good.
"Hey, it's gone up! The gamble paid off! There's green inside! There's jade inside this stone..."
With a few ear-piercing "crack" sounds, the fist-sized rough stone was split in two. The cut half had just fallen to the ground when it was picked up by a person standing nearby. This guy seemed to be affected by his previous bad luck in gambling. When he saw a patch of green in the center of the palm-sized stone in his hand, he couldn't help but shout excitedly.
"Hey, let me see..."
"It really is green, but why does this jadeite color look a bit dull?"
"Old Qian, you don't understand. Those shiny ornaments have all been polished and processed. Do you think the raw materials are that beautiful?"
The second rough stone revealed green, which invigorated everyone. The two rough stones were passed around among the group, and everyone offered their opinions, as if they would be laughed at for being uninformed if they didn't say something.
"Brother, what kind of material is this? It can't be any better than ours, can it?"
Hearing someone inside shout that the bet had been won, Ouyang Jun became slightly nervous. After all, it was he who had taken out 100 million RMB in real money. Although Ouyang Sige was now known for his billions in assets, the amount of cash he could actually put up was only so much.
"Fourth Brother, calm down, this is nothing..."
"Nonsense! If you were the one who took out that hundred million, I'd like to see if you'd still be so calm."
Ouyang Jun glared at Zhuang Rui with annoyance. It had been agreed beforehand that if he lost the money, Zhuang Rui would really not pay a single penny, and Ouyang Jun would suffer a huge loss.
"Fourth Brother, there are more than ten types of jadeite. How can something as worthless as imperial green jadeite compare to it? Why are you in such a hurry..."
Zhuang Rui knew perfectly well what kind of material was in these ten "carefully selected" rough stones. However, the fact that they had cut out a piece of bean-green jadeite had made these people so excited.
Moreover, the person in the room just now was clearly talking nonsense. This high-quality jadeite, which has not been polished or processed, is also very beautiful. Its luster is far superior to that of this piece of green jadeite.
"Mr. Tang, could you take a look? What grade of jade is this? Is it imperial green?"
After everyone had finished examining the rough stone, the owner excitedly brought the two halves of the stone to Old Tang. It's unclear where this guy heard the term "Imperial Green" in jadeite, but he used it directly on his rough stone.
Old Tang was both amused and exasperated upon hearing this. If this jadeite were imperial green, it would be everywhere by now. He cleared his throat, coughed twice, and said, "Mr. Wu, right? This piece isn't imperial green; it's bean-type jadeite..."
"Bean Seed? What's that? Is it even better than Imperial Green?"
Mr. Wu knew that there was a type of jadeite called Imperial Green, so he became obsessed with it. No matter how he compared it, he always used Imperial Green as the model and tried to associate it with Imperial Green in some way.
"Cough...cough cough..."
This time, Old Tang was truly speechless at Mr. Wu's words, almost unable to catch his breath. After coughing a few times, he tried hard to calm himself down and said, "Mr. Wu, 'Imperial Green' generally describes flawless, bright green jadeite of the glass type, which is extremely rare... Below the glass type, jadeite is generally divided into ice type, egg white type, glutinous rice type, lychee type, bean type, etc., with transparency ranging from semi-transparent to slightly transparent. This bean type jadeite generally belongs to the mid-to-low-grade jadeite category..."
Left with no other option, Old Tang could only give them a lesson on jadeite, otherwise this guy would definitely have taken those two pieces of jadeite home as family heirlooms.
"What? This...this is the worst jade?"
Mr. Wu was dumbfounded when he heard what Mr. Tang said.
"No, that's not it. Below the bean variety, there are many other types such as hibiscus variety, golden thread variety, dry white variety, and dry green variety. Relatively speaking, the bean variety is still quite good..."
Mr. Tang kindly comforted Mr. Wu.
"Then...how much are these jadeite pieces worth?"
After a moment of blankness, Mr. Wu finally snapped out of it and asked the question with an eager expression. The people around him also perked up their ears. In the eyes of businessmen, money is the only standard for measuring the value of goods.
Chapter 1078 A Cool Title
"Um... Mr. Wu, how much did you buy it for back then?"
Old Tang hesitated for a moment. He didn't know if he should tell the truth, because sometimes the truth can be very hurtful.
"Three million. The man said it was old material from the Houjiang jade mine. If the gamble pays off and yields a few cabochons, we'll make it all back. Mr. Tang, do you think we can break even?"
Mr. Wu wasn't stupid. After seeing Mr. Tang's reaction, he realized that the jadeite cut from his rough stone wasn't of very good quality. Now he wasn't thinking about how much money he could make; he would be satisfied if he could just break even.
"Cough cough..."
Upon hearing Mr. Wu's words, Old Tang nearly choked on his breath. "3 million? Remove two zeros and change 'ten thousand' to 'thousand' and it'd be more like that..."
"Mr. Wu, it's true that this piece of jade comes from the Houjiang jade mine, but it's not from the old Houjiang mine. Old Houjiang jade has a thin skin that is grayish-greenish-yellow, and the pieces are very small, rarely exceeding 0.3 kilograms. It has good water and a good base, and often produces full green and high-quality jade. It has little fog and many cracks. The finished product has a better color than the original stone (i.e., enhanced color) and good processing performance, making it an ideal material for making cabochons."
The skin of new Houjiang jade is thicker than that of old Houjiang jade, and the pieces are larger, generally around 3 kilograms. The water and base are worse than those of old Houjiang jade, and the density and hardness are also slightly lower. There are more cracks, and the finished product is not as good as the color of the raw stone after polishing. Even if it is full green and high emerald green, it is difficult to make high-end jewelry.
This piece of jade isn't very good in terms of green color, and the texture and clarity are also quite average. In my opinion, it's best to keep it at home as a keepsake..."
Both are raw stones from the Houjiang jade mine, but old mine jadeite and new mine jadeite are incomparable in terms of quality and value. After some consideration, Old Tang still gave Boss Wu some face and was too embarrassed to say that this thing was only worth a few thousand yuan. Instead, he used the subtle methods of the antique trade to hint at it to Boss Wu.
"Hey, Mr. Tang, there has to be a price, right?"
Old Tang spoke rather cryptically, but Mr. Wu, not being in the antique business, failed to grasp Old Tang's good intentions. As soon as Old Tang finished speaking, he pressed on, asking, "If this thing is really worthless, wouldn't keeping it at home just make me uncomfortable looking at it every day?"
"I say... sir, the jadeite in this rough stone is of very average quality, only mid-to-low grade. If I had to give it a market price, it would probably be around ten or twenty thousand. Compared to imperial green jadeite, haha..."
Seeing the troubled look on Old Tang's face, Director Yu, who was standing to the side, spoke up. He wasn't in the jade business and wasn't afraid of offending anyone. He explained the problem clearly in a few words. In particular, the last chuckle made Boss Wu's originally fair face turn as red as a pig's liver in an instant.
"How...how can you talk like that? This stone cost three million..."
Losing three million yuan wasn't a big deal for Mr. Wu, but the failure of gambling on jade was something he couldn't accept, given his past success in the business world. He treated gambling on jade like a business transaction. Spending three million yuan to buy a piece worth only three thousand yuan only showed his terrible judgment, which was what Mr. Wu found unbearable.
"Ladies and gentlemen, the risks of gambling on rough stones are too great. As the saying goes, even a god cannot judge a piece of jade. No one can see what's inside the stone. There are cases where people spend hundreds of millions to buy a rough stone, only to find it worthless after it's been cut open..."
Seeing Mr. Wu's embarrassed expression, Old Tang gave him a way out. This time, no one mocked Mr. Wu, because the successful people present had all realized the cruelty of gambling on stones. In just over ten minutes, two rough stones worth more than five million yuan had become worthless. No one could guarantee that they wouldn't encounter the same result with their next stone.
"Xiao Qin, continue..."
Seeing that Mr. Wu's expression was still not very good, but he didn't say anything more, Old Tang looked at Director Qin and told him to continue cutting the stone. It was really too difficult to communicate with these laymen. Old Tang had already made up his mind that even if he offended some customers, he would not participate in such activities again next time.
Director Qin nodded and picked up another rough stone and placed it on the stone-cutting machine. By this time, the onlookers had lost their earlier enthusiasm. They had all realized that gambling on stones was not as easy as the rumors suggested, where one could achieve instant success.
In the world of jade gambling, it has always been a winner-takes-all world, where only the good news is reported and the bad is not. If someone wins a top-quality piece of jade, the news will spread throughout the entire jade gambling industry in the country within a day. However, those who lose their entire fortune of tens of millions are quickly eliminated and forgotten by this circle.
So although everyone knows that gambling on jade is risky, it doesn't stop large sums of money from being invested in the jade gambling circle. However, compared to these bosses who are not the top-tier wealthy people in China, most of the wealthy people who invest in jade gambling are buying raw materials for collection in the hope of increasing their value, and they would not do such irrational things as these people.
The subsequent stone cutting caused even more people in the room to look grim. Although it was expected, seeing their own raw stones, which they had bet on, turn out to be far from what they had hoped for, naturally led to feelings of disappointment.
"Click...click click..."
With that ear-piercing scraping sound, the seventh rough stone, on which everyone had placed high hopes, was cut in half, revealing a white crystal that showed it was yet another piece of waste.