Starting My Treasure Hunting In England

The overall feeling of Angkor Wat is that of desolation and solemnity. As an abandoned religious building, it is normal for it to give people this feeling.

After all, Liang En and the others are not enthusiasts of Southeast Asian culture or believers in Buddhism, so they can roughly see everything in just two days of normal travel.

After the trip, Liang En and the others returned to Siem Reap, the city where the plane landed. It was an "urban" city that didn't look very neat.

Although this city, more than 300 kilometers away from Phnom Penh, is the provincial capital, its actual population is only about 85,000. Thanks to its location as the gateway to Angkor, one of the seven wonders of the world, it has developed well in tourism in the past century.

Among them, what attracts Liang En and the others the most is Siem Reap Bar Street. As the filming location of "Tomb Raider" performed by Angelina Jolie, many people will go to this place specifically.

The Red Piano Bar in Pub Street was the place where Angelina Jolie dined when she was filming a movie in Siem Reap. It became famous because she personally prepared a "Tomb Raider" cocktail.

Many people come here because of its reputation, and this cocktail has also been added to the bar's recommended menu. There is a "free drink with an order of main course" activity from 5 to 7 pm every day.

If you order "Tomb Raider" in multiples of 10, you can get a free order. Even more fortunately, if you order in multiples of 500, you can get 100 US dollars and a T-shirt at the bar, which is very commemorative.

Liang En and Joan of Arc were very lucky and happened to get a free ticket. What was even better was that it was five o'clock in the afternoon and it was not dark yet, so the place was not as chaotic as it was at night.

Maybe for many people, the busy bar street at night is the place they want to hang out the most, but for Liang En and Jeanne, this relatively quiet bar is the place they like to go out to find something new.

However, because there are not many tourists now, there are other locals in this house, including some local businessmen who want to sell their goods to the guests.

"Sir, Madam, do you want to take a look at my goods?" Just after Liang En and the others, who were hiding in the corner, were about to finish eating, a young child came to their table and asked.

In fact, there are many children in this city who make a living by selling various gadgets to tourists, but most of them just sell some small handicrafts, so after hearing what the other party said, Liang En subconsciously planned to decline.

But at this moment, Joan of Arc, who saw clearly what was in the other person's hand, suddenly grabbed Liang En's arm and shook it gently, and then pointed to the thing in the other person's hand.

"What?" After being pointed at by Joan of Arc, Liang En quickly looked in the direction of the other person's finger, and found that what the other person was holding was a strange-looking piece of jewelry.

Or to be precise, although these jewelry appear to be top-notch jewelry from the imperial period at first glance, upon closer inspection, you will find that there are always some inconsistencies.

"Can you let me take a look?" Liang En motioned the child to sit next to him, and then examined the brooch. As he had guessed before, it was indeed a pieced together item.

In the center of the entire brooch is a piece of gold decorated with blue glass and micro-mosaic inlays. The theme is the architectural remains of ancient Rome. Next to it are finely carved golden grape leaves and grapes.

As for the outer circle with the same pattern of grape leaves and clusters of grapes, something obviously looks wrong. Compared with the middle inlay, the edges of this circle are too rough, and the material is also silver-plated rather than pure. gold.

Carved golden grape leaves and grapes are relatively common decorations in traditional European jewelry, and have been a popular style in Europe since ancient Greece.

In modern times, this kind of decoration first began during the First French Empire, that is, the Napoleonic period, and also led the prelude to the subsequent Romantic style.

In this type of jewelry, gold exudes gorgeous imperial power, and the delicate and thin metal carvings reveal the legacy of ancient Greece. Although there are no large gemstones inlaid, the fine mosaic micro-carvings make the art look no less impressive, and even have the legacy of Rococo.

What's more, compared to those purely stacked gems to display gorgeous jewelry, this kind of micro-mosaic has higher technical requirements and can only be produced by the top jewelry making masters.

So if everything goes well, the consumers of this kind of mosaic jewelry should be royal nobles, and only those high-ranking nobles can afford these things.

"Hello, sir, can you tell me the origin of this thing?" Liang En used the Khmer language he had newly learned from his [Buddhist Research Master (SR)] card to chat with the young man in front of him.

"Sir, this thing is something inherited from my family." After hearing Liang En speak the local language, the young man was startled at first, and then his expression suddenly became more serious than before.

"My great-great-grandmother was once a servant of a Frenchman. She also went to Europe with those French people and then returned to her hometown. Because she saved that family, the other party gave my great-great-grandmother a brooch. As a gift.”

"I'll be honest with you, the mosaic sculpture in the middle of your thing should be the original version, but the gold ring on the outside has been replaced, so the price may not be too high." Liang En said to the young man in front of him. A specific situation arises.

"You know, this mosaic is at best an inlay for jewelry at that time. The ring of gold on the outside is also an important part of jewelry, so half a piece of jewelry like this can't be too high."

"Then how much can this thing be sold for?" After hearing what Liang En said, the young man showed a discouraged expression, then sighed and asked.

"If you take one of those big auctions and happen to meet someone who likes it, you can probably sell it for $1,200, but in that case you usually only get about $1,000."

"What about you? How much are you willing to give me?" After hearing what Liang Gen said, the young man's eyes immediately lit up and he looked at Liang En.

"If it were me, I would be willing to pay 750 US dollars." Liang En picked up the gadget and put it in front of his eyes and said. "I know it's certainly not as good as the auction price, but it's a high price for the condition."

"Of course, I understand. In fact, the price you offered is already very high." The young man smiled brightly after hearing what Liang Enyi said. "Those pawn shops before would give me at most two hundred dollars."

Next, the two parties paid the money in one hand and delivered the goods in one hand to complete the transaction. Because they knew before coming here that it was not easy to swipe a credit card in this place, they exchanged a lot of cash in Phnom Penh to cope with the current situation.

The reason why Liang En wanted to buy this gold mosaic was also very simple, because he thought it could be used in self-made jewelry.

After all, antique jewelry like this can also be used as an inlay for modern jewelry or as an interesting element, and this is also a very popular practice in modern jewelry manufacturing.