Road to becoming the wealthiest: Starting From Treasure Hunting in the Cabinets
Chapter 129 - 128: Gradual Progress and Instant Success

Chapter 129: Chapter 128: Gradual Progress and Instant Success

"Bosuns, we’ve made a total of one hundred and eighty-seven thousand six hundred dollars in auction revenue this morning!"

Jason excitedly reported to Sean Knight.

"There might be even more in the afternoon." Sean was not surprised; he had been watching the entire time.

Out of the seven containers, three made a profit, two pretty much broke even, and the remaining two lost some money.

However, the treasure hunters all looked eager, as they saw that most of the people who bought the seven containers made money!

In previous auctions at this freight yard, only one in five or one in six could make a profit. Now? More than half of them made money!

This freight yard was definitely worth coming to!

Although most treasure hunters did not win any containers, they believed that they were simply lacking some courage and ability this time!

If only they had been more impulsive, more decisive, and bid higher when they needed to, they would have been the ones to make money!

Just like gamblers who always look at the chances they could have won, they boast about the few times they’ve won in the past.

As for losing?

It’s just bad luck!

So, Sean could already imagine that the container auction in the afternoon would be even more lively.

As a result, Sean didn’t go back at noon but instead went to Jason’s house for lunch.

Ever since he moved into the villa, Sean hadn’t been to their place for a meal.

So Freya was very happy to see Sean.

They had fried vegetables with rice for lunch. It seemed that potato beef stew was one of Freya’s specialties.

Sean was so hungry that he ate two bowls, still not feeling satisfied.

Afterward, he went back to the freight yard with Jason.

Sean expected that there would be more people in the afternoon than in the morning.

But what he didn’t expect was that the number of treasure hunters in the afternoon would be more than half of those who came in the morning!

There were at least forty or fifty people!

Sean had never seen so many people at a container auction at any freight yard!

The seven containers in the afternoon were not as valuable as the ones in the morning.

However, to Sean’s surprise, the highest-priced container in the afternoon was actually bid up to forty-seven thousand dollars!

Eventually, the seven containers were auctioned off for a total of two hundred and eleven thousand three hundred dollars!

Out of these seven containers, only two made a profit, while the other five lost money.

Especially the one with the highest price, it lost at least thirty thousand dollars!

But the spirits of the treasure hunters didn’t drop at all!

Some treasure hunters even came over to ask Sean when the next auction would be held.

Sean replied that it would be in three days.

The treasure hunters grumbled, thinking it was a bit too long.

Sean was speechless.

They were rushing to give him money!

Four hundred thousand dollars were collected in just one day!

There was hardly any cost!

It was so lucrative!

Much faster than bidding on containers!

Just think about how long it took him to save up four hundred thousand dollars in the beginning?

At least one week, right?

And now?

One day!

No wonder some people say that earning ten thousand dollars with one dollar is harder than earning a million with ten thousand dollars!

Although the amount is considerable, for Sean Knight’s current debt, it is a drop in the bucket and does not help much.

After the treasure hunters left, and those who won the containers had taken their belongings away, and the garbage had been cleaned up, Sean went to the three containers he had left behind.

There were some things here that he hadn’t quite understood before, but should be able to figure out now.

Jason wanted to follow, but Sean waved his hand and said:

"No need."

I can do it myself.

He took the hydraulic pliers and went to one of the containers.

According to the information from the Freight Yard Owner, this container was shipped from China.

Since the sender was unknown and the recipient didn’t leave a specific address or contact information, only a name.

It has been unclaimed for more than three months, so it has been sold.

Sean clamped the container open and saw several large cardboard boxes filled with heavy books and small electronic devices in boxes, and inside were a few large suitcases placed together.

The books inside the cardboard boxes, some of them were single volumes, and Sky Eye scanned through them, some of them were from decades ago and some of them were from centuries ago, they were all cultural relics.

In the suitcases, foam plastic wrapped small items - at least a hundred years ago!

There were porcelains like pen washes, pen holders, small cups; bronze wares like incense burners, Buddha statues, candlesticks; silverwares like ingots, longevity locks; goldwares like hairpins, small gold ingots, large floral golden coins; jade wares like Ruyi, Jade Pendants, small jade bowls, and so on.

Altogether, there were almost a hundred pieces, ranging in age from over a hundred years ago to a thousand years ago.

At the back of the container, there was an old-style safe wrapped in rough cloth.

Sean went over and took a closer look, then decided against calling a locksmith to look at the safe.

The inner side of the safe had the original password sequence for opening it.

Sean tried it, turning clockwise three, counterclockwise five, and clockwise six.

The door opened.

There were two drawers on the top layer. Inside were gold bars and stacks of US dollars.

The total value of these items exceeded one million dollars.

The lower layer contained a cloth package with a phoebe zhennan wooden box inside, and wrapped in brocade silk was a mat.

Ordinary people might find it strange, why would anyone put a mat in here?

Sean’s Sky Eye had already seen that this mat was an antique, at least three hundred years old.

More importantly, this mat was made of ivory!

Two days ago, after Sean’s Sky Eye saw this item, he went back and searched for it.

The result scared him!

There are only three ivory mats in the world, compared to the dozens of Tang Swords that still exist today.

The history of ivory mats is very long. In the "Xijing Miscellanea," there is a record of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty presenting an ivory mat to Madam Lee, the ivory mat is the ivory mat.

The woven ivory mat is finely textured, evenly spaced, smooth and comfortable, and easy to roll up. It is cooler and more pleasant than grass mats and bamboo mats in the summer, and was an important tribute in ancient times.

In the age when people used to sit on mats, it was quite normal for Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty to give a precious ivory mat to his beloved concubine.

"Wei Shu·Han Wu Biography" states that "Han Wu was appointed as the Governor of Cape State and offered the Seven-Treasure Bed and Ivory Mat." "Mirror of the Advancement": "Che Yong was the Governor of Guangzhou, and his son forced many workers to work on the ivory mat, which caused suffering to the local people." This shows that ivory mats have been made since the Han Dynasty.

The three existing ivory mats were made during the Yongzheng and Qianlong periods (1723-1735) of the Qing Dynasty. They are tributes presented by local officials in Guangdong to the court, and the specific production method has long been lost. According to old craftsmen, this kind of product can only be made in the south due to the colder weather in the north and would easily break when cleaved, making it impossible to weave into a mat.

In addition, at that time, a special potion may have been prepared to soak the ivory so that it could be softened and then cleaved into thin slices for weaving. The process was quite complicated and very expensive, so the frugal Emperor Yongzheng decreed not to make it again.

Sean opened the wooden phoebe zhennan box and carefully examined the mat.

This ivory mat is more than two meters long and over one meter wide, woven from many ivory strips less than half a centimeter wide. The weave pattern is "human" character, and the four sides of the mat are woven with three borders of black ivory strips, just like the information found online.

This indicates that this is one of the five ivory mats presented to the Royal Palace at that time!

Only, how did it end up here?