"This is Huaxia's Painting of Emperors Through the Ages. The opening bid is ten million, with minimum increments of five hundred thousand. Let the bidding begin!"
Since this was an international auction, all bids were in U.S. dollars.
Ten million dollars was a very high opening bid, but compared to the value of this ancient painting, it was low.
"Fifty million," a voice said quietly.
Shen Bing turned to look. It was a young Chinese man who appeared to be under thirty.
Without a doubt, the sudden fivefold jump caught everyone off guard. Wasn't the fun of an auction supposed to lie in raising the price step by step? If someone immediately quintupled it, how was anyone else supposed to play?
For Huaxia's paintings and calligraphy, fifty million dollars was already close to the top of the market.
Of all the ancient Huaxia paintings and calligraphy that had reached the market so far, the most expensive was Huang Tingjian's Inscription on the Pillar of Strength, which had sold for an astronomical 436.8 million Chinese yuan. At the exchange rate, that was just over seventy million dollars.
Everyone suspected that the final hammer price of today's painting would break that record.
"Sixty million dollars," another bidder spoke up. It was none other than the elderly Japanese man, Mr. Koizumi.
As soon as he spoke, most of the Chinese people present frowned slightly.
For someone from Huaxia, which country would they least want to see this painting end up in? Japan, without question.
The auction had only just begun, yet everyone could already smell gunpowder in the air.
Many had decided not to bid and were content to watch from the sidelines.
"Seventy million." The young man hesitated for two seconds before immediately naming his price.
Soro grew excited onstage. Their original