Gu Xiang subconsciously glanced at the person, only to see that his temples were speckled with white hair, and he looked like he was quite old.

  The other party had a spirited look in his eyes, full of energy, and with his body bent over the stall, he was rummaging through things together with others. However, his movements seemed somewhat unsatisfactory, but his physique appeared to be quite robust.

  Gu Mian picked up the snuff bottle that the other party had put down, took a rough look at it, and judged that this snuff bottle was a relatively well-made fake, but compared to the high-quality imitation snuff bottle she bought for her grandfather in Jingdezhen, it was still slightly inferior.

  This time buying things for Grandpa, how could it be possible to buy something worse than a high imitation snuff bottle from Jingdezhen, so she didn't stay long and casually put the snuff bottle aside.

  As soon as the snuff bottle left his hand, a man with two small mustaches on his mouth took the snuff bottle and looked at it carefully before buying it from the stall owner.

  Gu Mei looked at him twice and didn't say anything, continuing to dig through things herself.

  Bai Fangfang successfully bought the earrings and then searched around, finally finding Gu Cang who was squeezed in front of a street stall: "Gu Cang, how did you end up here? I've been looking for you for half a day!"

  "I want to see if there's anything good, I want to buy a gift for Grandpa." Gu Mian replied to Bai Fangfang while her hands didn't stop moving at all.

  "Well, I'll also pick some, maybe I'll get lucky." Bai Fangfang became interested too, rolled up her sleeves and joined Gu Xiang's side to start selecting.

  Gu Mei turned her head and took a look, only to find that Bai Fangfang had already put on the antique earrings they just bought, with the synthetic ruby pendant swaying slightly at the earlobe, looking exceptionally beautiful.

  Having crouched in one place for a long time, the things around had also been picked almost clean. Gu Miao moved slightly and shifted to the side, continuing her previous action.

  "Tsk tsk tsk, what a bunch of useless things..." The person opposite him spoke with a hint of disdain.

  Gu Mei raised her head and took a look, it was actually the old man who had snatched the snuff bottle from in front of her earlier.

  The old man seemed to have noticed Gu Mian's measuring gaze and also raised his head to look at Gu Mian.

  Gu Mei was caught by someone else and felt embarrassed to continue watching, so she withdrew her gaze.

  "Gu Mian, what do you think of this?" Bai Fangfang had somehow produced a agate snuff bottle and handed it in front of Gu Mian.

  Gu Mei glanced over and saw that Bai Fangfang's snuff bottle was also dirty, with a slightly blackened body, but its lid was red, wrapped in a layer of metal. It looked a bit like red coral.

  Although the thing was a bit dirty, Gu Mei didn't have any particular demands and directly stretched out her hand to take it over.

  As soon as the thing was in hand, Gu Mingli immediately stretched out his left hand and gently stroked it. The snuff bottle instantly transmitted a not-too-hot heat, with a warm feeling, and a faint joy arose in his heart. At the same time, a sound seemed to come from the bottom of his heart, as if someone was sniffing something heavily with their nose.

  Gu Xiang Zan couldn't help but glance at Bai Fangfang, unexpectedly this girl's luck wasn't bad. She had been searching for half a day and hadn't found anything decent, yet the moment Bai Fangfang arrived, she managed to snag a genuine article.

  After confirming it was genuine, Gu Mei carefully observed the snuff bottle again.

  Agate snuff bottles are a type of jewelry snuff bottle, while the high-imitation snuff bottle that Gu Xiang gave to his grandfather in Jingdezhen is a ceramic one.

  According to records, as early as the late Ming Dynasty, Europeans introduced snuff into China. Because snuff had certain medicinal effects, in the early Qing Dynasty, from the imperial family and nobility to ordinary people, sniffing snuff almost became a fashion trend.

  With snuff came the snuff bottle. Agate snuff bottles, not only are relatively easy to make, but also have a natural and effortless charm that is often endearing.

  Carnelian snuff bottles should be slightly later than Hetian jade snuff bottles. The earliest carnelian snuff bottle seen so far is a product of the Qianlong period. After Daoguang, the raw materials for Hetian jade became increasingly scarce, and with the economic instability, the relatively low-priced carnelian snuff bottles gradually became the mainstream variety of stone snuff bottles.

  The jade carving industry has a saying called "Wanbian Malan". It means that the malachite is ever-changing and can be crafted into various patterns and styles according to its material.

  Nowadays, the market is filled with fake antique snuff bottles, so you need to be extra careful when purchasing.

  Generally, agate is not expensive, only those with pure and regular colors, distinct bands, and clear boundaries are considered high-quality. Those with pale, disordered, and coarse patterns are inferior products. To improve the grade of agate, counterfeiters will often dye it artificially.

  At first she thought the snuff bottle brought by Bai Fangfang was black, but after wiping it with her fingers, she found that the snuff bottle should be dark purple.

  Careful observation, from the carving and style, this should be a late Qing snuff bottle. The agate doesn't seem to have been dyed either. There is a faint pattern in the middle of the agate, just like twisted silk, we usually call it twisted silk agate, which looks very beautiful. The market price should be higher than that of ordinary agate.

  Its lid is indeed coral, with a circle of golden metal wrapped around the edge of the coral. Gu Ming guessed that it should not be real gold but gilded, and the coral was also one of the better ones, with a very smooth surface and good workmanship. On both sides of the snuff bottle body were carved an ear each.

  "This is good, you go buy it." It's rare to encounter the real thing, so Gu Mei immediately let Bai Fangfang go and buy it, lest someone else take advantage of it.

  Bai Fang's eyes lit up, she was just going to ask for Gu Ming's opinion, but the other party looked at it for a while and directly let her buy it, apparently thinking that this snuff bottle was a good thing.

  With trust in Gu Mian's appraisal level, Bai Fangfang nodded at Gu Mian and immediately took the snuff bottle to the stall owner.

  Before long, Bai Fangfang walked back with a pleased smile on her face.

  "How much?" Gu Mian asked.

  Bai Fangfang stretched out two fingers: "200 yuan can be settled, that old man really knows how to quote a price, opening his mouth is 800 yuan."

  "Hey, be content with what you have!" Gu Ming gently nudged Bai Fangfang with her elbow: "That snuff bottle of yours, I think it's from the late Qing dynasty. The body is made of agate with silk inlays, and the lid is gold-plated coral. Although the bottom is a bit worn out and looks dirty now, if you take it back and clean it up properly, it'll definitely look beautiful. This kind of thing would be worth at least 5,000 to 8,000 yuan outside. There's one similar to this in Jibao Mountain House, but its condition isn't as good as this one. It was sold for 5,500 yuan recently."

  "So I still picked up a bargain? I didn't expect Uncle to be telling the truth, this flower and bird market really has a lot of good stuff hidden away. Now I've made a big profit, when I get back I'll have to show it off properly, or else my dad will always be laughing at me for not being good enough." Bai Fangfang was overjoyed, if the snuff bottle wasn't still dirty, she might have even kissed it several times.

  "Congratulations," said Gu Mian with a smile.

  "Gu Mian, you're a big project. I wasn't even sure if this was an antique or not, but you directly told me to buy it, so I knew I made the right choice this time." Bai Fangfang pulled on Gu Mian's arm and shook it: "What gift do you want, I'll buy it for you."

  "If you want to thank me so much, then give me the crystal hairpin you bought last week. I've been eyeing it for a long time, but unfortunately, there's only one and you've already bought it." Gu Mei gave Bai Fangfang a sideways glance.

  "Hehe, this is called striking first to gain the upper hand. Tomorrow, I'll send the hair clip over to you." Bai Fangfang said with a smile.

  "Hey, little girl's got a good eye!" Suddenly, the old man who had been rummaging through things across from Gu Miao and Bai Fangfang smiled at them.

  "It's just good luck." Gu Mei was stunned for a moment, understanding that the other party was smiling back at them after speaking.

  The old man smiled and shook his head, but didn't say anything else.

  "Do you know her?" Bai Fangfang asked in a low voice close to Gu Mian's ear.

  "I don't know him, but judging from his movements, he should be a professional." Gu Ming looked at the old man's skilled actions and replied in a low voice.

  "Oh." Bai Fangfang nodded and quickly shifted her attention back to the items on the stall, today was a huge success and she was still in high spirits.

  Gu Mei flipped through it for a while, feeling a bit sore in her waist and back, so she stopped and rubbed her waist with her hands. Just then, she happened to see a man on her right side holding a small box-like thing, took a look at it, and then casually threw it aside, picking up a small cup instead.

  Due to the fact that women are naturally attracted to shiny things, Gu Mei was subconsciously drawn to the box with a hint of gold as soon as she saw it. The moment the other person put down the box, she instinctively reached out with her right hand and picked it up.

  After getting the box, she found that another hand was about to stretch over. She looked up and saw that it was the old man who had just spoken to them from across the way.

  Gu Xiang smiled slightly at the old man and then lowered his head to look at the small box in his hand. He took it out first, so he looked at it first, this was the rule, unless someone was unreasonable and impolite, generally speaking, no one would do anything rude.

  As expected, the old man didn't say anything when he saw this, but there was a hint of regret in his eyes.

  I didn't know, but when I took a look, I was startled. No wonder the man earlier only held the box for a short while and then put it down. It turned out that someone had applied a layer of something similar to chewing gum on the top right corner of the front side of the box. It was black, sticky, and completely covered the front side of the box. At first glance, it's quite nauseating.

  Anyone who has ever gotten chewing gum on their clothes knows that it's not easy to clean, just washing with water won't do the trick, you have to carefully remove it bit by bit.

  The box was about the size of a pack of cigarettes, and its front surface was stained with some dirt that made it hard to see clearly. The back side had some patterns carved on it, along with some English words, but unfortunately, there was also a small piece of chewing gum stuck on the back, which partially blocked the view of those words, making it difficult for Guo Ming to make out what they said.

  Gu Mei raised an eyebrow, so this thing is still a foreign toy?

  From the style and all that, Gu Mei couldn't tell what this thing was, so after thinking for a bit, she stretched out her left hand to touch it and see if it would be a good thing.

  (Sorry, I've looked up a lot of information and the update is late, (*^__^*) hehe~~~)

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