Happy Tycoon

The clocks and watches here made Yang Jing a little dazzled.

Seeing Yang Jing walking in, an old man who looked to be in his sixties came up to him and said with a smile, Welcome to the world of time. I think I can satisfy most of your time requirements. .Hi, guests from the East, I am Jean Armand, the owner of our shop.

To Yang Jing's surprise, this old man with a typical French name turned out to be very fluent in English, and he also had a very authentic London accent, with no French accent.

Yang Jing said with a smile: Hello, Mr. Armand, I like the atmosphere here very much. I am Albert Yang from Huaxia.

Okay then, young and promising Yang, do you need anything for me to serve you? The old man was polite, very similar to the traditional British butlers Yang Jing often saw, but Yang Jing always felt that the old man Something was wrong, as if the old man was indeed polite on the surface, but there was a faint arrogance and a trace of discrimination in his expression.

Yang Jing has been in London for two years. It is a common occurrence for Chinese people to be discriminated against in Europe, so Yang Jing is very sensitive to such expressions. Of course, the old man may have hidden his discriminatory expression because he opened a shop.

Since the old man didn't show any obvious discrimination, Yang Jing still said politely: I'll just take a look. Of course, if I find something I'm satisfied with, I think I'll take some of it with me.

The old man nodded very gentlemanly and said: Except for some top-level watches, I can basically see other clocks here. Whether you want antique clocks or modern clocks, as long as you need them, Just tell me and I'll be fine. Although he was still very polite, Yang Jing could clearly feel the flash of light in the old man's eyes.

It seems to be mocking faintly: How many more pieces are you taking away? It's up to you?

Yang Jing shrugged, and began to carefully look at the clocks in this shop.

Not to mention, the old man is not lying. Although the area of ​​his shop is not very large, the clocks and watches here are really diverse.

Taking a casual glance, Yang Jing saw several antique clocks and several antique pocket watches and wristwatches.

Among them is a table clock, Yang Jin dares to bet that it is definitely a commemorative gold table clock produced by the Kenning family in Germany to celebrate the forty-fifth birthday of William II.

I am afraid that in the eyes of most people in the world, Wilhelm II, who brazenly provoked the First World War, is definitely not a good person, but in the eyes of the Germans, he was born with an affliction. The last emperor of Germany, whose left arm was atrophied due to Erb's palsy, was undoubtedly very, very great.

Although William II did many things that endangered world peace during his reign, and even brazenly provoked the First World War, the Germans of that era were still very fanatical about the emperor.

Even though the forty-fifth birthday of Wilhelm II in 1914 was in full swing when the First World War was in full swing, it still couldn't stop many German people from celebrating the birthday of the great emperor.

The Kenning family, who had just emerged in the watch industry at that time, even presented a gold and diamond clock to His Majesty on William II's birthday.

Foreigners are different from Chinese people. When Chinese people celebrate their birthdays, if you give someone a clock, they will beat you out. What do you mean by giving a clock? Send the clock (end)?

But in the eyes of foreigners, whether it is a watch, a clock, or even a grandfather clock, it is a very good birthday gift.

Not to mention that the whole body of the clock that the Kenning family gave to William II was made of gold and diamonds. It is said that the clock alone is worth 18,000 gold marks.

This clock was very popular with William II, and the Kenning family, which was in the initial stage of development at that time, immediately built 45 William II memorial clocks based on this clock.

Although not as luxurious as the real birthday clock, these souvenir clocks have dials and hands that are also made of gold. In that era, the price of such a commemorative clock was as high as 1,200 gold marks.

The German gold mark before World War I was still quite valuable, because the currencies of that era were all linked to gold. At that time, the most circulating currency in the world was not the U.S. dollar, but the pound. At that time, a pound contained about 7.3 grams of pure gold, and the gold content of the German gold mark was half of the pound. In other words, in those days, one pound was equal to two German marks and five dollars.

That is to say, one gold mark in that era was equal to 2.5 US dollars, and 1200 gold marks were equivalent to 3000 US dollars.

What did $3,000 mean in those days? In those days, $300 was enough to buy a piece of land in Texas big enough to retire and enjoy life. For $3000, you could be called a rich man in the local area!

Indeed, if you calculate the current dollar and the dollar in 1900 according to the change in the price of gold, you will find that the $3,000 in 1900 is approximately equal to the current $350,000!

After all, the national GDP of the United States in 1900 was only 20.5 billion U.S. dollars. It is conceivable how high the value of these 1,200 gold marks is.

Yang Jing likes clocks very much, which may be inherited from his parents.

Yang Jing's mother and father both like watches, and Yang Jing also likes this kind of art specially used for timekeeping since he was a child. So Yang Jing still knows a lot about clocks and watches.

Of course he knew the value of this Wilhelm II forty-fifth anniversary clock. Even if this clock is not considered historical, its value alone is almost 350,000 US dollars. If the history of more than 100 years is included, the value of this clock will be at least ten times or even more .

Seeing that Yang Jing was looking at the clock, the old man leaned over and said proudly: Yang, your vision is very good, this clock can be said to be the treasure of my shop. This product There are only six commemorative clocks left in the world since 103 years ago, and the only ones that can move normally are mine and the one in the hands of another British nobleman.

Seeing the envy in Yang Jing's eyes, the old man said even more proudly: That's right, the Kenning family's commemorative clock for the 45th birthday of William II that you see now is the only one in Paris and even in France. There is a commemorative clock in storage, of course, its price is also very expensive.

Yang Jing asked: Mr. Armand, can you tell me the price of this clock? I really hope to learn more about clocks from you.

Of course, young man, my father bought this clock from a German guy more than 40 years ago. If this clock is put up for auction now, the starting price will definitely not be less than four million euros. Only However, I never wanted to sell this clock, so now I don't know how much this clock is worth.

Hearing the price, Yang Jing stuck out his tongue secretly, and then said with a smile: Mr. Armand, thank you very much for allowing me to learn so much knowledge. But this clock is really a beautiful treasure! It can Catches the eye of anyone who walks into your store.

The old man narrowed his eyes with a smile, but the arrogance in his expression was undoubtedly revealed.

PS: A new week has started again, Lao Mo begs for recommendation tickets, clicks and favorites! I also ask all book friends to support Lao Mo a lot, Lao Mo is very grateful!