Li Yun left the museum and walked toward the parked taxi in front of the museum. As he was leaving, he heard someone calling his name from across the street. 

The streets were bustling with cars and pedestrians, easily drowning out voices and blending them into a chaotic orchestra of honks and chattering. However, Li Yun sense of hearing was sharper than most people and he could recognize the voice as Li Chenchen, a cousin from his father's side. 

Li Yun walked faster toward the taxi. In response, Li Chenchen shouted louder. By the time the traffic light changed, the taxi had already left.

Inside the taxi, Li Yun sighed in relief that he didn't have to talk to his cousin. He would likely receive a call from his uncle soon, but for now, he needed to attend the auction.

In China, the Protector Auction House was one of the biggest, comparable to Southby’s and Christina’s. Aside from the Protector, there were many smaller auction houses in the city. 

The Pelican Auction was not a well-known auction house, but they allowed bidders to touch and view the items. This was the most important criterion for Li Yun to register for the auction. If he wasn’t able to touch and examine the item, he wasn’t confident enough to bid on it. Although he registered for the Protector, it was only as a seller, and not as a buyer.

The smaller auctions were notorious for mixing fake items with real items, so only the most experienced hunters benefitted from the smaller auctions. There were less bidders who were willing to try their luck. To Li Yun, that was the advantage. 

Before going to Imperial city, he had registered online and paid a deposit of 100k RMB (15k USD).  He approached the reception check and checked in to receive a paddle numbered 63 and a catalog book.

“The auction will start at 1pm in hall B,” the receptionist informed him. “There is still an hour left, please feel free to check the exhibit hall.”

Li Yun thanked her and then walked down the hall to the large open hall where the collections were displayed. Unlike most high end auction houses, everything was displayed on the table without any protective casing. There were a lot of security guards, but they allowed the collectors and hunters to roam freely around the different tables and to examine the items. He approached the first table that had a grouping of 10 items, mainly silverware. 

In general, if the item didn't look like it could be sold individually, it would be placed with other similar items in a lot. China wasn't known for silverware, and it was usually foreign brands that valued over the millions. It made little sense to forge them and most were priced accordingly to the manufacturer and markings.

Nothing caught Li Yun’s fancy, so he moved on to the next table. There was a modern reproduction of the blue and white vase. The starting bid was 15k yuan, which he thought was a ripoff. He could buy something similar directly from the factory for 200 yuan (30 USD.) As for why bidders would buy it, it was simply because it was sold at the auction house. The other reason was, there were other vases that were evaluated correctly.

On another table, there was a collection of a dozen famille rose vases that looked like they were used as flower pots around the house. There were noticeable water stains inside the vases. The starting bid was a lot lower, at 3000 yuan. The obvious amount of vases made it easy for bidders to figure out that the items were likely fake.

<Famille rose: vase with pink overglaze enamel>

Li Yun made a mental note to bid on the lot of vases. Aside from the vases, there were a lot of lamps. The reason being, it was popular to convert vases into decorated lamp pieces. It was a bit sad as it actually destroyed some value of the vase. After finding a few more items of interest, he headed toward the auction bidding hall.

Inside the bidding hall, the were over a hundred treasure hunters sitting in the folding chairs. Nevertheless, the number was a lot lower than what the big name auction houses normally attracted. It wasn't even comparable to the Protector, who could bring in over a thousand bidders, not including the telephone bidders.

The bidders that attended the Pelican Auction couldn’t compete with the billionaires for artworks at the Protectors, and this was the next best thing. Despite it being considered a lower end competition, the vast majority of them were wealthy, just not at the elite class. Li Yun could be considered part of that class.

Li Yun didn’t have as much money to spend, probably 3 million yuan (460k USD.) Most were profit from the TeeBee shop and his business dealings with Bufu. He took his seat and waited for the auction to begin.

“Welcome to today’s auction,” the auctioneer began. “We are lucky enough to receive two private collections from two old prominent members of Imperial City. The first was a collector of antiquity, and the second came from a family with a long history in Imperial City.  I am sure all of you are more interested in starting the bid, so I won’t be long.” 

The auctioneer thanked the sponsors, and then introduced the first item. The catalog guide had pictures and information of most of the items, but the auctioneer described it in a way to entice the buyers’ interest and encourage bids. 

There were six items Li Yun planned to bid on, and he had a threshold of how much he wanted to spend on it. The six items were also undervalued in terms of the starting bid. Li Yun wondered if the appraiser had missed the true value of the item and thought it was an imitation. 

"Lot 16 is a dozen replicas of the pink vases," the auctioneer. "Gorgeous coloring and perfect for any sort of setting. Starting bid, 10000 yuan (1.5k USD.)"

The prices were quite decent, and several bidders called out their prices. Li Yun watched to see if there was anyone genuinely interested. Luckily, it looked like most were bidding purely for the sake of selling the vases individually. If he was to guess, most of their threshold was around 20,000 yuan. Any more than that, then the profit would decrease.

"25,000 yuan (3.8k USD)," Li Yun called.

Everyone else paused.

"I have 25k, anyone for 26k?" There was silence in the hall. "Come on 26k is just under 1500 yuan a piece for these wonderful vases!"

25k was how much a buyer was willing to pay. It was unlikely for the merchants to buy the items.

Merchants and customers in the same auction created an interesting dynamic. Customers wanted items to decorate their homes and they would buy high value items to pass down to their children.

As for antiquity merchants, there were many different types. The first type was the long-term merchants who buy items and keep the items until they could be sold. It could be ten years, and it could be 40 years. The longer the merchant was willing to hold onto the item, the higher the profit of return. The second type of merchant was the short-term merchants, who wanted to resell their items as soon as possible due, within a year. The Antiquity market wasn't about a quick turnaround trade, it was a mid-term investment.

The way Li Yun was bidding, most bidders thought Li Yun was buying to decorate his home. If he wanted to resell the vase, his profit might be less than 5%. No one was stupid enough to raise the price.

"Sold!" The auctioneer announced.

Li Yun won 2 of the 6 items, including the pink vase. He left the bidding hall to pay for the winning bids and collected his item. Afterward, he immediately went to another auction house, the Swan Auction.