mtl008 Chapter 243 Jewelry
Chapter 243 Jewelry
Wen Qing selected two sets of jewelry from the box of jewelry collected from the shipwreck in the sea. Both sets were gold jewelry inlaid with gemstones, including hairpins, earrings, necklaces, phoenix hairpins, bracelets, hairpins, etc. Due to being soaked in water for too long, the color of the gold became dull and the rubies had lost their luster.
Wen Qing packed the jewelry in a small box and took it to the Jinlou near the City God Temple. After entering, Wen Qing said that she had some old jewelry that needed to be repaired. The clerk took her to the jewelry repair area. She took out an even smaller box from the small box and opened it to show the repairman.
The box contained a pair of gold hairpins. The repairman picked them up and looked at them carefully. They were phoenix peony gold hairpins inlaid with rubies. One ruby was embedded in the peony's pistil and the other in the phoenix's eyes. The peony was woven with gold thread and the phoenix's long tail was made into the hairpin. The craftsmanship was complicated, delicate and exquisite.
The repairman said: "This pair of hairpins has not been well preserved. They have faded and are a little deformed."
Wen Qing said "hmm", and then he said: "It can be repaired, but the gold wire is quite thin, and some of it is broken. The rubies need to be removed, cleaned separately, and then repaired and reshaped."
The repair cost of a pair of hairpins is 150 yuan. Nowadays, one gram of gold is only more than 60 yuan, which is really expensive.
Wen Qing nodded. The repairman placed the hairpin on the workbench. He first removed the ruby and then the gold wire of the peony flower. They were cleaned separately with chemicals. After a while, the jewelry slowly regained its golden luster. The ruby was repeatedly polished with fur, and it became deeper and deeper red. The master carefully pulled the gold wire of the petals straight up and reinstalled the ruby. Then a pair of golden ruby peony phoenix hairpins appeared.
Wen Qing took out other jewelry, including simple gold jewelry and gold jewelry inlaid with gems. The repairman was very surprised at first, but later he became numb. Small jewelry was easy to repair, but the Huasheng and a pair of phoenix hairpins were also made of gold wire inlaid with rubies, which were more laborious and time-consuming to make.
At noon, the repairman needed to rest, so Wen Qing went out for lunch and then waited in the reception room until two o'clock in the afternoon before starting again. She stayed in Jinlou for a whole day before repairing the ten pieces of jewelry she brought, and the repair cost 1500 yuan.
Wu Mingming, the manager of the Jinlou, who came upon hearing the news, admired the ten pieces of jewelry that had been repaired and said to the repairman, "These should be jewelry from the Ming Dynasty, right?"
The repairman nodded and replied, "These should be two sets of jewelry. One is a set of peony ornaments inlaid with gold wire and rubies, and the other is a set of butterfly and flower ornaments inlaid with gold wire and rubies."
Manager Wu Mingming said enviously: "It's worth a lot of money, right?"
The repairman nodded. "Very beautiful. If it were new, each set would be worth tens of thousands just for the gold and workmanship. It would be even more valuable if the rubies were added. I see that although these rubies are not polished very well, they are large and worth a lot of money."
Wen Qing put the things into the box, made an appointment to have some jewelry repaired tomorrow, thanked the repairman and the manager, and left Jinlou.
The next day, Wen Qing brought another eighteen pieces of jewelry to be repaired, including a phoenix crown, two necklaces, two bracelets, two hairpins, six pairs of earrings, three necklaces, and three hairpins. All of them were gold jewelry, some inlaid with gems, some inlaid with pearls, and some in pure gold. The gems could be repaired, but the pearls were all soaked. Wen Qing brought her own pearls and abalone beads to replace them.
In addition to Master Zhang who repaired the jewelry yesterday, there was also a veteran master, Master Xiong, who was present. Wen Qing looked at his enthusiastic expression and thought that he might have heard about what happened yesterday and came to watch the fun.
When Wen Qing opened the box containing the phoenix crown, she only heard a gasp.
This phoenix coronet is 37 cm high and about 25 cm in diameter. It uses an inner tube made of gold filigree and is decorated with eight groups of butterfly and flower patterns on the outside. There is a golden phoenix holding a pearl in the front and 18 rubies and 18 sapphires inlaid in the lower part of the coronet. The butterfly wings and petals are all made in detail and vividly. They are all made of gold sheets and then strung together with gold threads. Now the coronet is a little faded, some of the gold threads are broken, and the gold sheets are a little loose, making it look rather shabby.
Master Xiong first reached out to take the small box, carefully took out the wind crown, held it in his hand and looked at it from left to right, reluctant to put it down.
Master Zhang pushed him with his hand, motioning for him to see. Master Xiong pretended not to feel anything and turned his body to the side. Master Zhang finally couldn't help but said, "Let me see."
Master Xiong put the Fengguan on the table. Master Zhang pushed him away, half-knelt and looked closely at the Fengguan on the table, and said, "There are many places that need to be disassembled. It's a bit troublesome to disassemble it."
Master Xiong said quickly, "I'll fix this one, you fix the others."
Wen Qing said to Wu Mingming, "I have other jewelry that needs repairing. Can you tell me how to repair it?"
She took out a phoenix hairpin, which was a phoenix holding a huge pearl, and asked, "Can this pearl be repaired?"
Master Xiong turned around and said, "Aged pearls can be partially restored to their luster by wiping and cleaning, but if they are too old, that may not work."
Wen Qing nodded and asked, "Can I change to new pearls?"
Master Xiong said: "In order to maintain the authenticity, it is best not to change it."
Wen Qing took out all the other jewelry, including two bridge flower hairpins, a grape filigree gold hairpin, a tassel phoenix hairpin, a pomegranate flower hairpin, a pair of dragon and phoenix bracelets inlaid with gold filigree sapphires, three pearl and gem necklaces, a butterfly flower inlaid emerald gold necklace, a double dragon playing with pearls inlaid with gem gold necklace, and 6 pieces of earrings. Master Zhang was more and more surprised when he saw her take out seven or eight boxes and opened them one by one.
After the two masters discussed, Master Xiong was responsible for repairing the Fengguan, and Master Zhang was responsible for the other jewelry. Manager Jinlou asked Wen Qing to sit on the sofa next to her. With so many jewelry, Wen Qing could only watch from the side. Manager Wu stayed with her for a while and then said goodbye and left.
At noon, Jinlou ordered a box lunch. After lunch, the two masters Xiong and Zhang took a short break and then went back to work. They worked until the evening and finally repaired all the jewelry and put them into small boxes. Wen Qing looked at the glittering and dazzling jewelry with great satisfaction. Manager Wu Mingming came over and asked, "Ms. Wen, are you interested in selling your Fengguan?"
Wen Qing shook her head. "I like this phoenix crown very much. I want to keep it for myself. You can sell the other jewelry."
Wu Mingming chose from several boxes of Wen Qing's and finally bought the gold necklace inlaid with gems and double dragons playing with a pearl for 10 yuan. This necklace was made with filigree, engraving and inlaying techniques, and has six red agates and one ruby. After cleaning and restoration, it looks dazzling and will definitely appreciate in value in the future.
Jinlou waived today's restoration fee and took photos of all 18 restored pieces of jewelry.
Wen Qing walked out of the store, got into her car, and put the wooden box containing the jewelry into the car.
Another job in Songjiang has also been completed. There are still some jewelry fished out of the sea, but this time I took out more than 20 pieces, which are already very eye-catching. I'd better find an opportunity to repair them slowly in the future.