My Manor

"Are there only a few of you here? Can't you find more people? It's almost midnight." Jiang Hai glanced at his watch, then looked at Aphra and the others, who hadn't slept yesterday and were struggling to stay awake tonight. Upon hearing his words, the person in charge across from him smiled awkwardly.

Since Jiang Hai's ship had arrived at the dock, he had taken the items and boarded the escort car arranged by Phillips. Of course, Moses Adams, who had been waiting there for a long time, was also with him.

The group soon arrived at Phillips' office in Miami. The experts the person in charge had prepared were quickly put to use, but unfortunately, he had underestimated the amount and value of Jiang Hai's treasures.

He had only arranged for six experts, and it would take more than ten minutes—or even half a year—for an expert to authenticate each item. After all, these items were incredibly valuable. If anyone made a mistake, it would be their loss, so they had to be meticulous. Jiang Hai and his team had arrived around seven in the evening.

Now, it was already past two in the morning. They had only finished cataloging about half of the items, and the other half remained untouched, especially the most important piece—the suit of armor.

Jiang Hai had been working non-stop for nearly two days. While he wasn't exhausted to the point of collapse, he was still tired.

He yawned and said helplessly to the person in charge, "Can we speed this up?"

"I'll handle it right away." After hearing Jiang Hai's words, the person in charge grumbled inwardly about how Jiang Hai had brought so many items, but he didn't voice his thoughts. After all, these items could bring in significant wealth for the auction house.

Although the suit of armor was the most valuable item, the real profit from the auction wouldn't be substantial. It was more of a way to build their reputation. The only money they could make was through a commission after the auction. Their original 10% commission had been reduced to 3%, meaning they'd earn $30,000 from a $100 million sale and $300,000 from a $1 billion sale—not much, but they were mostly focused on the publicity.

However, selling the jewels, gold, and silver coins would yield real profits.

They had offered Jiang Hai a high price, but no matter how high the offer was, they would still make a profit. Even if they made $100 from a gold coin, $10 from a silver coin, and $1,000 from a gem, the sheer volume of jewels would bring them hundreds of millions.

So, compared to the suit of armor, they had to be more careful with these items.

But as Jiang Hai had pointed out, it was simply too slow for six people to handle such a large pile of jewels.

Not to mention the fact that waiting around was exhausting.

After some thought, the person in charge went out to recruit additional clerks—staff members from Phillips' Miami office. Their main task was to assist with the identification process. They wouldn't handle the precious jewels or gold coins, but they could help with the silver coins, which still had decent value.

To prevent any mishaps, they had been instructed to wear clothes with no pockets before starting their work.

The silver coins were quickly sorted out, and the remaining staff identified the more valuable items at a much faster pace.

By five in the morning, all the gold and silver coins had been identified. Jiang Hai had a total of 27,665 gold coins and 86,742 silver coins. Of course, not all of these coins were from Spain.

In fact, European currency had always been chaotic, especially during the Middle Ages.

From the 14th to the 16th centuries, European currency was quite disorganized.

Europe was chaotic, and the American continent, which had become a colony, was even worse.

In the early 14th century, the princes of the Holy Roman Empire mimicked the Roer Gross coin and minted the Groschen coin, which was considered hard currency at the time.

France later issued gold coins twice, but both attempts failed. It wasn't until the French standard gold coin, the Ecu, was introduced that stability was achieved, and it remained in use until the reign of Louis XIV. Britain also issued the noble gold coin in 1344, weighing about 8.972 grams and valued at six shillings and eight pence—equivalent to half a mark in gold or one-third of a pound in silver. However, it wasn't widely popular.

The Rhine lords unified the standard for counterfeiting the Rolling Stone coins, which were collectively known as the Rhine Shield. Initially weighing about one gram and a half carat, the shield eventually increased to four grams in later stages. For pirates, such large gold coins weren't worth much.

In addition to Spanish gold coins, the most common gold coins were the gold ecu and British noble gold coins.

Each of these gold coins weighed nearly 10 grams, making them quite valuable.

While not all of them were Spanish gold coins, their similar age and weight meant that their value was comparable.

Following the auction house's guidelines, the person in charge adhered to the last transaction price.

One gold coin was valued at $1,000, and one silver coin was worth $350. With more than 110,000 coins, totaling over a ton, their combined worth was $58,024,700. While it wasn't an extraordinary amount, it still met Jiang Hai's expectations.

At least once this money was secured, his savings would increase again. And the most important part—those gems—hadn't even been identified yet. With this money as a foundation, Jiang Hai's spirits were lifted.

Before he knew it, the Miami sun was beginning to rise. By nine in the morning, Aphra and the others, who had slept for a while, were up and stretching their sore bodies. Finally, the last gem had been identified. The appraiser handed the forms over to the person in charge, who calculated the totals and then looked at Jiang Hai in surprise.

"What's wrong?" Jiang Hai asked, leaning back on the sofa with his legs stretched out, holding a golden knife.

"Of course, nothing's wrong. The items are all correct, but this is really a lot of money," the person in charge said, shaking his head. He walked over to Jiang Hai and handed him the six forms.

These six forms had been filled out by the experts. Each of them had written down an estimate for each item. This was their appraisal. Essentially, the auction house would never lose money and would purchase the items at the prices listed.

Though they didn't know where Jiang Hai had acquired these items, it didn't matter to them as long as they were collecting them.

Jiang Hai took the form and looked at it. As he read the first form, his eyebrows raised slightly.

"One pigeon blood ruby, net weight 41.5 carats, estimated year between 1600-1650, other items: none, just a necklace pendant, estimated price: $183,350-$192,275." "One chrysoberyl cat's eye, net weight 37.84 carats, estimated year 1600-1650, other items: a string of natural pearls, estimated price: $156,700-$158,900."...

Looking at the details and prices, Jiang Hai couldn't help but smile. There were not only rubies, emeralds, sapphires, and topazes, but also many cat's eye stones (chrysoberyls) and even ivory and coral products. While Jiang Hai didn't fully understand the specifics, he could certainly see the estimated prices. Even if all of these were sold at their lowest estimates, he would still make a fortune. The six forms were consistent in their estimates, and Jiang Hai mentally calculated the total value, which made his heart race.

Sure enough, for a pirate ship like this, the gold and silver coins were just a small part of the treasure. The real value lay in these jewels.

"I won't take the lowest price for these jewels," Jiang Hai said, putting down the forms with satisfaction. "Let's call the gold and silver coins at $58 million, and I'll offer you $242 million for the jewels. Let's round it to $300 million. How does that sound?"

The person in charge hesitated, then quoted the price they were willing to pay for the jewels. Jiang Hai knew that, if auctioned, these gems could bring in at least $100 million, maybe more.

But there was the issue of taxes and commissions if he sold them through the auction house. If he took the deal now, he could get $200 million, which was still a good amount. Taking the $300 million now was even better.

"Deal," Jiang Hai agreed after calculating in his mind.

He then looked over at Moses Adams, who handed him a phone with a set of numbers on it. It was Moses' agent's estimate—$280 million, which was $20 million less than the offer from the auction house, showing the other party wasn't lying this time. Moses Adams had been awake all night, staring at these jewels, occasionally snapping photos and sending them to antique dealers for appraisals.

Though it might not be the most professional way to do business, this was the United States, and such practices were common at Phillips.

Having stayed awake all night, Moses was surprisingly alert, his eyes only slightly red despite being up since the previous afternoon.

(To be continued.)