This pricing is outrageous, at a hundred yuan per catty. I bet the Crown Prince had them brought in by the truckload; even ten tons wouldn't exceed a hundred thousand yuan. Selling them for two hundred thousand per ton? They must be out of their minds with greed.
Doubling the price at every checkpoint is the rule. After deducting losses from discarding, making five to six times the profit would already be considered exorbitant. Yet, this Crown Prince jacks it up by twenty times, and people are still scrambling for it. This is just daylight robbery.
Actually, the piece I have here is at most twenty to thirty catties. Even if I lose money, it's only a few thousand yuan. But for those weighing a hundred or even several hundred catties, with tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands invested, it could be their entire livelihood. One wrong cut could lead to ruin.
There are a lot of black sand stones here, accounting for almost a third of the lot. The stones from other areas are just small piles, and very few people are interested in the misshapen ones.
I spotted a few familiar figures in the crowd. I understood then; they had their own people mixed in, showing off polished stones. They were clearly decoys, trying to lure others into making bad deals.
I estimate there are at least fifty tons here. Just selling this lot alone would bring in nearly ten million yuan.
And that's not even counting the open-faced stones and semi-gambled stones.
A trade fair can generate hundreds of millions in revenue, and earning hundreds of millions isn't uncommon. However, those who bid on open-faced and semi-gambled stones are merchants. They have the capital because they can monetize them immediately. For them, it's business, an investment that promises high returns. These gamblers, on the other hand, are risking their savings, or even taking on debt. A few thousand or tens of thousands could leave them desperate, even pushing them to the brink.
That's the most detestable part.
It's not that black sand stones can't be gambled on. As long as a reasonable price is offered, it's not unreasonable to gamble with some savings for a bit of luck. But the Crown Prince's manipulative tactics of inflating prices to deceive gamblers are truly despicable.
Seeing that person reluctant to show me, I didn't press the issue and instead pulled Jing Lei to look at other stones.
I walked around the crowd and approached a pile of raw stones that few people were paying attention to.
There were over a thousand raw stones here, but they were all small. The largest was only two to three hundred grams, and the smallest just a few dozen grams. Thus, it appeared to be a very small pile. In front of the pile of raw stones, there was a sign that read: Houjiang.
The jade rough from Houjiang generally yields good quality material. Most of it has good water content, so you don't have to worry about getting brick-like stones here. For buyers who love jade rough but worry about losses, Houjiang jade rough is particularly worth considering. Gambling on a hundred-gram Houjiang stone here for a few thousand yuan offers better value than the dozens of catties of black sand stone from that other seller.
Of course, Houjiang jade rough also has different grades, and it's still a gamble. A significant drawback of Houjiang jade rough is its prevalence of cracks. It's almost impossible to make bangles from it; you can only make small items like pendants.
Another characteristic is its extremely high output of color. The colors of Houjiang jade rough are very beautiful, with full green being common, and the colors are extremely translucent with a dense structure, making it very suitable for making cabochons.
I told Jing Lei, "Let's try our luck with a pair of cabochons. You pick, okay?"
Jing Lei has always been interested in stone gambling but never had the chance to try. Today, she finally had the time.
She said, "Houjiang stones are hard to gamble on. Can I do it?"
I replied, "We're just gambling for fun. If it doesn't work out, we'll just discard it."
Jing Lei asked, "The Crown Prince is so greedy. Wouldn't Houjiang stones cost over a thousand yuan per gram?"
I said, "Houjiang jade has a lot of high green. Even a thousand yuan isn't expensive. Maybe you can find one without cracks."
She looked at me nervously and uncertainly. I encouraged her not to be afraid and to pick boldly.
She squatted down and sifted through the stones one by one. She picked one up, examined it for a long time, and couldn't make up her mind. She looked at me, but I remained expressionless. Since I wanted her to gamble, I didn't offer any advice.
She dug out another stone weighing over two hundred grams. Houjiang stones have loose skins, and the waxy skin can be easily damaged during excavation and transportation. The uneven surface exposes the color, which is why Houjiang stones command higher prices.
Another characteristic of Houjiang stones is that they don't require a light. The exposed parts already show the color quality.
The piece Jing Lei picked is like that, with patches of high green already visible. The gamble now is on cracks. If this jade has no cracks or very few, it won't yield just a pair of cabochons; it could produce eight to ten pairs.
She looked at me hesitantly. I said, "We'll gamble for just a pair of cabochons. Even if that's all, we can still get them. Take a good look. If you want it, we'll buy it."
Jing Lei nodded hesitantly, wanting to look at more. I pulled her along to pay at the front.
We weren't really here to gamble on stones; we had important business to attend to.
We went to the counter and handed the rough to the staff. He took it, checked the number, consulted his ledger, and then told me, "Houjiang stone, net weight 286 grams, thirty-five thousand yuan."
Jing Lei squeezed my hand hard. She probably regretted it when she heard the price and didn't want it anymore.
A small piece of stone weighing half a catty cost thirty-five thousand yuan. Even buying a pair of cabochons from her shop wouldn't fetch this price.
I spoke up, asked for her card, and handed it to the quoting staff.
Actually, I had looked at this piece, and I was confident it wasn't badly cracked and could yield several pairs of cabochons.
I paid the money, and the staff gave us a receipt. I took the stone to find a master cutter.
In another corner of the hall, dozens of small cutting machines were busy. I searched for a while and spotted a machine that had just stopped. I quickly pulled Jing Lei over.
I told the master, "Cut it at the one-third mark."
For such a small stone, opening a window is pointless. It's better to cut it in one go.