Starting My Treasure Hunting In England

After admiring this very rare pink diamond for a while, Liang En focused his attention on the gold box. As soon as he picked it up, he realized that the box should be a silver-plated box.

After all, a real gold box should be much heavier than the current box, and if it is a box made of other materials, the feel will be different from the current situation.

However, what attracted Liang En's attention most was not the material of this gilt silver box, but the pattern on the box. Yes, this pattern was indeed very exquisite and could match the necklace inside, but it was a bit strange to appear here.

The reason why it is strange to appear here is because this box is not Indian at all, but has a strong Chinese Tang Dynasty style.

The silver box is entirely gilt. The body and lid are composed of four lotus petals. The lower part of the box has a trumpet-shaped high ring foot. The cover is raised high, like a covered lotus.

The embossed pattern engraved on the entire box is mainly decorated with two flying phoenixes holding grass in their hands. The edges are surrounded by 8 pairs of facing flying geese, and are interspersed with entangled lotus and fish roe patterns.

Eight pairs of running deer are engraved along the edge of the cover. The female deer is running in front and looking back, while the male deer is chasing behind with his head raised, echoing each other and showing vivid expressions.

There are also 8 pairs of running deers engraved on the belly of the box, which are the same as the decoration along the lid. 8 peonies are engraved on the lower belly. The foot of the high circle is engraved with 10 wild geese, and the edge of the foot is engraved with a modified lotus petal pattern.

The outer bottom of the box is engraved with the words "King Kong" and "One hundred, five, four, two, one and two coins", indicating the brand of silverware and the weight of the silver box. It also clearly indicates that this box comes from China in the Tang Dynasty.

Although the word "King Kong" sounds a bit strange as a brand, in the Tang Dynasty it was a very popular word influenced by Buddhism, similar to "Hercules".

"This box is already very valuable." Liang En held the box hard and weighed it before saying, "As far as I know, this type of silver box is already very big if it can cost five or sixty taels. Boxes worth more than 100 taels are very rare, and there are only a few of them even in China."

"But how did this box appear here?" Fan Meng looked at the exquisite patterns on the box and said, "This thing should have always been the box of the necklace, but where did the Indian king find this box? .

"Of course I ordered it." "Liang En pointed to the pattern on the box and explained to Joan of Arc, Fan Meng and the video camera lens that started recording.

Of course, he is not afraid of making mistakes in this regard, because after using a [Appraisal (N)] card, he can already determine the origin of this box.

For Liang En, who has sufficient basic knowledge, it is not difficult to deduce the reason from clues after knowing the correct history of this thing.

"——We can find that this box is larger than normal boxes. In other words, this thing is most likely specially made and not a common item of that era." Liang En talked to the camera lens talk.

"We can also know from the text on it that this thing was not made by a government-run workshop at that time, but came from a commercial gold and silver shop."

"At the same time, we can also tell from the style of this gilt silver box that this box should be a box produced in Yangzhou in the middle and late Tang Dynasty."

"Yes, that should be the case." Looking at several Tang Dynasty gold and silverware patterns on his mobile phone, Fan Meng nodded. Thanks to the excavation work going on nearby, his mobile phone still has a certain signal.

Although it is basically impossible to transmit videos, it can still be done just by looking at a few pictures. After comparing it with the pictures on his mobile phone, Fan Meng immediately determined that the box was from the middle and late Tang Dynasty as Liang En said. Yangzhou during the period.

"But I have a question, and that is why the silver box from Yangzhou appears here. I know that Yangzhou was indeed the gold and silver processing center of the Tang Dynasty in that era, but why is it Yangzhou and not somewhere else."

"This is mainly because of the Silk Road." Liang En said with a smile, "The impression in many people's minds is that the land Silk Road ran from the Han Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty, while the Song Dynasty was mainly the Maritime Silk Road."

"But in fact this is not the case, or in real history these different Silk Roads are not so distinct. At least in the Tang Dynasty, the Maritime Silk Road had already begun to prosper -"

The Tang Dynasty was an open dynasty, so it had a lot of foreign exchanges. For example, it continued the overland Silk Road that started in the Han Dynasty to trade with Central Asia, West Asia, Europe, North Africa and other regions.

However, with the outbreak of the Anshi Rebellion, whether it was the huge chaos within the Tang Dynasty or the rise of Tubo and its occupation of Longyou, the previously prosperous Overland Silk Road was almost completely interrupted.

Although the northern route of the Silk Road that passed through the territory of the northern Uighurs was maintained for a period of time, the chaos in northern China and the changing international situation at that time still meant that this Silk Road did not last long.

Fortunately, with the southward shift of the economic center of gravity and the development of navigation technology, the Maritime Silk Road gradually prospered. At that time, Hangzhou, Guangzhou, Yangzhou, etc. became the ports where the Maritime Silk Road began.

Under this circumstance, specialties from these places gradually replaced the original specialties from the north and became the main export force on the Silk Road. After all, in the ancient transportation environment, many things were not suitable for long-distance land transportation.

For example, last time Liang En and the others found a large amount of Longquan kiln porcelain on a sunken ship that was probably from the Yuan Dynasty, which is an important evidence of this, and the same is true for gold and silverware.

Especially in the middle and late Tang Dynasty, the separatist rule of vassal towns led to constant chaos in the inland areas. At the same time, there were tax collection checkpoints everywhere. At that time, transporting goods over long distances was definitely asking for trouble.

According to the information Liang En knows, before the Anshi Rebellion, the gold and silverware exported by the Tang Dynasty were mainly produced in the north. For example, some of the early Tang Dynasty gold and silverware brought back by envoys sent to the Tang Dynasty collected in Japan have obvious Persian gold and silverware. style.

But after the Anshi Rebellion, those gold and silverware quickly changed into the unique production style of the South that merged the Central Plains and the Western Regions, reflecting the changes of the times. Those who went to Japan took ships that sailed from Yangzhou. .

Considering that many cultural relics from the Tang Dynasty have been found all the way to the east coast of Africa and even the Persian Gulf, it is natural and reasonable to find a custom-made gold and silverware in India.

As for the Buddhist style shown on gold and silverware, it was very appropriate for that era. After all, Buddhism was still mainstream in India at that time, so it was normal for these people to have Buddhist-style gold and silverware.

"So, although this gilt silver box doesn't look like that pink diamond, from a historical perspective, its value is no less than that diamond."

At the end of the explanation, Liang En began to make the final summary in front of the camera lens, and at the same time, the joy in his heart also bloomed with a smile on his face.

"So I want to say that we actually found two extremely precious cultural relics this time, which can be regarded as a perfect end to this exploration work."