Author: Zhu Junbo article Source: Beijing School. Com hits: 32 1 updated on 2006-12-812: 44: 09.
The auction of used books started earlier in overseas markets. According to the data, Mr. Christie and Mr. Sotheby's, the founders of the famous Christie and Sotheby's auction companies, were booksellers who operated used books more than 200 years ago. Later, booksellers introduced modern auction methods and established famous auction houses. Today, special auctions of used books are often held in London. 1788, Sotheby's in London auctioned the second edition of the Manifesto of the Productive Party, which fetched 22,000 pounds.
In China, the second-hand book trade has existed since ancient times. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, ancient book bookstores were retained in various places, specializing in ancient books, especially rare books, with Liulichang in Beijing and China Bookstore on Fuzhou Road in Shanghai being the most famous. Since 1993, Beijing has taken the lead in establishing the auction of ancient books in China, which has formed the following characteristics since 10:
1 has formed a Beijing central market dominated by Guardian, Hanhai and China Bookstore. Shanghai is dominated by companies such as Duoyunxuan, International Auction and Jiatai. , but its momentum and level is second only to Beijing.
In the 1990s, the auction of ancient books was always used as a foil for calligraphy and painting, but the auction was not successful and the turnover was not high. The total lot of an auction company is often 2-3 million yuan, and each lot is about 1 10,000 yuan. In the new century, the total score of ancient books auction has been significantly improved, and tens of millions of yuan have also been presented.
In the past, it was very rare for a single lot to sell for two or three hundred thousand yuan. At present, there has been a price of several million yuan or even nearly ten million yuan.
The structure of ancient books auction has changed. In the early days, China ancient books were the mainstay. In recent years, the proportion of manuscripts and letters has greatly increased. The auction of ancient books has three sections: ancient books, inscriptions and handwriting, all of which are autumn and mature.
Auction makes the cultural value of ancient books known to more and more people. Not only booksellers are keen on this, but also national collectors and investors have begun to intervene.
Price Performance of Various Categories in China Ancient Books Edition
The above three price lists show that in 2002, 30 popular and high-priced ancient books in Beijing market and Shanghai market were: ancient books 1 1, accounting for 36.6% of the 30 kinds, totaling1470,000 yuan, accounting for1880,000 yuan. There are 8 kinds of inscriptions, accounting for 24.3% of 30 kinds, totaling 404,800 yuan, accounting for 3.4% of the total price; Handwriting 1 1 piece, accounting for 36 .6%, totaling 10005 million yuan, accounting for 84.42% of the total price. The specific analysis is as follows:
1 price example of ancient edition
In the mid-1990s, there were some typical prices of ancient books. 1995 Autumn Auction, Beijing Guardian auctioned a piece of Wenyuan Huaying, which was engraved during the Jiatai period of the Song Dynasty, and the transaction price was1430,000 yuan. /kloc-in the autumn of 0/996, another three volumes of "Xu Zhuangyuan's Supplementary Notes" printed in the Song Dynasty sold for 500,000 yuan; Tomorrow, Ouyang Wenzhong will collect four editions in six years, with a turnover of 250,000; In the forty-ninth year of Emperor Kangxi of Qing Dynasty, Zhang Shijun carved four volumes of Guo Zhongshu's Pei Juan, with a turnover of 300,000 yuan. Another set of 294 volumes of Zi Tong Zhi Jian collected by Kang Sheng Printing Company was sold for 1.87 million yuan. In 200 1 year, Hanhai auctioned Chunqiu 1 book, with a turnover of 1.59 million yuan, which broke the highest auction price of ancient books.
The price in the southern market is lower than that in Beijing. Take Duo Yunxuan as an example, 1996, Mr. Changli of Zhu Wenjie School 1 Volume,150,000 yuan in Song Dynasty, 240,000 yuan in Song Dynasty and 12 in Yuan Dynasty. Books and periodicals printed during the Republic of China were very popular in Shanghai. For example, the turnover of Dianshizhai Pictorial in Shiyinben is 4 1.8 million yuan, that of Shanghai Pictorial1.9251.926 is 24,200 yuan, and that of Twenty-four History of Imitation Song Edition by Zhonghua Book Company (including boxes) is 50,000 yuan.
In the new century, the auction price of used books is stable. The following three tables show that the Beijing market's "Da Prajna Paramita Classic" sold for 275,000 yuan, Shanghai's "zhina South Painting Dacheng" (22 volumes) sold for 73,700 yuan, and the Ming version of "Collected Works of Mr. Liu Tang" sold for 3190,000 yuan. In addition, Guardian published a 506,000-yuan portrait of the Three Kingdoms in 2002.
2 examples of the price of ancient inscriptions
In our country, stone inscriptions started much earlier than woodcuts. From Qin and Han Dynasties to Ming and Qing Dynasties, stone carvings and rubbings have been developing vigorously. The historical value of inscriptions is relatively high. Similarly, the paper spectrum, ink spectrum, ink stone spectrum and bamboo carving of printed spectrum generally belong to the category of inscriptions.
Examples of printed spectra:
1in the autumn of 996, we sold 28,600 yuan of Kao Zang Seal (1 1 volume), 33,000 yuan of Sixteen Zhai Seal, 44,000 yuan of Gaoluoyuan Music Studio Seal, 33,000 yuan of Wu Yun Lanting Bronze Seal and 33,000 yuan of Ding Chou Robbery Seal.
Guardian has achieved good results in the inscription category:
1996 Song Ke's "urgent chapter" cost 230,000 yuan, 1995 expanded Su Shi's "Talking about the Ming Dynasty" in the early spring of Ming Dynasty 12 folio 1 volume,180,000 yuan, 1996 autumn Song Ke's ". /kloc-in the autumn of 0/995, Sanxi Hall Duoyunxuan Mingtuo Ritual Monument sold for 88,000 yuan, Fatie rubbings sold for 25,000 yuan, and Hanjinta Brick Area rubbings sold for 28,000 yuan.
Guardian once paid 7 15000 yuan for You Wu's Fang Mo Pu, 1 15000 yuan for Han Hai's Qing Dynasty Imperial Farming Poetry, and 19800 yuan for Wu Changshuo in the second year of the Republic of China.
3 price examples of handwritten ancient books
What really stands out in the auction of ancient books is calligraphy handwriting, including manuscripts, manuscripts and letters, which drives the high price and collection fever of the whole auction.
In the mid-1990s, Guardian 1994 sold 320,000 letters of appointment for seven people including Deng in the autumn, Sun Yat-sen 1996 sold 320,000 letters of appointment for seven people, Zeng Guofan and Zuo 1995 sold 6.5438+0.5 million in the spring, and sold 8.5 million more letters from members of the Anti-Japanese Writers Association. In recent years, it is also remarkable that in 200 1 year, China Shang Saint Zheng Banqiao left a volume of the Five Classics (8 volumes in total) with a turnover of 5.5 million yuan. In the autumn of 2002, Guardian copied a calligraphy work of Qian Jingtang, a famous person in the Ming Dynasty, for 9.9 million yuan. At the same time, overseas 1996, Christie's auctioned the handwriting of Ceng Gong, one of the eight masters in Tang and Song Dynasties, for 550,000 US dollars and 4.79 million Hong Kong dollars. In April, 2002, Christie's in Hong Kong auctioned Zhang Jizhi's "Dafang Guangfo Huayang Jing" for HK$ 8.87 million, setting a record for overseas handwriting auction.
Second, the collection value and investment value of ancient books.
Today, with the globalization of economy and diversification of investment, people's awareness of investment has been greatly enhanced, and the level of investment in collections has been greatly improved. A few years ago, many people in China participated in the collection and investment of stamps, but now this craze has subsided, replaced by original paintings, porcelain, antiques, furniture and ancient books. Because of its high grade, low stock and high cultural content, the edition of ancient books has attracted the intervention of some high-level collectors, investors and professional groups, and has gone through the road experienced in the past decades in just 10 years. It is manifested in the following aspects:
First, the auction method has replaced the door-to-door transaction method of the ancient book bookstore, and the fine products are increasingly concentrated in the auction; Second, the price has risen several times, ten times and dozens of times. In the past, the price of Ming edition books was 1000 yuan, but now they are all 10000 yuan. The Song version has risen to the point of more than 100,000 yuan, and there are even some high prices of millions of yuan. Third, Beijing and Shanghai have become trading centers of ancient books; Fourth, a number of stable collectors have emerged, and the market elements are more complete.
The background of the warming up of the auction transaction of ancient books edition is: China's successful entry into WTO, the rapid growth of private economy, the sharp depreciation of the yen (traditionally Japan is the main market of ancient books edition in China), the downward trend of European and American economies under the impact of 9. 1 1, the shadow of the financial crisis in Southeast Asia, the continuous decline of domestic stock market and postal card market, and the impact of low interest rates around the world. These factors have led to the huge buying of China's art investment, the massive injection of off-site funds, the return of overseas ancient books to China, and the prominent wealth symbol and value of works of art, which has created good conditions for the formation of China's ancient books market.
From the analysis of the characteristics of ancient book edition, it also has the following inherent qualities and values, which has aroused people's enthusiasm for collection and investment.
1 Collection value and investment value of ancient books
The collection of rare books of ancient books experienced the Song and Yuan Dynasties and reached its peak in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Social unrest in the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China led to a large number of precious ancient books being fragmented or destroyed by war. The turmoil in 10 caused a devastating blow to the preservation of rare books on the grounds of sweeping away the "four old classics". Therefore, its value is shown in the following aspects:
(1) The stock of ancient books is limited. Due to natural damage (such as flood, fire, moth-eaten) and man-made damage, there are not many engravings in Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties. Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, a large number of ancient books have been nationalized, and the parts that can circulate in the market, especially the Song, Yuan and Ming editions, are even more exotic.
(2) Non-renewable. The version of ancient books is different from that of the calligraphy and painting market in China. In painting and calligraphy, Xie Shi, an old painter, and a new generation of artists will emerge. Relatively speaking, the supply of calligraphy and painting works can always be supplemented, while the version of ancient books has long since withdrawn from the practical field and is completely non-renewable.
(3) There are few fakes, and identification is relatively easy. Calligraphy and painting antiques are still being sold in large quantities, and with the help of modern reproduction technology, the original works have reached the point of chaos, which has brought great trouble to appraisal and investment. Although there are some ambiguities in the dating of ancient books, it is certain that no one has built a lettering workshop to make fakes, and the scope of authenticity identification is relatively small and easy to master.
(4) Strong academic and weak appreciation. Ancient books were practical tools at that time, and their writing and lettering were standardized, but their personality was not distinct. They are mainly academic and have high historical value. They can reflect the writing, classics, society and research level at that time, but they are not as ornamental as works of art, so the collection of ancient books is rather boring, and collectors should have taste, patience and literacy in literature and history. Appreciation of ancient books mainly focuses on the production of ancient books, including printing, paper making, ink making, inscriptions and seals of later collectors, which reflects the production level in a certain historical period and contains a lot of cultural information, and is an important display to examine the ancient technology and craft level.
(5) Identification method. According to experience, it can be divided into three levels:
First of all, according to the formal characteristics of ancient book versions to identify. Generally speaking, individuals are inferred from the age and regional characteristics of appearance factors such as font, layout, knife method, paper and ink, and binding. This method is called "visual recognition".
The second is to identify it according to the relevant written records in the edition, or directly search it from the preface, postscript, title page and book mouth, or indirectly research it through the engraver's name, taboo words, articles with title, title and place name at the end of the volume, official system, etc.
The third is to identify by referring to the research results and clues provided by other documents. That is, get information and enlightenment from later generations' book collection notes, reading notes and description abstracts. The latter two methods are also called "reasoning attack method" or "textual research method".
(6) Investing in ancient books requires long-term planning, because the return is stable and the cycle is long, the learning process is boring, and selling is not as convenient as painting and calligraphy. Investors should think twice.
(7) It is worthless to collect ancient books without appreciating the Ming and Qing editions, which also shows that the capital threshold for entering this industry is high. Now the next edition is expensive, so we should be fully prepared and reserve funds for it.
2 collection value and investment value of inscriptions
China inscriptions generally include three categories:
First, the characters cast on bronzes and rubbings made of paper and ink; The second is the words engraved on the stone tablet and rubbings made of paper and ink; The third is the rubbing spectrum, which includes two parts: the printing surface and the boundary part, printed on the thin paper.
Similar to the western woodcut art, rubbings are the closest materials to the original text. To sum up, China's inscriptions have the following characteristics:
(1) calligraphy. China's calligraphy is preserved in two forms: inscription and ink. Among them, the early calligraphy (represented by Qin, Han and Jin Dynasties) is mostly preserved and handed down from generation to generation with inscription as the line, with diverse styles and calm knife work, which is extremely precious. Collecting rubbings is an important aspect of appreciating calligraphy. Seal cutting is a direct expression of the beauty of calligraphy, which has always had a high artistic status, coupled with the golden stone flavor produced by knife work. The rubbings are taken directly from the original stone, just like the original.
(2) It is an important material to study the origin and evolution of characters. China characters evolved from Oracle Bone Inscriptions, Zhong Dingwen and Shi Guwen to regular script, generally solidified on stone carvings. Collecting inscriptions is a key to studying words.
(3) It is an important material for studying history and culture. The ancient inscriptions and rubbings handed down are authentic, some of which are important information of the royal family, others are about war, farming, etiquette, involving politics, military, society and other aspects, and even an important basis for demarcation. Some steles have been lost, and there are rubbings as evidence. Therefore, the collection of inscriptions has important research value.
(4) The chronological order of rubbings is an important boundary to study their collection value. For example, the Han tablet has a history of 2,000 years, and the same tablet has rubbings left by generations. According to the saying that "paper lives for thousands of years", the rubbings in Song Dynasty are the most precious, followed by Yuan, Ming and Qing. Some historical sites are still preserved and can be rubbinged, but their value is not the same as that of Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties. Because it is usually early, there are many words, complete glyphs and clear words. Due to the damage of the inscription on the tablet, the latter is often missing or illegible. Because of the variety of inscriptions, collectors have to spend a lot of time studying the difference between morning and evening in order to determine the age of objects. In addition, many ancient monuments in China were lost in later generations, some of which were excavated in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. The first rubbings excavated in the Ming or Qing dynasties are the first rubbings, which are also very precious.
(5) The stock is also the standard to study the collection value. At present, most of the expensive rubbings on the market are Song Yuanming rubbings. So there were a lot of extensions at that time, but after hundreds of years of changes, not many remained, some became orphans, and some became rare (only a few remained). This is also what collectors should worry about. Fortunately, the ancients wrote many works on textual research of inscriptions, which can be used for reference.
(6) Besides comparing and optimizing rubbings, it is also important to study the collection records of rubbings. As mentioned earlier, the overproduced Ming Tuo Bei sold for 88,000 yuan, only because it had the inscription and seal of Weng Tonghe, a great scholar (the teacher of Emperor Guangxu), who said it was Amin Tuo Ben, so it was precious.
(7) There are risks in investing in inscriptions, including printing, mainly the dispute between authenticity and falsehood. Some people in the market call it "Mohu", which means that rubbings and fakes in rubbings are also daunting. However, the advantage of the northern extension spectrum is that the stock is limited and will not rise again. At present, computer technology has been invented. The author thinks that combining new technology, photography technology and traditional methods can do a better job of comparison and identification. Difficulties can also be overcome.
(8) Compared with calligraphy and painting, since 10, the price of stele extension has not increased much, and there is still much room for growth. Compared with the Japanese market, the price in China is relatively low. Take rare prints of Ming and Qing Dynasties as an example. Most of Japan is between 2.5 million and 5 million yen.
3. Collection value and investment value of handwriting.
Strictly speaking, handwriting is an original, not an ancient book. However, in recent years, it has become a common practice for major auction companies in China to classify manuscripts and letters from calligraphy and painting to ancient books. In recent years, the most sensational auction achievement wasNo. 1603 "Letters of Famous People in Qianjingtang in Ming Dynasty" auctioned by China Guardian in autumn 2002, with a transaction price of 9.9 million yuan, which was won by Shanghai Museum.
Taking this book as an example to analyze the value of handwriting, we can see the following characteristics:
The historical value of 1 This product collects the handwritten letters of 407 celebrities from Yongle to Chongzhen in Ming Dynasty, which is an important material for studying the history of Ming Dynasty.
From the perspective of calligraphy, the calligraphy styles of more than 400 people are diverse, and the writing is natural, which is extremely rare. General letters are different from calligraphy works. The calligraphy when writing letters is more fluent, natural and straightforward, and the value of calligraphy is high.
3 contains unique books and treasures. Some famous people in the book are recorded in history books, but there is no physical evidence, and some can't be found in museums. This shipment fills the gap.
Some big collectors carefully collect them, which can be said to be widely circulated, true and reliable.
5. Good appearance and high appreciation value.
In overseas art markets, handwriting has always been valued by people. For example, a letter from Lincoln was sold for more than 200,000 US dollars, and a scientific manuscript by Leonardo da Vinci was sold for 30.8 million US dollars. Their similarity also lies in the historical value and personality charm of celebrity handwriting, which is a treasure that many collectors scramble to collect. The higher the price of the China letter, the more unique it is:
① Brush, a special writing tool in ancient China, is a homologous tool of art. Today, writing has gone through the stages of soft pen (brush) and hard pen (pen and original bead pen) and entered the computer age. Writing with a brush is rare, so the ink of letters in history is particularly precious.
Because of the development of telecom industry, letters gradually declined, and letters in history became scarce.
The writing style, writing style and calligraphy of letters are more unique, which makes collectors interested and worthy of investment.
References:
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