343: Chapter Three Hundred and Forty-One: A Big Background 343: Chapter Three Hundred and Forty-One: A Big Background Morgan’s mood indeed improved a lot.
After pausing for a moment, Morgan let out a sigh and said, “Although I still can’t accept the foolish act of inscribing on a work of art, you’re right, being able to get this gun is already very fortunate.”
Gao Yang laughed and said, “It looks like this is another very fine addition to your collection.”
“The works of Clemens Wittenstein are very sought after in the antique firearms collecting circle, and their value is comparable to those by Alessandro.
Moreover, the number of surviving pieces of Clemens’s work is too few, and their condition is often far from ideal.
Hence, from the auction market’s performance, the transaction price for a perfect piece of Clemens’s work does not fall short of Alessandro’s.
However, it has been many years since a piece by Clemens last appeared on the market, I cannot give an accurate estimate.”
Compared to other works of art, the market for antique hunting shotguns is quite inexpensive.
A famous painter’s oil painting can fetch tens of millions of US dollars, but a top-quality antique hunting shotgun sells for only two to three hundred thousand US dollars.
Even the rarest antique guns have not sold for more than one million US dollars.
The prices of antique guns are not high, and since Gao Yang was going to give the shotgun to Morgan, he had neither the interest nor the right to ask Morgan how much his gift was worth.
Gao Yang shrugged and said, “As long as you like it, how much it’s worth doesn’t really matter.”
Morgan took a deep breath and said, “Like it?
It’s more than just liking it.
Do you know, finding a piece of Clemens’s work was my lifelong wish, as well as my father’s.
Sadly, my father passed away without ever finding a Clemens’s piece.
I spent many years and only found a Clemens handcrafted gun that can’t shoot.
But the gun you found, not only is it perfectly preserved and able to shoot, but it also has a proverb carved on it.
Do you know, only on Clemens’s most satisfying works would he carve a proverb.
So, this gun is also the most precious among Clemens’s pieces.”
Gao Yang smiled and said, “Turns out your collecting of antique hunting guns has a father-and-son origin.
Congratulations, I believe your father would be happy for you too.”
Another long sigh, and with a very reflective look, Morgan said, “Do you know, getting a firing piece of Clemens’s work is an ideal for me, far from just a matter of happiness.
It is a shared wish of my father and me.
So, Gao, thank you.
You have fulfilled the lifelong wish of both me and my father, and I don’t know how to thank you.”
Gao Yang waved his hand with a smile and said, “Given our relationship, there’s no need for thanks.
Please, if it weren’t for you sending Destin and the others over with a military plane to rescue me, I might very well be a corpse by now.
You don’t know how dangerous the situation was.
If it wasn’t for your help, Destin and his team couldn’t have made it in time to save me.
Actually, I am the one who should be thankful to you.”
Morgan had obtained a treasure he had long dreamt of, but he seemed not so much joyous as he was filled with emotion.
Morgan said gravely, “Sending a plane to transport people is not too difficult for me.
But finding a piece of Clemens’s work has taken me decades.
You don’t understand what a piece of Clemens means to me.”
After speaking, Morgan sighed again and said, “It’s a long story.
My mother was Jewish, living comfortably in Austria.
When she was young, my grandfather used to take her hunting with a Clemens hunting shotgun.
Those are the most precious memories for my mother.
But then, everything changed.
My grandfather was sent to a concentration camp.
Everyone in the family died, except for my mother.
All dead.
Later, my mother immigrated to America, where she met and married my father.
My mother lost everything, only memories remained.
For her, those hunting memories with her father are wonderful, so my father wanted to find a Clemens shotgun, one similar to that in my mother’s memory, to give to her.
But Clemens shotguns were too rare, and my father was never able to find one his entire life.
Because he wanted to find a piece of Clemens’s work, my father became a collector of antique guns, and he passed that wish and interest on to me.”
After finishing, Morgan said with a forlorn face, “Gao, thank you, truly.
What you have brought back to me is not just a gun.”
Gao Yang nodded and said solemnly, “I am very glad that you like my gift.”
Morgan smiled slightly and said, “You always bring me luck and surprises.
A Clemens’s piece with a proverb inscribed on it is indeed exceedingly rare.
It wasn’t until I had the gun in my hands that I dared to believe all this was real.”
Filled with curiosity, Gao Yang asked, “That Clemens, what’s his story?”
“Clemens Wittenstein, an Italian-Austrian, blended Italian and Austrian styles in his gun crafting and engraving techniques.
At the height of his career between 1840 and 1870, Clemens’s works had a unique feature: he would carve a proverb on a piece he was giving to someone, and especially if he was very pleased with the piece.”
After saying this, Morgan shrugged his shoulders and said, “The gun is inscribed with ‘The glorious path is not paved with flowers’, but I don’t know when this gun was made by Clemens, nor to whom it was given.
I’ve searched many records and found nothing about this gun.
You know, antique firearms are a niche collectible item; information is not as abundant as it is for mainstream art.”
Gao Yang laughed and said, “Who cares who it was for, as long as it’s in your hands now.”
Morgan touched the gold lettering on the stock of the gun with a gloomy face and said, “I know an expert who is very knowledgeable about Clemens’s work.
He should be able to tell the origin of this gun, and he can also restore it.
Since there are some issues with the origin of this gun, I was not planning to consult him.
But now it seems I must ask him to help me restore the gun and remove this line of gold lettering.”
Gao Yang laughed heartily and said, “The gun is yours now, so the trouble is yours too.
If you really can’t stand that line, just have it restored so it’s not visible.”
Morgan nodded his head with a resigned look and said, “I don’t mind the trouble, but compared to the potential issues, I can’t accept this line of text, so I have to deal with it right away.”
After saying this, Morgan took out his phone; he didn’t want to wait another second.
Once the phone was connected, Morgan spoke solemnly into it, “Hello, Mr.
Lewis, this is Morgan.
I have a piece by Clemens.
Could you restore it for me under the strictest confidentiality?”
After a short wait, Morgan got the response he wanted and chuckled, “Thank you very much.
I’ll come to see you as soon as possible.
Also, I’d like to ask, my gun is inscribed with a Latin proverb, ‘The glorious path is not paved with flowers’.
Do you know the origin of this gun?”
After finishing his question and hearing the voice on the other end of the phone, Morgan’s expression immediately became incredibly animated—shocked, incredulous, euphoric, and a touch sentimental.
A flurry of emotions played across Morgan’s face, but all boiled down to one thing—overwhelming joy.
Stunned after hanging up the phone, Morgan looked blankly at Gao Yang.
Gao Yang had no idea what had just happened and was about to ask Morgan what’s going on when Morgan suddenly raised the hunting gun high and yelled, “Ah!
Ah!
I am the luckiest man in the world, thank God, Gao, I love you, I absolutely adore you!”
Gao Yang was startled once again, and so were Morgan’s three bodyguards with him.
They had been standing about ten meters away from Morgan and Gao Yang but now turned around with surprised looks on their faces.
After hearing what Morgan had shouted, they gave Gao Yang a peculiar glance before turning their heads away again.
Gao Yang had known Morgan for quite some time and had never seen him lose his composure, not during life-threatening dangers, not when his son Bob was rescued nor when he received a cherished gift.
During all his meetings with Morgan, he had only seen him with a carefree demeanor, and now here was Morgan, yelling excitedly like he was a different person.
After the outburst, Morgan urgently said to Gao Yang, “F**k, Gao, tell me, what do you want?
What do you want?
If I don’t repay you, even God would punish me!”
Morgan, spitting with fervor, sprayed Gao Yang’s face, who wiped his face cautiously and said, “Morgan, are you alright?
What happened?”
Morgan, as happy as a child, wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes and exclaimed, “This gun was ordered by Franz Joseph I, the founder of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, from Clemens in 1856.
Franz Joseph I ordered two guns at the time, to hunt with his beloved later.
This gun is inscribed with ‘The glorious path is not paved with flowers’, which Franz Joseph I used himself, while the other gun is inscribed with ‘Love is the essence of life’, a gift to his wife Elisabeth Amalie Eugenie.
You might not be familiar with the name Elisabeth Amalie Eugenie, but you will surely know another name—she was Princess Sissi, who became the Empress of Austria and Queen of Hungary.”
Gao Yang jumped, saying, “The very Princess Sissi from the movie?”
Gao Yang’s remark was a bit awkward, but Morgan understood and nodded, saying, “Yes, the very Princess Sissi.”
After that, Morgan with tears in his eyes, said, “Gao, the wheel of fate has turned.
What excites me is not who used this gun, but what this gun represents.
Do you know, the gun that my grandfather and mother used bore the proverb: ‘Love is the essence of life.'”(To be continued.
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