Chapter 78: The Insignificant Plaque Ingots

With Liang En's permission granted, Fan Meng swiftly cleared out the old newspapers. What emerged were blocks of gray-black metal ingots shimmering with metallic luster. "Oh—this seems to be silver."

Gently picking up two pieces and giving them a tap, an excited expression appeared on Fan Meng's face. However, as he turned around, he noticed Liang En holding one piece of silver ingot with a furrowed brow.

By now, Liang En had measured the dimensions of the object using a small measuring tape he had on him. He found that each silver ingot was roughly 6cm in length, 3.5cm in width, and about 1.5cm thick. They bore numerous scratches and black oxidation marks.

"Boss, this is silver," Fan Meng exclaimed, perplexed by Liang En's expression. "And I think these things might be antique, with some history."

From Fan Meng's perspective, these aged precious metal ingots should fit the definition of treasure perfectly. He couldn't fathom why Liang En wasn't excited at all.

Observing Fan Meng's excitement, Liang En felt somewhat speechless. However, since Fan Meng was his assistant now, he deemed it necessary to explain, lest Fan Meng ended up in a troublesome situation.

"This thing is called a 'Plaque Ingot,' also known as 'Gonggu Silver' or 'Saddle Ingot.' Its name stems from its resemblance to ancient plaque architecture. These were cast during the reigns of Emperor Guangxu and Emperor Xuantong of the Qing Dynasty, circulating for over thirty years until the early years of the Republic of China. They were primarily used in the southwestern region of Huaxia."

"Due to the currency reform in the early years of the Republic, a significant portion of these silvers were reclaimed and recast into silver dollars, so there are not many left today."

Upon hearing Liang En's explanation, Fan Meng became even more bewildered. According to Liang En's account, since these silver ingots known as Plaque Ingots had a short issuance period, limited distribution, and scarce remaining quantity, they should be quite valuable.

"I remember you understand Chinese, so you can read the characters written on them." Seeing Fan Meng's perplexed expression, Liang En chuckled and pointed to the characters on one of the silver pieces.

Despite Fan Meng's mixed Eastern and Western appearance, he had been forced to learn Chinese by his father from a young age. Thus, he recognized the inscriptions on these silver pieces and quickly read aloud the Chinese characters engraved on them.

"Guangbao Tongxu Tianbao Dibao." After recognizing those disorderly characters, Fan Meng furrowed his brow. These characters not only made no sense in terms of content but their structural arrangement was also haphazard, resembling childlike scribbles.

"These were not forged within the borders of Huaxia; they are imitations crafted in various Southeast Asian countries," Liang En unveiled the mystery directly. It turned out that though the southwestern border of Huaxia was remote, it thrived with international trade back in the day.

Local traders and neighboring countries like Thailand, Myanmar, and Laos engaged in cross-border trade. Silver dollars were not highly circulated in these regions, necessitating the use of a substantial amount of silver as the hard currency in trade transactions.

Hence, including the Plaque Ingots, those silver ingots from various provinces of Huaxia that had ceased circulation underwent a transformation, turning into international trade currency. They were even regarded as a legitimate local currency.

As a result, these Southeast Asian countries not only acquired a significant number of silver ingots through trade but also, following the style and characters of traditional Huaxia silver ingots, cast their own batch of silver ingots for international trade and local circulation.

However, due to linguistic, cultural, and technological differences among countries, the cast silver ingots, both in craftsmanship and inscriptions, could not compare to those of the Central Lands. They were crudely cast, had inconsistent purity, and their inscriptions were riddled with errors.

For instance, Liang En and his team found the inscription "Guangbao Tongxu" on these silver ingots, which was actually a miswriting of "Guangxu Tongbao." This error likely occurred because they were trying to mimic the inscription style of copper coins but misunderstood the proper sequence.

As for the subsequent "Tianbao Dibao," it came from Huaxia's traditional folk beliefs, used for blessings and warding off disasters. It was probably imprinted here to bestow divine blessings and oversight upon these silver ingots.

"So, these silvers are just poor imitations of genuine silver ingots?" Fan Meng commented, shrugging in resignation. He had thought that he would uncover a treasure on his first job, but it seemed unlikely now.

"Yes, because the quality of these silvers is evidently inferior to that of genuine silver ingots, and their production and existing quantity are quite significant," Liang En nodded. "So, in the market, the price of these silver ingots is equivalent to the value of their silver content."

"These ingots each contain the equivalent of five taels of silver from old Huaxia, roughly 170 grams by today's standards. On the market, each piece should fetch around 100 pounds."

"That's not a small amount," Fan Meng adjusted his emotions. "After all, even in a place like London, the average monthly income is just over 3,300 pounds, so 600 pounds should be higher than the weekly wage of most people."

Regarding the reason these silver ingots were hidden in the doorframes, Liang En inferred from the newspapers used to wrap these ingots. The dates on these newspapers fell between May and August of 1940.

This timeframe aligned with the early stages of the British Expeditionary Force's disastrous campaign on the European continent during World War II. Despite preserving their forces through the Dunkirk evacuation, they had almost depleted their weaponry. Meanwhile, the German Luftwaffe had begun bombing various British cities.

For the British populace, the nation was in turmoil during this time, and the specter of war loomed over Britain. Many Britons chose to convert their assets into precious metals to weather the chaotic times.

These silver ingots were likely hidden by the inhabitants living here at the time. As for why they were Southeast Asian ingots, that was reasonable, considering Britain, as a once global empire, had acquired silver from various countries.

After securing these silver ingots, Liang En and his team continued searching other areas, but unfortunately, besides the oak tea table and the silver ingots, they didn't find anything valuable on the ground floor.

However, upon ascending to the second floor, they realized that, in terms of value, the items on the second floor were noticeably inferior to those on the ground floor.

This discrepancy arose because, unlike the communal spaces on the ground floor, the private spaces on the second floor underwent changes in their contents with each change of ownership, leaving very few valuable items behind.

While the glass on the second-floor windows was intact, preserving the items inside better than those on the ground floor, the items from the 1960s and 1970s failed to arouse much enthusiasm.

For instance, both the bedroom and guest room on the second floor housed old-style televisions with large cathode-ray tubes, likely dating back four or five decades. However, they were nothing more than electronic waste.

However, when the two climbed up to the attic, the situation changed once again. Amid a pile of tattered clothes, they found a box that was roughly the size of a car's trunk.

"This is a camphorwood box from Southeast Asia." Wiping off the dust from the box and examining the patterns on top, and then leaning in to smell it, Liang En spoke about the large box encircled by several layers of reinforced iron strips.

"A box of this size made from camphorwood could sell for over a hundred pounds. What's even more important is that this type of box is often used to store important items. If there's something inside, we've hit the jackpot this time."

With that, Liang En used the axe in his hand to smash the heavily rusted lock on the box and opened the lid.