Krzyzewski pondered for a moment and said, “If these paintings by Pinajang are sold separately, they could fetch between two million and 2.2 million Canadian dollars. If auctioned as a bundle, it might be around 1.5 million Canadian dollars.”

　　Auerbach asked, “Why is there such a big price difference?”

　　Owen Sutton was quite satisfied; at least it would cover his probate tax, and he could keep the fishery.

　　Krzyzewski explained, “Rarity increases value. If thirty paintings appear on the market at the same time, it will lower the value of Pinajang’s works. If sold separately—not auctioned separately—there’s no such concern.”

　　“Why can’t they be auctioned separately?” Auerbach asked.

　　Krzyzewski further explained, “Because those who like Pinajang’s works are artists, not collectors. Artists won’t attend auctions; they don’t have the money to compete with those tycoons and celebrities. And if auctioned individually, with such low-profile works, collectors won’t be interested. Only a bundled auction will work.”

　　Seeing his old friend rather disappointed, he added comfortingly, “That Pinajang copy of ‘Sunflowers’ can be auctioned individually, though. My estimate is 300,000 Canadian dollars, which shouldn’t be too low.”

　　At the same time, Krzyzewski explained to Owen Sutton why that ‘Sunflowers’ was obviously a forgery. As everyone knows, Van Gogh was Dutch, and the language he used was Dutch.

　　Dutch, like English, is composed of letters, but it does not include the letters ‘Q, X, Y’. Yet on this ‘Sunflowers’, there was a sentence: ‘To my wandering life’, which contains the letters X and Y, so it’s obvious this is not an authentic piece.

　　Owen Sutton was fairly satisfied with this result. What he urgently needed was the money for probate tax, and the auction of these paintings would clearly solve his immediate problem. As for more money, Owen Sutton wasn’t in a hurry. Now that he had the means to roam the seas at will, it was only a matter of time before he discovered real sunken treasures.

　　The next focus was to authenticate the Picasso painting ‘Woman with a Tambourine’.

　　Krzyzewski told the two that authenticating a Picasso painting was rather time-consuming, taking at least two hours, as they needed to connect with experts from the company’s international fine art department for discussion.

　　Owen Sutton lost interest after waiting a while and went upstairs to the bedroom to watch TV with the two little squirrels.

　　Unknowingly, at eleven o’clock, Krzyzewski knocked and entered. As soon as he came in, he saw the bronze statue placed on the balcony for decoration, and his attention was immediately drawn to it. He quickly walked over for a closer look.

　　This statue had been salvaged from Sunken Treasure Lake along with those paintings. Owen Sutton thought the statue was so rusty it couldn’t be worth much.

　　Krzyzewski circled the statue a few times. After a long while, he turned around, frowned, and said, “Mr. Sutton, I have good news, bad news, and uncertain news for you. Which would you like to hear first?”

　　Owen Sutton was roaring inside: Are you kidding me? We’re not shooting a movie here. Just tell me the news—why the good, bad, and uncertain options?

　　But since the man was here to help, Owen Sutton had to remain polite and said, “As you wish, sir.”

　　Krzyzewski nodded and said, “Then I’ll start with the good news. ‘Woman with a Tambourine’ is indeed an authentic Picasso. According to carbon-14 dating, the painting was created in 1939.”

　　“The bad news is, this painting is from Picasso’s transitional period, likely something he painted casually. Its value isn’t high—maybe just a bit more than the Pinajang copy of ‘Sunflowers’.”

　　“In addition, there’s some uncertain news: your ‘Perseus and Medusa’ statue might be genuine. I’ll immediately invite colleagues for authentication. If it’s real, I estimate its value at no less than thirty million Canadian dollars!”

Chapter 0010: Rescuing the Coral

　　The authentication of this statue was actually faster than that of the paintings. Krzyzewski took comprehensive photos and sent them back to the company, then scraped off a bit of bronze dust and used the carbon-14 tester he brought for analysis.

　　The machine’s result showed that the statue dated from the mid-16th century. Seeing this, Krzyzewski said confidently, “Congratulations, Mr. Sutton, you may own the most valuable statue of the year!”

　　In fact, because of the ‘Sunflowers’ forgery, Owen Sutton had mentally prepared himself for the possibility that none of the artworks were valuable. Even if the Picasso painting turned out to be a fake, he could have accepted it calmly.

　　But now, faced with this result, he really couldn’t stay calm: the statue he thought wouldn’t even fetch a few hundred bucks as scrap bronze turned out to be a thirty-million-dollar antique—and that’s in Canadian dollars!

　　Sensing his thoughts, a rare smile appeared on Krzyzewski’s usually serious face. He said, “If this ‘Perseus and Medusa’ statue hadn’t rusted due to poor preservation, its value could have been another ten million higher. You may not know, but this statue is the greatest work of Mr. Cellini, one of the most famous Italian sculptors of the 16th century!”

　　Owen Sutton really didn’t know much about these things. What he did know was that he had truly become a nouveau riche…