Leaving Only the Greatest Treasure Behind
The next day.
Morning sunlight spilled over Wishville.
Frost that had fallen overnight lay translucent over the red, wrinkled earth.
In a place that had nothing but an empty lot and a rusted barbed-wire fence, an unusual scene was unfolding now.
Rumble—
Black Lincoln Town Cars, silver Cadillac DeVilles, hulking Chevrolet Suburbans, and all manner of luxury sedans arrived one after another, kicking up dust as they gathered in front of the abandoned warehouse.
Rick stood before them.
He greeted the visitors with the grave, resolute bearing of a general facing a million enemy soldiers.
“This way, please.”
Rick had unfolded two folding tables and laid out piles of cotton gloves and magnifying glasses on top of them.
On the ground, he’d marked off sections with Scotch tape.
Available for Viewing / Sold
A one-page inventory list printed from a typewriter lay on the table.
Snow White cel animation>
- Condition: A
- Immediate Purchase Price: $50,000
- Estimated Auction Price: $65,000
<Elvis Presley signed Sun Records album>
- Condition: A-
- Immediate Purchase Price: $20,000
- Estimated Auction Price: $28,000
<Iron Cross Knight’s Cross (Germany, World War II)>
- Condition: B+
- Immediate Purchase Price: $20,000
- Estimated Auction Price: $25,000
<Gone with the Wind first-edition pamphlet>
- Condition: B+
- Immediate Purchase Price: $20,000
- Estimated Auction Price: $24,000
<Gibson Les Paul amp (1950s)>
- Condition: A
- Immediate Purchase Price: $12,000
- Estimated Auction Price: $15,000
<Japanese tin toy robot set>
- Condition: A-
- Immediate Purchase Price: $12,000
- Estimated Auction Price: $16,000
<Unopened Mattel Barbie (1959)>
- Condition: A+
- Immediate Purchase Price: $8,000
- Estimated Auction Price: $12,000
<Vintage poster collection (lot)>
- Condition: B+
- Immediate Purchase Price: $8,000
- Estimated Auction Price: $10,000
<Vintage Coca-Cola vending machine (1950s)>
- Condition: B
- Immediate Purchase Price: $6,000
- Estimated Auction Price: $8,000
<Gold rush-era photo album>
- Condition: A
- Immediate Purchase Price: $5,000
- Estimated Auction Price: $7,000
<Leica IIIc camera (display-production run)>
- Condition: A
- Immediate Purchase Price: $3,000
- Estimated Auction Price: $4,500
<Vintage miner’s equipment set>
- Condition: B
- Immediate Purchase Price: $3,000
- Estimated Auction Price: $4,000
.
.
The item name, condition, immediate purchase price, and estimated auction price were all laid out in neat, orderly columns.
“······.”
“······.”
“······.”
The collectors who got out of their cars crowded in.
There was an oil tycoon in Texas crocodile boots, an aging literary critic and collector in a tweed jacket, an old-car dealer in a leather jumper, a record dealer in a cashmere coat, a military collector in an Eisenhower jacket and beret, a heavyset toy dealer with a ponytail, an old gentleman wearing a ring engraved with a brewery crest, a photo-equipment collector in a worn safari vest with two cameras hanging from his neck, and more besides.
They didn’t even bother to exchange nods.
They only slipped on their gloves in silence, examined the items through magnifying glasses, or fidgeted with checkbooks pulled from inside their jackets.
In the taut silence, Rick finally spoke.
“All right, everyone. Let me go over a few rules.”
Rick held up his fingers one by one.
“First, no photography. That includes Polaroids and camcorders. Please take it in with your eyes only. Second, before touching anything, make sure you put on gloves. If even a single fingerprint is left behind, you may be charged restoration costs. Third, the prices I’ve listed are the standard. What you’d call an anchor price. If you want to negotiate, you’ll need to provide a reasonable basis.”
The most important rule came last.
“Fourth, I only accept cashier’s checks or wire transfers. Everything has to be completed during banking hours. Personal checks, promissory notes, and layaway will be politely declined.”
A cashier’s check is a check issued directly by a bank, guaranteeing payment, while a wire transfer means an immediate electronic transfer between banks.
Since both are proof that the money exists, they’re the standard methods of payment for high-value transactions.
By contrast, a personal check can bounce if the account doesn’t have enough funds; a promissory note requires a lawsuit if payment isn’t made on time; and as for layaway, there was no need to explain why that wasn’t happening here.
At that moment, one of the old-car dealers folded his arms and stepped forward.
“Hey, I’d like to talk directly to the seller.”
“I’m your point of contact today.”
Rick’s eyes were ice.
“If that doesn’t suit you, you’re welcome to just look and leave.”
“······.”
The dealer had poked the hornet’s nest for nothing and came away with less than nothing.
Before long, the first negotiation began in front of the Shelby Cobra 427 S/C.
The old-car dealer from earlier circled the body once before speaking.
He tried to bargain with Rick.
“The economy’s in terrible shape these days. In times like this, cash is king, you know? If someone’s willing to lay down a massive pile of cash right now, that means they’re entitled to demand a proper risk premium.”
“Get to the point.”
“You know as well as I do that the Cobra market is flooded with replicas. There are fake lookalikes all over the place. Without a solid guarantee that this is authentic, that price is nonsense. And even if it is real, what about the extra costs? Transporting it from here to my garage, insurance against damage in transit, the paperwork to register it with the state and transfer the title. Once you factor all that in, this price is way too high.”
Rather than answer him, Rick showed him.
He switched on a flashlight and shone it beneath the footbox by the driver’s seat, onto the frame.
A serial number stamped into the steel frame came clearly into view.
“······CSX3021.”
Rick recited the number and set a stack of documents on the table.
Registration papers issued by Shelby American, along with copies of records tracing the car’s previous owners.
“If you want to argue about authenticity, let’s do it somewhere else.”
“······.”
“The immediate cash price is $4.8 million.”
“······.”
When the old-car dealer shut his mouth, the others crowding behind him did the same.
Rick continued in a calm voice.
“If it goes to auction, with the buyer’s premium included, it’ll probably land somewhere between $5.5 million and $6.2 million. Want me to explain why? Two years ago, at the 1989 Barrett-Jackson auction, a 427 model in similar condition sold for $4.1 million. You said the economy’s in a slump, right? True. But people struggling because of a slump aren’t buying cars like this in the first place. A person buying a Shelby Cobra in 1991? For them, a recession is just a season that’s a little too hot or a little too cold. Incidentally, just one year ago, an S/C model that changed hands privately at the California Circuit Club fetched $4.5 million.”
“Still, four-point-eight million cash right now is impossible. How am I supposed to come up with that much in actual cash······”
“Understood.”
Rick shrugged.
“Then today you can just look and go. There’s someone else waiting in line with a fat stack of bills.”
He pulled a small pocket notebook and a pager from his pocket, idly fiddling with them.
As if he were about to contact the next buyer.
The dealer’s face stiffened.
“Damn it! Fine! Fine, I’ll buy it!”
He spat the words out between clenched teeth.
“But I want all the original spare parts over there, the factory cover, and the old catalogs that this car was pictured in too.”
“Those are separate items. I’ll give you a special discount and throw them in for $200,000.”
“You’re stripping me down to the bone!”
“Then don’t buy them. I can always call someone else······”
“I said I’d take it! Five million! I’ll pay five million! So stop with that damned threat about calling somebody else!”
“Thank you. I’ll take a 10 percent deposit in the amount of $500,000 by cashier’s check, and the balance can be wired as soon as the bank opens in a few hours.”
The dealer muttered curses as he filled out the check.
Rick checked the check he’d been handed, then placed a long strip of tape marked Sold across the floor where the Shelby Cobra had stood.
The first sale was a success.
The second deal began at once.
An old gentleman in a tweed jacket stepped forward.
He was a writer and literary critic, but he was more famous as a collector of handwritten manuscripts and cherished belongings from the old masters of literature than for any authority he had in the literary world.
The old gentleman came forward holding an Ernest Hemingway manuscript.
“Listen, friend. Until this is certified authentic, it’s just a bundle of paper. I’m the one bearing the risk if the appraisal fails, so the price needs to come down accordingly.”
Rick answered not with words but with evidence.
He took out a magnifying glass and shone it on the paper’s watermark.
“1920s French linen paper. It matches the paper Hemingway used during his time in Paris.”
Then Rick pointed at the typed letter a.
“There’s slight wear at the bottom of the typeface. That’s characteristic of the 1921 Underwood typewriter Hemingway used. To fake something like this, you’d have to reproduce even this level of detail, and the cost of that would be greater than the reward.”
Rather than cutting the price, Rick proposed a transaction structure.
“The price is $4.5 million. I’m afraid I can’t reduce it. But we can run the transaction through escrow.”
Escrow is a system in which the payment is held by a third-party institution and released to the seller once the conditions are met.
It’s an old system used in the United States since the nineteenth century, and it’s common in transactions involving real estate, art, and antiques.
Rick had shut down any possibility of haggling at the source.
“If you object, you may bring me proof of authenticity within six months. If it turns out to be a forgery, I’ll issue a full refund. However, you’ll need to pay a 10 percent deposit of $450,000 as security for tying up the item during that period, and that portion would be difficult to refund later.”
“What kind of nonsense is that!?”
“Unfortunately, that kind of nonsense exists right here. The historical manuscript will go to whoever can accept that cold, hard fact.”
For just a moment, the old gentleman hesitated, and then a lady who had been standing beside him suddenly thrust out a check.
“I’ll buy it!”
“What? I was here first!”
“And who told you to hesitate?”
“It should go to someone who understands literary value!”
“Oh, please. Bidding is done with money, not taste.”
The lady shoved the old gentleman aside with her ample backside and stuffed the check into the front pocket of Rick’s shirt.
Rick accepted her check and shrugged at the old gentleman.
“Life is all about timing, sir.”
“You blasted—!”
The old gentleman, beaten to the punch, slammed the table with trembling hands.
Meanwhile, at the LP records, the record dealer was negotiating with Vito.
“This grading isn’t even done properly. If there are faint scratches on the surface, the price is cut in half.”
Probably because he had some auction experience of his own, Vito countered with impressive ease.
“Please check the matrix number on this Robert Johnson 78. It’s the first pressing among first editions. For a record this rare, a scratch or two doesn’t decide its value. If you broke it up and sold it off piece by piece at auction, you’d get at least twice what I’m offering. I’m saving you that time and effort.”
“Ha. Auction? Do you know how small this world is? The moment an item of unknown origin appears at an auction house, do you know what people like me do first? We request an authenticity review. That review alone takes six months. During that time, the record sits in storage and your money is tied up. Can you afford that?”
“That’s exactly why I asked,” Vito said. “If you checked the matrix number or not. The original pressing number from the recording done straight to disc is right here, clearly visible. The 1936 San Antonio session, first pressing of ‘Cross Road Blues.’ This is the kind of thing it doesn’t pay to counterfeit. Where would a forger even get hold of 1930s shellac masters? And you said it had unknown provenance, but······ when a Memphis radio station shut down in 1962, it sold off its entire stock of records. I have a copy of the buyer list and the receipts from that sale right here. This record was part of that batch. And as for the six-month verification period, that actually works in our favor. In six months, the Robert Johnson documentary will be released. You know, the one Sony’s producing. By then, this record will be worth three times what it is now. Time to wait? We’ve got more than enough. No, the longer you wait, the better for us.”
“Tch.”
The record dealer couldn’t say another word, and Rick, standing nearby, gave Vito a thumbs-up.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
After that, the sales continued smoothly.
When they sold the 1880s bourbon whiskey, there was a collector who tried to chip away at the price by bringing up liquor-sale regulations.
But Rick smoothly kept within the law, saying that this wasn’t the sale of alcohol but the transfer of a historical artifact.
When a collector tried to lower the price of the Disney cel animation on the excuse of restoration costs, Rick countered with the original coloring condition and the Disney studio authentication stamp and secured the immediate purchase price.
When the military collector raised moral objections about Nazi-related items in connection with the Iron Cross, Rick reminded him that historical artifacts and ideological sympathy were two different matters and wrapped up the negotiation.
When the toy dealer pointed out paint loss on the Japanese tin robot set, Rick emphasized the rarity of 1950s Japanese toys and the fact that the box was unopened, holding the price firm.
When the photo-equipment collector questioned the quality of the Leica display-production run, Rick persuaded him that the historical context itself was a premium and closed the deal.
When the buyer of the vintage Coca-Cola vending machine asked whether it actually worked, Rick redefined its purpose on the spot, saying it wasn’t a machine for dispensing drinks but an object that displayed an era.
Wow, they really knew what they were doing.
Victor, my uncle, and I watched everything from a corner of the warehouse.
Rick was genuinely a professional, and he was absurdly good at his job.
And Vito supported him perfectly so that every sale could be completed without a single legal issue.
Before long, every item discovered in the warehouse had found a new owner and left.
There were even collectors who bought up waste and scrap metal in bulk, so the abandoned warehouse district truly ended up completely empty.
At last, Rick held a stack of receipts with carbon paper inserted between the copies and calculated his fee.
Tap-tap-tatata!
The sound of the calculator keys was brisk and cheerful.
He circled the final total with a pencil and nodded in satisfaction.
“This level of compensation seems fair.”
“I’ll transfer it right away. Or would you prefer cash?”
“No!”
The moment I mentioned payment, Rick shook his head with a solemn expression.
“I’m going to use my fee to buy you this.”
What Rick showed me was an unopened pink pony doll.
“What is this?”
“Ah, this is the main character from My Little PonyPony, but this is the early G1 model, and······”
I had to endure no fewer than eight full minutes of praise for this bright-eyed pink pony doll.
“Anyway, if you add a hundred dollars on top of my fee, the price comes out exactly right!”
In the end, Rick even shoved a hundred-dollar bill into my hand.
I nodded readily.
It was hard not to admire how steady and consistent the demand for “cute pony cartoon characters” would be in America after 2010.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Eventually, every transaction was complete.
The collectors’ cars disappeared in clouds of dust.
In my hands was the final settlement statement Rick had handed me.
Total: $12,730,621.
More than twelve million dollars had fallen into my hands.
That was more than six times what I’d spent to acquire the entire abandoned-warehouse property.
Honestly, I hadn’t expected it to sell this well either······
It had left a profit far beyond anything I’d predicted, which meant I now had that much more seed money to work with.
At that point, Victor, who was standing beside me, spoke up.
“Sanha. In my opinion, you’re a god. The god of money. What would Grace say if she saw this? If she knew her boyfriend had this much talent······”
“I told you, he’s not my boyfriend.”
Even as I played along with Victor’s joke, my mind was actually occupied with something more complicated.
······.
In truth, I still had one item left unsold.
One thing I’d deliberately left behind even after selling every treasure and every piece of junk in the abandoned warehouse.
Rustle—
I slipped my hand into the inside pocket of my jacket and felt out a few thin sheets of paper.
Old documents, yellowed with age and frayed at the edges.
At the top of the cover page, a faint but unmistakable seal was stamped.
<Original issued by the Massachusetts Mining Bureau, 1889>
Beneath it was a map.
A secret section of a tunnel leading into the deep body of the gold mine.
A narrow, deep fissure that could never have been found with the naked eye, and the entrance leading into it.
<Second Gold Mine, Tunnel 3021, Unexplored Section>
This was the path into the deepest part of the mine that was known as exhausted—the route into a geological layer no one had yet examined.
The documents attached to the back of the map were packed with small words suggesting legal force.
<······Mining rights registration completed — The owner of this certificate may exclusively exercise exploration rights, mining rights, and disposal rights over all mineral resources buried in the above-mentioned area, and these rights may be transferred, inherited, and used as collateral under the protection of federal and state law······>
I never told anyone about this map or these documents, which recorded the truth of this abandoned warehouse district—or rather, of the abandoned mining district it had once been.
Why?
······It’d be nice to work on it together with the oil field in my backyard, wouldn’t it?
Oil and gold had one thing in common: both were underground resources.
I planned to establish a mining company and develop the two sites at the same time—the oil field near my house and the gold mine near the school.