“This...” Ted Lee hesitated, his confidence shaken.
Imagining the scenario Frank described sent a cold shiver down his spine. If he truly invited his connoisseur friends—wealthy men who prided themselves on their discerning eyes—over to his villa to show off his new "Song Dynasty Treasure," and they discovered it was a fake...
He would lose all standing in the amateur antique circle. He would be the laughingstock of Capital City's collectors. They would whisper that Ted Lee had more money than brains.
Ted Lee immediately picked up the porcelain cup again, inspecting it with renewed scrutiny. He tilted it under the chandelier light, searching for flaws he might have missed in his excitement. Was the glaze too perfect? Was the foot rim artificially distressed? Doubt gnawed at him.
Just a
