"Compendium of Materia Medica" records: "Old wood, rotten skin for many years, not bad heart branches. Hard and black is also agarwood. " This solid condensate, which is "knotted" by a special fragrant tree and mixed with oil (resin) and wood components, is not only elegant in fragrance, but also has magical effects such as clearing customs, dredging qi, preserving health and treating diseases, and has always been an important medicinal material; Buddhism, Taoism, Christianity and other five major religions are also willing to show their favor for agarwood to their followers. You can see agarwood in solemn places and ceremonies, and you can also see agarwood in religious articles that can be seen everywhere. Even the essential oils and natural perfumes often used in modern people's daily life and communication are matched with agarwood as high-grade perfumes, not to mention that literati must burn incense as companions, speak loudly and stimulate words when they are alone. Some Xiangyou also spontaneously organized circles to exchange and share the high-quality agarwood in their hands.
Although agarwood has maintained a high price since ancient times, the increasing number of suitors, coupled with the value law of "scarcity is precious" and the long process of producing high-quality agarwood, have continuously raised the price of imported agarwood. At the same time, some older agarwood trees in China began to be popular in people's eyes. Since June 5438+ 10 this year, many agarwood trees such as Wutongshan and Meilinshan in Shenzhen have been illegally cut down on a large scale. The balsam cut from the bark of agarwood is called "raw knot" by people in the industry. Its quality is not as good as that of "cooked knot" natural agarwood, but its market price is still much higher than that of gold, so it has also become the object of illegal logging.
This kind of agarwood picked from living trees is called "living Chen" by colleagues in Taiwan Province Province. Generally, it needs to be ignited before it can emit fragrance. Originally the best raw material for high-level religious incense, it has now flowed into the homes of ordinary people and become the most precious spice for people to relax, relieve stress and improve sleep. In recent years, the market is very tense. The person in charge of the company was particularly sad when he heard that some agarwood trees had been cut down by illegal loggers. "There are not many agarwood trees in China. Generally speaking, only fragrant trees with decades or more can form agarwood, and it can only be fragrant for decades or even hundreds of thousands of years, so top-grade natural agarwood is priceless. People who really understand and love agarwood will not tolerate this kind of behavior. As a magical gift from nature, people should be in awe. "
The price of agarwood has been rising all the way, and investment has become fashionable. China has inherited a long history of incense culture since ancient times. As early as the song dynasty, there was a saying that agarwood was one or two and gold was one or two. According to historical records, the development of China's "fragrance culture" began in the Spring and Autumn Period, grew up in the Han Dynasty, matured in the Tang Dynasty, flourished in the Song Dynasty, and has been passed down from the Ming and Qing Dynasties to this day. During the Song and Yuan Dynasties, people regarded tasting incense, fighting tea, arranging flowers and hanging pictures as the "four busy tasks" in the elegant life of the upper class. Scholars of all ages have left countless famous sentences with the theme of tasting incense. As a result, incense culture is gradually sought after and favored in this era of pursuing fashion, and investing in collecting agarwood has become a fashion for Chinese people. Because the output is very small, the first-class agarwood is "one fragrance is hard to find". Coupled with the speculation of funds, this has led to the soaring price of agarwood in recent years, and some vendors have seen opportunities from it, shoddy and counterfeit agarwood flooding the market.
1. Personality choice
Experts who have been engaged in the research and collection of agarwood for a long time said that the character of agarwood is quiet and peaceful, and excessive hype is a blasphemy to agarwood. In order to enter the field of agarwood, it is best to fully understand the common sense of agarwood, taste the fragrance of agarwood, and then choose products and collections from the perspective of love. Don't blindly follow the trend.
2. Special identification
Generally, sinks are dark brown, as well as dark blue and yellow. The real agarwood is worn, and it gets darker and brighter as it is worn, rather than being born black. In addition, agarwood has the fragrance of traditional Chinese medicine, and Daphne seems to have a layer of oil, but it is not dirty to the touch and feels very oily. If it is a fake, it will get black oil stains. It is worth noting that true agarwood generally sinks when entering the water because of its heavy texture. But now there are "agarwood" made of miscellaneous wood soaked in sesame oil on the market, which can sink into water, so it can't be judged by weight alone. However, this identification method is still difficult for citizens who have never been exposed to agarwood. Therefore, investors should not follow suit to invest in agarwood, so as not to buy fakes in the agarwood market where fakes are rampant.
3. Knowledge precipitation
With the rapid increase in the price of agarwood, many merchants have taken a fancy to the investment benefits of agarwood, so there are many counterfeit agarwood in the collection market, and counterfeit agarwood is the most common in antique stalls, with a ratio as high as 80% to 90%. In this case, it is necessary for people who have just entered the agarwood collection to strengthen the knowledge of agarwood, and books are undoubtedly a fast channel to make up for the knowledge of agarwood. Unfortunately, there are not many books devoted to the study of Aquilaria sinensis in China at present, and the records of Aquilaria sinensis knowledge are mainly found in ancient articles, which hinders the popularization and application of Aquilaria sinensis to some extent.
In this case, the author suggests that collectors should shop around before buying agarwood. Prices in the market include fried agarwood and fake agarwood. Before buying agarwood, you should look at and compare the agarwood of various businesses. After repeated research and understanding, you will have a better grasp of choosing honest businesses. Investing in agarwood is extremely risky, and it is best for ordinary investors who lack professional knowledge not to blindly follow suit.
The price of agarwood is mainly controlled by the age. The price of agarwood depends on the quality and post-production technology, just look at Xiang Supreme.