温州首家获政府批准的“叶茂钱收藏馆”自改革开放起步，至今已收藏了十大类3万多件文物，其中《永乐大典》、西周铜镜、东晋熊兽罐等国家级珍品及五代越窑秘色瓷莲花壶等百余件文物引起了省内外同行们的关注。原中国文物交流中心主任、国家博物馆研究员雷从云慕名前来参观后，大为惊叹：“《永乐大典》我只在故宫博物院看过，这里是平生第二次看到，还有那两件东晋熊兽罐和五代秘色瓷壶，都是顶级藏品啊！”看来，“叶茂钱收藏馆”真是个“藏龙卧虎”之地。
　　开设“叶茂钱收藏馆”的，便是浙江省瑞安市的收藏奇人叶茂钱。
　　
　　弃商从文为了文化遗产
　　叶茂钱是宋代永嘉学派集大成者叶适的后裔，但到了他曾祖父时，由于战乱饥荒，叶氏家道中落，从此众多后代成为手工业者或小商、小贩。叶茂钱14岁读完初一便辍学进厂当学徒，改革开放后他办过印机厂、皮件厂、皮鞋厂等，在90年代掀起的市场经济大潮中，小有积蓄的叶茂钱“反其道而行之”，他停工厂、退股份，挥戈转向，竟率全家投身于文物古玩收藏。
　　亲友们以为叶茂钱这一“招”是“另辟发财蹊径”，叶茂钱却笑而不答。人们只是见他节衣缩食，搜罗各种陶瓷、书画、古钱币、古铜器等等“背时废品”，于是许多人对他的作为无法理解，有人甚至觉得他“玩疯了！”但他的妻子胡玉琴最理解丈夫的心意，他是为了却儿时的一个夙愿：他想继承祖上书香传家的文脉，收藏文物古玩为世上留存一份珍贵文化遗产。
　　叶茂钱从小就有收藏天份，六七岁时乡俗过年，长辈、亲友常给孩子压岁钱或纪念品。不想几十年过后，当他拿出儿时收到的一盒盒崭新的纸币和一本本整齐的连环画时，大家都惊讶不已！看来叶茂钱从小就有收藏天赋和收藏情结呢！
　　叶茂钱学历不高，但酷爱历史，很早就感悟文物是文化，文物印证着历史，每一件文物古玩都烙刻着与个人、家庭、故乡、社会甚至国家息息相关的生命密码！文物对于传承中华文明、教育子孙后代的作用，是金钱无法代替的。他常对家人说赚钱可以生存，但生存在世不能光为了赚钱，我们家搞收藏、保护和鉴赏文物古玩，不但子女可以继承祖业，家乡与历史也会承认我们的努力和贡献。
　　进入21世纪后，在浙江建设文化大省热潮中，鉴于叶茂钱耗尽心血收藏起来的3万余件文物，政府正式发文批准其创办“叶茂钱收藏馆”。由于他收藏的文物实在太多，原有的居家之地无法容纳，市委、市政府又特批一座清代房产让他建立收藏馆。至此，叶茂钱终于遂愿，可以在收藏上大展宏图了！
　　
　　赈“破烂”惊得《永乐大典》
　　叶茂钱搞收藏离不开经济基础，所以平日全家粗茶淡饭，节衣缩食，把有限的钱全都化在收藏上。当儿女成了家、自己也年过半百之时，面对阴暗潮湿的旧房，他也从不轻言“换房”两字。由于他节俭出名，名字又和温州方言“一毛钱”谐音，因而乡亲们全都亲切地叫他“一毛钱”。不过叶茂钱虽然对自己“吝啬”，但对于助人和公益却十分慷慨：左邻右舍有何难处，他热情解囊；凡有收破烂的上门探询或出售，他一律笑脸相迎，并敬茶递烟或陪饭，就因为这样的“善举”，也许是“好心有好报”，他收藏的镇馆之宝《永乐大典》，就是收废品的赵甲所“牵扯”得来的：那一年收破烂的赵甲的妻子生病，急需上万元手术费，正当他借贷无门之时，叶茂钱帮他筹到一万元，赵甲感激涕零，激动地说：“这万元巨款我一时还不了，你放心吗？”叶茂钱对他抛出斩钉截铁一句话：“乡里乡亲的不说两样话，你救人要紧！”赵甲平时就知道叶茂钱为人厚道，凡发现古旧书籍、字画都先往叶家送，这次他心存感激，对他收藏的事就更加留心眼了！一天他听说宁波象山有位水产商从云南带回了一批抵债的古旧瓷器和古籍愿意出卖，于是赵甲便连夜赶往象山。由于他文化不高，这几年靠叶茂钱指点，能模模糊糊看懂某些古代瓷器，但对古籍真当一窍不通，当他赶到象山看到水产商捧出要价不菲的《永乐大典》时，赵甲瞪着眼睛呆了半天，好似坠入云里雾里！于是他只好返回瑞安，将此事一五一十地告诉叶茂钱。
　　
　　叶茂钱得知消息，顿时惊喜万分！他想，要是水产商捧出的是真正的《永乐大典》，那是稀世珍品啊！原来《永乐大典》是明朝皇帝指令翰林大学士解缙为首的3000学者耗时4年，精心编篡的一部极为珍贵的历史典籍，计11095册（22877卷）。不幸此典在嘉靖朝突然失踪，至今全球发现的尚不到400册，而且全是副本。谁料这寻遍天涯难觅芳踪的历史巨献，此刻竟被赵甲发现了几册，真是天赐良机啊！当晚叶茂钱就查资料、筹款项，通宵未眠，后来几经周折，在赵甲的帮助下终于花重金买下了两册《永乐大典》，该两册分别为第2217卷与14461卷。两册《永乐大典》全卷为干笔正楷书写，红黑分明。它被专家判为目前存世的唯一正本。其首页均钤“徐世章印”“濠园秘藏”两印，卷末钤“京师图书馆珍藏之印”，据叶茂钱考证，徐世章号濠园居士，是民国总统徐世昌的胞弟，历任民国要职，为书法家兼著名收藏家。也许此书在八国联军入侵时被掳出京师图书馆，经徐世章收藏后，又因云南蔡锷起兵护法而散失于西南。如今在改革开放之年又荣归叶馆收藏，堪称佳话和传奇！
　　当叶茂钱夫妇隆重地邀请赵甲饮庆功酒时，赵甲泪眼盈盈地说：“我有什么功呀？我是被你痴心文物收藏所感动，被你的善心所促成的啊！”
　　
　　感痴情众人赠珍品
　　正当叶茂钱痴情于文物收藏之时，有位台湾的亲友要请他去帮助经营，他婉言谢绝了好意，后来巴西的一位亲戚邀请他去巴西经商，出于对文物收藏的痴迷，他又毅然将这个机会转让给姐姐和弟弟。如今，他的弟弟叶茂胜已经成了巴西著名侨领，但叶茂钱不为所动，他唯一的要求是请弟弟留心，多为他收集流失海外的文物。叶茂钱还注意培养儿女对收藏文物的兴趣，如今他们已成了自己的得力帮手，一子二女大学毕业后都勤于钻研，特别是儿子叶晓勇，在瑞安收藏界已经显露头角。眼看后继有人，叶茂钱的收藏劲头更足了。
　　1997年夏，他听说绍兴一古玩店挂卖一幅乾隆间瑞籍书画家蔡镜云任德清知县时所书的篆字五尺大幅刘禹锡《陋室铭》，于是他忍着晕车呕吐的煎熬，连夜乘车去绍兴将它买来。诚如“千金买马骨，千里马常来”一样，从此圈内文友一带十、十带百的，都为叶茂钱痴心感动，为叶茂钱收藏出力。有的半卖半送，有的提供信息线索，由此他的购求圈从温、台、抗扩展至苏、皖、闽、广直至数千里外的西安、南宁甚至兰州！
　　
　　有感于叶茂钱的痴情，瑞安书香之家的老潘伯1998年把满满一箱书画作价1000元让给他。这真让他欣喜若狂，因为里面有近百名人的200多幅字画，包括清代女画家鲁纹的工笔画花鸟、上海首任文史馆馆长冒广生的题联、杨绍廉的长卷书法及北大老教授林损的行书等等。
　　有感于叶茂钱的痴情，有个农民要把祖传的十几件古陶瓷送到叶馆。其中有风格独特的东晋熊兽罐、极为珍贵的元青花瓷等。当这一消息走漏后，有文物爱好者赶到汽车站拦截，愿出五倍以上价格买下，但农民就是不卖。此人不解，想问个明白，农民笑答：“你买，可能倒卖赚钱；给叶馆长，是留存后世，不会流失，所以低价我也要给他！”
　　叶茂钱的痴心专注，更感动了家乡的父老乡亲。瑞安中学一位年过八旬教师，家藏祖传字画，其中有明代大思想家王阳明书法、唐伯虎绘画还有康熙皇帝之师傅李光地中堂书法，十分珍贵。他怕子孙糟蹋，要馈赠叶茂钱。叶极喜却不敢当，薛老只好象征性地收了点钱，算是“卖”给叶茂钱的。
　　最感人的是鸟屿镇一位90高龄黄埔军校出身的老人，他因儿孙沾染上赌博恶习，便把自己珍藏的隋、唐陶瓷和几百封名人信扎全部托付给叶茂钱。交点时，老人双唇哆嗦着郑重交代：“托付给你，是为了久藏于世，如此我死了也放心。这批名人墨宝有名人晚清的“三黄二孙”、近代的夏鼐、黄宾虹等，其中有把五代越窑秘色瓷莲花纹壶，为国内目前仅存，填补了越窑研究的空白。
　　
　　就在作者采访的正月初八夜，又一位文友给叶送来几面古铜镜，其中有光亮错金的汉镜，有四方锈垢的战国镜，还有一面薄薄的花纹拙朴的西周镜。作者到他家时，他眉笑颜开地打开箱子递给我看，那神态仿佛是年轻人娶到天下第一美女一样直嚷嚷：“我古镜已有百余面，就是没有收藏过西周的，这面属国家一级的镜，珍贵无比！”
　　数年来叶茂钱坚持免费向公众开馆展览，他租场馆、列藏品、配文字、打广告、作讲解，他付出了大量的时间和精力，尽管他与妻儿累得筋疲力尽，但听着乡亲父老及许多京沪专家的肯定和称赞，看到藏界朋友年多一年，他就感到心满意足。
　　2005年，叶茂钱作为发起人之一，又为筹建“瑞安市博物馆之友联谊会”四处奔走。他说，众人拾柴火焰高，万紫千红才是春，协会很快就发展了一百多名会员，他担任了副会长，还编印《收藏之友》。
　　在2007年市政协会上，他与叶适纪念馆副馆长叶伟东一起捐资倡议成立全国首家“中华文物保护贡献者救助基金会”，叶茂钱语重心长地说：“我们是四两拔千斤，想为推动全国的文保出点力！”
　　（本文摄影 叶伟东）
　　
　　A Dedicated Collector
　　By Zhang Yi
　　
　　In Rui’an, a suburban city of Wenzhou which is a port city known all over China for its prosperous private business sector over about the past 30 decades, Ye Maoqian is definitely an anachronistic figure. Unlike most of his contemporaries, he sold his business and put all his fortune into his ambition: collecting cultural antiques.
　　Ye Maoqian is a descendent of Ye Shi (1150-1223), a prominent scholar of the influential Yongjia School whose pro-business thoughts in the down-to-earth pragmatism is generally regarded as the pioneering spirit that has turned Wenzhou into a powerhouse of private business since late 1970s.
　　Ye Maoqian誷 family came down in the world due to war and natural disasters during the time of his great grandfather. From then on, most of his family members were vendors or craftsmen. Ye Maoqian dropped out of school at 14 and worked as an apprentice in a factory. After the reform policy was introduced, he established his own businesses. In the 1990s, he sold his shares and shut down his businesses and turned his interest and fortune to antiques.
　　At first, his business-minded friends and relatives thought he was just opening a new road for himself to make more money. Seeing him minimize everyday household expenditures to squeeze more cash for antiques, some people thought something went amiss in his mind. But his wife understood him best: Ye Maoqian wanted to inherit the cultural tradition of his ancestors and save antiques as cultural heritage for the country.
　　
　　As a matter of fact, Ye’s passion for the past valuables dates back to his childhood years. He still has brand-new banknotes he received decades ago as New Year gifts from elder family members and relatives and the comic books he saved as a kid.
　　Ye is not just inspired by his childhood whimsies for saving things from the good old days. He wants to save cultural valuables from the good old days for the country. This philosophy motivates him.
　　Today, Ye’s collection holds more than 30,000 pieces classified into ten categories, including about 100 curious pieces of state-class cultural relics. Riding on the wave of turning the province into a giant of culture, the government approved Ye’s application for setting up a private museum. As his collection was so huge, the local government assigned an additional Qing Dynasty house to Ye Maoqian to display his exhibits.
　　Some valuable antiques came to Ye under seemingly strange circumstances. Ye is the owner of the world’s only two known original volumes of Yongle Encyclopedia. The clue was first dredged up by a waste recycling man named Zhao Jia. Ye Maoqian once helped raise 10,000 cash for Zhao so that his sick wife could have the surgery. The waste recycling man was very grateful for Ye’s generosity. Whenever he got things that looked like valuable antiques, he would present them to Ye first. One day, Zhao heard that a businessman in a neighboring city received a large fortune of antique porcelains and other things from a business partner as payment for debt and now the businessman wished to cash the antiques. Zhao rushed to the neighboring city overnight. He gasped when he learned that the business man had two original volumes of the Yongle Encyclopedia, which would cost a big fortune. Zhao Jia came back to Ye Maoqian with the news.
　　
　　Ye Maoqian was excited. He knew the encyclopedia of 11095 books in 22877 volumes took 3,000 scholars four years to complete in the reign of Emperor Yongle (1403-1425) of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and it went missing mysteriously when the emperor passed away. Nowadays, there are only about 400 copies found in the world. Ye prayed that the originals should be authentic. Ye spent a sleepless night, trying to raise money through his sources and conducting a crash research on the encyclopedia. With Zhao Jia’s help, Ye Maoqian finally purchased the two originals, which cost him a big fortune. The two originals, volume 2217 and volume 14461, have been evaluated to be authentic.
　　Some people sold their antiques to Ye for a song. It was not that they did not know the value of the antiques in their keep, but that they knew Ye was the most trustworthy savior in neighborhood to keep their family heirlooms in tact. An experienced collector sold Ye 200 calligraphic works and paintings for just 1,000 yuan. A farmer, who turned down a big offer from an antique dealer, sold a dozen of ancient porcelains to Ye. The farmer explained to the dealer that Ye would save the porcelains for the future but the dealer wanted them only for selling at a profit. A retired middle school teacher aged 80 wanted to give Ye his heirlooms of ancient paintings and calligraphies for free, for fear that his own children would not value the antiques. Ye turned the offer down at first, but the old man insisted and agreed to accept a small amount of money as a token for the deal so that Ye would receive and save the gifts. A 90-year-old man in a neighboring town gave Ye a few extremely precious porcelains of the Sui (581-618) and Tang (618-907) Dynasties and hundreds of letters of celebrities. The old man explained that his grandson was an incorrigible gambler and he entrusted these valuables to Ye so that they would have an opportunity to be kept intact.
　　Today, Ye’s museum attracts a lot of experts, collectors, and curious people. Some experts even come all the way from Beijing or Shanghai to see the rare collections at the museum. In 2005, Ye and some fellow antique buffs founded an organization for museum fellows. At a meeting in 2007, Ye Maoqian and Ye Weidong, vice director of the Ye Shi museum, joined hands in setting up a foundation for donors of cultural relics.
　　(Translated by David)