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Posted By: barrysloate

This is a very interesting discussion, and I agree with Richard that if every bidder set a maximum and stopped there, the shilling would disappear. But the auction world doesn't work that way.

What every major auction house knows all too well is that their best clients are extremely wealthy and have enormous egos, and they use that information to their advantage. Most high end bidders don't set limits, but instead decide they are not going to leave the auction without going home with a specific lot. And the auction houses know this all too well. There are even bidders who will brag to the principals that they are going to win such and such a lot no matter what.

Bruce is correct that the money, power, and ego of certain bidders know no bounds. And that, for better or worse, is what makes the auction business tick. And since the law allows them to keep pushing up a bid until it reaches a certain accepted level, they will continue to do so until and unless that law is ever changed.