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Posted By: barrysloate

If there were only one Plank for sale between the two auction houses, interested bidders would have had no option except to bid as high as they possibly could. As Paul noted, with four available simultaneously, bidders were able to strategize, and for that matter interact with each other before the lots closed. It's reasonable to think some agreed not to bid on one if someone else agreed not to bid on another.

I never expected that the four Planks would be sold for bargains, just that there would clearly be some level of collusion, and that it would create a perception that maybe the card is not quite as rare as advertised. As Rob pointed out, the interest in acquiring one is great, so the supply and demand curve remained in balance.