Personally, I always assumed that auction houses (or employees of the house) were not allowed to bid on the items due to a potential conflict of interest. This whole thread got me thinking, is Huggins and Scott the only auction house that WAS allowing employees to bid on items.
I know many on here often mention REA as the gold standard of auctions and on their website they clearly state that, "
The auction house should not own any of the material, set any secret hidden reserves,
permit its employees and executives to bid in the auction, provide inaccurate descriptions, make undisclosed restorations to the material, or intentionally not disclose any conflicts of interest."
http://www.robertedwardauctions.com/about/index.html
I did a real basic search of some other auction house rules and I had a hard time finding any statements concerning the topic of employee bidding - either way, allowed or not. I was surprised by this - only one auction house (that my admittedly caveman search found) addresses this topic...
Does anyone on here know factually where some of the other auction houses stand on this topic? If so, I think it would be good information to share with everyone.
A.ndy K.en.n.edy