Posted By:
Fred CShilling can take place in any auction where a consignor provides material to the auction house. All the consignor has to do is have a buddy bid on items for them. There is that risk of having to buy your own material back but there's also a great chance that you can squeeze a lot more out of another bidder.
None of the auction houses are immune. I've had someone tell me that they've used this practice for an auction put on by a a major auction house. No, I'm not going to out who or who did this or which auction house was used. The fact is that it could happen to any auction house with or without their knowledge.
Is there a conflict of interest if an authenticating company begins auctioning/selling material that they have authenticated? Hell yes there is, but what's to stop them from using another company to do the selling for them?
I have to figure that Mastro (and the reputable auction houses, big and small) could hire a bunch of authenticators and use them but the smart auction houses will keep everything separated.