No doubt lots can be shilled without consignors' knowledge. The auction houses get a percentage of the final bids and would like all boats to rise, and some outside collectors like their investments to maintain their market value. Some collectors are willing to buy cards just to 'protect' the market value of the copies they already own. Of course there's nothing errant with honestly (I said honestly, as opposed to a miscalculated shillingly) buying the cards, other than it may be seen as a dubious investment strategy.

There were more than 80 lots consigned by Hal Lewis where Stephen Spector was listed as the shill bidder including the T-206 Wagner I won. It seems in many cases two people were working together. Does anyone know if these are real people or just made up names used by Mastro?

Hal used to be a regular board poster.

Evidently it was! :-)

Hal is real. A real scumbag, that is. You might remember him from such hits as "Henry Reccius Honus Wagner." A quick search should tell you all you need to know about Hal. Hope you're reading this, Hal.

-Ryan

Hal Lewis and Stephen Spector are both attorneys in Tallahassee. I'm on the list of their shill bids, although I'm not a "victim".

I'll gladly second what Ryan said about Hal. He had no idea what he was collecting and no integrity. Good riddance.

Doug Allen was SHILLED!!
 

I just started to take a look at the list and found two items that were curious.

The first is from Auction 41 April 07 Lot # 829 Consigned by Dan Knoll, Shilled by Dennis Beechy, won by DOUG ALLEN for $862 and the loss amount was $44! This is not like other lots where the shill won the lot, this appears that Doug wanted the lot. See:

http://legendaryauctions.com/_The_Ey...-LOT69974.aspx


The second item also from the April 07 Auction Lot #671 Consigned by Gilbert Proter, shilled by Andrew Filipowski, won by Tony Arnold for $60,717 the loss amount was $ 4,424,

However if one looks at the listing below it shows the lot did not sell. Wonder what happened?

http://legendaryauctions.com/LotDeta...entoryid=69816

just because they are congsignors....
 

The statement that "just because they are consignors doesn't mean they are part of the scam" is true theoretically. But if it has a the one and the same shill bidder consistently throughout 30-40 consignments the pointing of finger seems justified. And WTF is Darryl??

There's one sure-fire way not to be shilled: Never bid over the minimum bid. :D

true dat! Lmfao