Corey, my point is that an auction house which clearly is concerned with maximizing its sales numbers by bidding on its own lots and burying this information within a paragraph 21 of its rules is clearly one that is concerned with one thing, and one thing only: maximizing its sales numbers. Very few people on this board believes these practices are ethical.
To suggest then that the same auction house IS ethical due to its handling/marketing of the Black Swamp Find is, with all respect, a bit hard to swallow. Heritage marketed this find with one thing in mind in my opinion: to maximize its chances of getting more consignments in the future. All those TV shows, newspaper stories, etc. did not drive the price of the cards up -- it served instead to get more free publicity for Heritage. My criticism was simply that if this auction house is looking to drive up its numbers it should do so for the consigners first -- instead of for itself.
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