[Leon]

I think discussing bidding makes a good thread. We almost all bid in auctions for our cards. What could be more relevant to what we do? On ebay, I snipe with about 5-7 seconds left, approximately 95% of the time. In auction house auctions I usually put in a marker bid early, then wait till the last day and last hours to see how things shape up....and to decide what I will go for in earnest. Even if I HAVE to have something I will usually use these methods. Every now and then I will try the straight HIGH bid methodology very early on, in order to dissuade some bidders. But that usually doesn't work. I remember about 10+ yrs ago, it was the first day of a Lipset Auction. He had 8 of the E94 overprints in one lot. No bids were placed yet. I called Lew and asked how high I could do a straight bid. He said I could bid anything I wanted above the minimum. The starting bid was $1000. I told him to put an $8000 bid in for me. He thought I was crazy but did it. That was the first day and first bid on the lot. It held up for the next 2-3 weeks and I got it for that bid plus the BP. LL