[Exhibitman]

This is really simple, guys:

reserve = legal
shilling = illegal.

No moral judgment, no excuses, just simple criminal conduct.

You want to use a reserve, use a reserve. Don't pretend there is a market auction going on if there isn't.

As for why shill, it is a long con: create an inflated market price then sell into it later on. I saw the same thing done to jack up the prices of real estate in the 1980s-1990s: fake sales with straw man buyers to inflate comparable sales prices, followed by real sales at inflated prices.