It appears that Heritage is going to take the view that the auction was conducted in accordance with the rules. Avoiding discussion regarding why they allowed this particular auction to proceed in accordance with rules that seem to be designed without consideration of these circumstances. Confusing at best and misleading in practice and apparently suboptimal for the consignor (although whether Powell would have persevered under better rules is unknown). No doubt Heritage will perform any similar auctions different in the future, benefiting from Powell's illumination of the likely scenarios.
While it is sad to see anybody (in this case, Powell) misled into ecstasy only to be kicked to the curb despite earnest efforts to win at all costs, I don't see the presumption that because he was "declared the winner" of the Set Lot he achieves any primacy over the higher bidder(s), who were declared winner with bids that were more beneficial to the consigner. Under the (sloppy) rules in effect being Set Lot winner was not the same as winning the cards, because they could go to the Individual Lot winners. And they did.
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