Quote:
Originally Posted by Carter08
Counter point if it was to establish value: They allowed their customers to waste their time bidding on a make believe auction to maximize their own insurance recovery.
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1) If the cards are not recovered, yes, it will turn out to have been a waste of bidders time and emotional energy - incredibly frustrating. Though, if the cards are recovered, it will be very clear who gets what and for how much.
2) I think it is quite an exaggeration to call the auction "make believe". The auction was real. The cards are real. It is not a simple situation with no easy answers.
3) "To maximize their own insurance recovery" - this is really the most perplexing part of your comment - First and foremost - the insurance company needs substantiation of current market value for a claim. The Ty Cobb shown in this thread and presumably some of the other cards involved have very few and/or current sales - running the auction was really the best way to assess current fair market value - as an example the aforementioned Cobb sold for about $7K less than the last time it sold 3 years ago, indicating a lower current fmv than the last sale and
reducing the amount that might otherwise have been claimed - in fact,
lowering the insurance recovery. Up or down - the auction best reflects current fmv. While ML may get to keep whatever % they were entitled to on the sales, the lion's share of the proceeds I presume will be used to compensate consignors.