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Posted By: Mark

As this Mastro Auction progressed, I was wondering the same thing as Aaron (and had pondered the same exact questions). I won't comment on the speculation of shill bidding, as I have no pertinent information to back it up.

This auction generated roughly 42% of the revenue of a typical Mastro Premier Auction in recent years. I believe the reason is three-fold...

1. Significantly lesser material was offered this time around. My "watched items" were less than half the number of a typical Mastro Auction (which corresponds with their final prices realized).

2. Mastro just recently conducted their Live Auction at the National. This event was (I believe) quite successful, and I am sure that many of those consignments came at the expense of this August Auction which just concluded. I don't have the sales figures from the Live Auction, but I bet that the two events combined, come close to matching the typical $10 - 12 million mark for Mastro.

3. The economy had to play into it as well. It is a simple fact that less disposable income currently exists for cards/memorabilia than last year at this time.

There are certainly other external factors, but I believe these to be the top three.