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Joe D.I could definitely see the potential conflicts of interest if the auction house owns an item in the auction.
The conflict is similar to, say if the grading companies started owning/selling cards (wow that could be bad).
Anyway - with regard to Sloate Auction - the potential conflicts I see are completely erased by my knowledge of - and my belief in your integrity.... but someone who does not know that you are one of the good guys might shy away from an auctioneer-owned item or worse, possibly shy away from the auction itself. Then again - if the item is cool and the price is right, I guess bidders will always show up!
Its a more complex issue than would appear on the surface. We need ethics prof (Barry A) to help us on these threads 