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Posted By: barrysloate

For all those who are so aware of possible auction house shilling, a policy which I of course have no interest in defending, how many people on this board have formed groups to buy large lots in order to keep the price down and not have to go head to head? You know what- there's a word for that and it is called collusion. And it is illegal. And I've been a part of a few of these groups, so in that respect I am no better than the next guy.

What happens to a consigner when bidders collude? He gets screwed, that's what. I know people in this hobby, good friends of mine, who when they see something they have to have they will call their likely competition and ask them as a favor to please not bid on this lot, and I will do the same favor for you down the line. That's collusion, and it is illegal. And the consignor loses a lot of money as a result.

For all the shilling that may or may not go on, colluding on a lot to keep the price down is just the mirror image of it. So in a sense, bidders are guilty of the same transgressions as the auction houses. As I said earlier in this thread, this hobby is not about honesty and integrity. It's about stuff. When good stuff comes around, nothing else really matters.