I agree that the NYPL's lack of clarity over whether or not it is aggressively seeking the return of these items is highly problematic.
Can't eBay be contacted and an official request made to be to end the auction? As far as I know, eBay can't knowingly facilitate the sale of stolen property. Does anyone else have a greater understanding of eBay's policies?
http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/items-ov.html
If the auction is allowed to proceed to its conclusion, the message will be that those who have acquired stolen NYPL items can brazenly use eBay to profit from the sale of these items.
I guess even if eBay won't allow this auction, the seller can always go to Coach's Corner Sports Auctions...
Hopefully the seller will do the right thing and bring a positive conclusion to this otherwise unfortunate situation.