Bill Mastro denies widespread fraud in his auctions -- yesterday.

[CaramelMan]

who was Bill's partner at the time? wasn't someone else his equal in that AH?

didn't the company continue, just with a name change?

who is to say the shenanigans stopped just because they changed a name?

[CobbvLajoie1910]

Originally Posted by CaramelMan

who was Bill's partner at the time ? wasn't someone else his equal in that AH?

didn't the company continue, just with a name change?

who is to say the shenanigans stopped just because they changed a name?

....that would be Uncle Jeff's old buddy Dougie Allen.

[Leon]

Originally Posted by CaramelMan

who was Bill's partner at the time? wasn't someone else his equal in that AH?

didn't the company continue, just with a name change?

who is to say the shenanigans stopped just because they changed a name?

It wasn't called Smith auctions...it was Mastro Auctions..Bill owned it, or the majority of it. The company sold to Legendary Auctions and the executives at Mastro are the executives at Legendary, plus or minus one or two....
...No one said anything about anything stopping. As of yesterday the investigation was ongoing. I heard that from a reliable source.

[sports-rings]

with all this talk of shill bidding, I'm so glad I don't provide auction houses my max bid. It's like leaving a stranger a key to your house.

[ls7plus]

Originally Posted by sports-rings

with all this talk of shill bidding, I'm so glad I don't provide auction houses my max bid. It's like leaving a stranger a key to your house.

If you've ever made any significant number of maximum bids with Mastro, you can be fairly certain you've been the victim of shill bidding if the following sequence of events transpired: (1) the auction is in the wee hours and winding down; (2) you are the high bidder at a price level significantly lower than your max bid; and (3) all of a sudden there is an incredible flurry of bids oh-how-so-coincidentally right up to but not over your max bid. You've just been "cha-chinged" up to your max by the master of the trade! Caveat Emptor--be aware that Mastro was not the only prominent auction house employing such slimy measures.

Regards to all, and to Jeff: Don't hold back--tell us how you really feel!

Larry

PS: Great letter, Adam.