Goldin Auction - Honus Wagner “Rookie Card”

[robertsmithnocure]

Originally Posted by Fred

Is this a practice/tactic auction houses like Lloyd or Christies employ?

I think that this practice is common with many of the major art auction houses.

Other niche auction houses, like some in our hobby, use a similar practice too.

This is from Mile High Card Company's Auction Rules on their website:

2d) ...A reserve price is the confidential minimum price that a consignor will accept before they will sell the material, this means that a bid of equal or greater than the confidential reserve must be placed for a successful bid to be accepted on that lot. MHCC may implement this reserve by bidding on behalf of the consignor and may place a bid up to the amount of the reserve, by placing successive bids if necessary. In the limited instances where MHCC has a financial interest in a lot beyond our commission, we may place a bid to protect our financial interest...

And from SCP Auctions' Terms and conditions:

Reserve bid prices are not publicly available and will not be published. SCP may implement this reserve by executing bids on behalf of the consigner and may place a bid up to the amount one increment below the reserve, by placing successive bids if necessary.

[Peter_Spaeth]

As I like to say, bidding shenanigans have been going on since the first bushel of wheat was sold in the agora, and probably before.