Live Auction: Standard Biscuit Cobb - Shill Bidding?

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Posted By: Todd Schultz

I wasn't so much offering them as proof of a shill as I was noting that the three bids could not be construed as a topping bid backed by two more bids, as you alluded in your prior post. This bidder was never top dog and therefore could not "scare away" anybody by placing two unknown bids above his then "winning" bid, as you suggested.

As I said earlier, I don't think shilling will have an impact here, as there will be plenty of legitimate action at the end by people who are/were completely uninfluenced by what has happened thus far. It is possible though, that the seller of this relatively scarce piece may have had no idea what it might fetch, figure it was worth somewhere between $650 and $700, and then push the bid to get it to that point. This is conjecture for sure right now, but if true, I would out the seller even if the shill had no influnce on final price.