So who's going to pony up for Pete Hill?

[Archive]

Posted By: Harry Wallace (HW)

As far as I know Sotheby's is the only auction house that allows hidden reserves on items. I can see why it is done for million dollar paintings, but it seems silly for baseball cards. Plus it confuses bidders who think that they are bidding agains another real person. Instead they are basically bidding against the consignor's reserve.

If you are not going to set a low minimum bid and let the item sell for what the market dictates (like REA, Mastro's, etc.) thein I personally like the way that Ryan is doing his auciton. At least you know the actual reserve. If I was interested in the card, it would piss me off to see the card see the bidding start at $5,000 and then find out it did not sell because it did not meet the hidden reserve.

I was not aware of any of the hobby's major auciton housses (REA, Mastro's, Leland
s, etc.) that allow the actual consignor to bid on his own item. But they certainly cannot stop you from having your next door neighbor (or hobby friend) bid on the item for you as long as you are willing to pay the fees on both sides.