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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;dougsmit, post: 1328018, member: 19463&quot;]A related question:&nbsp; Lets say a major auction of a specialty is coming up and two of us share deep interest in this specialty.&nbsp; In fact the two of us are probably the most major collectors in this specialty.&nbsp; Do you see anything wrong with us getting together before the sale and comparing our bid lists?&nbsp; If we both planned to bid on a lot, we would agree that whichever of us had written down the lower number would not bid at all while the higher would be required to bid up to the number he wrote for that lot.&nbsp; For example if I planned to bid $300 and you planned to bid $200, I would win the lot for one advance over the third highest bid (lets say $100) rather than one advance over your bid.&nbsp; Obviously if another bidder were to bid over $300, neither of us would win the lot but if there was no other bidder over the second of our bids, the winner would win the coin more cheaply.&nbsp; The seller would get less money.&nbsp; Is this OK?</p><p><br /></p><p>Now lets go a step further and say Chris and I were using the same rep for the sale and we each wanted the same lot.&nbsp; Do you expect that rep to bid against himself until he reaches the lower of our bids or do you expect him to refuse to represent the lower of our bids telling the one of us that was lower that he had a conflict on that lot and he would not win with the bid so he would not place it.&nbsp; It would be wrong for that rep to tell the lower bidder what he needed to bid to beat the higher but would it be wrong to let me know that the money I was reserving for that lot would not be spent in case I wanted to apply it to another lot?&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>When we use an auction rep, we expect that rep to buy the lot for us as cheaply as he can.&nbsp; That means he does not tell the seller that we are bidding up to $300 so the seller can shill a $295 bid.&nbsp; I have won lots placed through a rep for $50 of my maximum bid and believe in many cases that bidding through a rep will end up cheaper even counting the fee you pay him to bid for you.&nbsp; I&#039;m not sure there is a black/white honor/dishonor answer to many auction practices but I do believe that you should tell the friend in advance that you are also bidding on the lot or never show him the coin.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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