Reply to Thread

Message:: [QUOTE="Carausius, post: 4499749, member: 76440"]This isn't quite how it went down, and the way it went down is certainly not good for prebidders.  I'll give a fictitious example of precisely what was happening: Doug entered a prebid of $300 yesterday; Carausius bids $280 at the live sale triggering Doug's $300 maximum bid; auctioneer then says "Carausius, you'll need to bid $320 to clear the book".  In effect, auctioneer is telling me that you are done at $300.  Without this information, I may not have bid further, fearing you might bid up to $350; but knowing your maximum, I go ahead and win the coin for $320.  Thus, the consignor (who gets the extra increment) and the lot winner (who gets a coin) are the only beneficiaries of this approach.  The prebidder becomes an unintended shill. I'll never prebid in future CNG live sales after witnessing this approach over and over again throughout the day.  Instead, I'll be certain to bid live, with the volume turned-up so that I can win coins for one increment above the book.  Perhaps other auction firms also announce that "another bid increment will clear the book" and the practice has gone unnoticed by me.  The frequency was hard to miss this time. I totally understand the auction house's duty to maximize hammer prices for consignors.  However this approach has an unintended consequence: the loss of prebidder confidence.[/QUOTE]