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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;afantiques, post: 2310100, member: 71234&quot;]My experience with reputable auction houses is that they do not shill bid. My experience with disreputable auctioneers is that they do. That is why they are disreputable.</p><p><br /></p><p>You might think no one would know, but they do, experienced floor auction bidders soon spot any duckshoving going on and they talk among themselves. No one is going to go out of their way to directly help a competitor, but I&#039;d tip off someone buying stuff I was not interested in. Word soon gets around. The usual bidders adjust their behaviour, either by avoiding the auction house or avoiding commission bids, or even using other dealers to bid for them if they cannot attend.</p><p><br /></p><p>It is also easy after a while to spot unsold lots even if they appear to sell. Clues are no mention of a bidder number, or one bidder number used for all unsold. To spot the latter, pick a couple or three well overestimated items and see if they sell to the same number. There is your unsold number.</p><p><br /></p><p>You can also spot the amateurs. They are the ones bidding when all the pros know the reserve (usually 10% below lower estimate) is too high to bother with.</p><p>The item may start at half the lower estimate but the few amateur hopefuls will drop out as the actioneer runs them up toward the reserve. The pros won&#039;t bid, which may lose them the odd item if there is no reserve or a very low one, but that&#039;s just the way it goes occasionally.</p><p><br /></p><p>I&#039;d place a bid and forget about it till the hammer comes down.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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