[Exhibitman]

I think both auctions were shilled with the shiller 'winning' the Simmons and discovering the real bidder's top, which he then used to run up the Smith to the real bidder's top. I will explain:

Both auctions had an underbidder from $197 up to the final who made 2/3 of his bids with this seller in the last 30 days. Both auctions were run up substantially on the final morning.

Simmons closed May-11-13 09:40:25. The Simmons auction [$2,550] was won by the underbidder in the Smith auction, who ran up the winner of the Smith auction from $197. The 'winner' placed his bids the morning the auction closed, with the last bid placed at 9:24:24.

Smith closed May-11-13 09:42:21. The Smith auction [$2,500] was won by the underbidder on Simmons. His bid was run up from $197 to $2,500. The Simmons'winner' placed his bids over the morning the auction ended. He placed his last underbid [actually the bid that matched the real bidder] at 9:22:06, with the last bid placed at 9:24:07.

As I read the tea leaves, the shill jacked up the bids repeatedly all morning. He went to the Smith auction and bid $2,475. He then went to the Simmons and bid $2,550 but found he'd overshot the max bid of the real bidder. He then stopped bidding, letting the Smith go for $2,500.

Now, if I really want a card for a set and I am willing to pay $2,475 for it, and I know that I can have it for $2,550, and I have already committed $2,550 to another card from the same set which I chased up from $197 to $2,550, there is no way I am going to not bid the extra 1% of my total bids to get it.

Stinks to high heaven...