Barry and JD,
As an auctioneer myself it saddens me to hear of stories such as this. I can tell you through my own experiences that this does happen, but much rarer when you take the business as a whole. JD call the auctioneer out on what you saw do not just sit on the information this does no good. Another thing is JD you can vote with your feet and not attend this auction. There are plenty of honest auctioneers in your area that would love the business. I can say that I never dive something great into a boxlot in any of my auctions my job by definition is to sell the item for the most I can and to the highest bidder. I allow workers to bid and they surely pay like everyone else, but I once had a ringman outbid a customer and then later try to sell the item back to them after the sale saying that they really did not want it after all. Once I got done with my private discussion with this ringman he promptly quit. I like selling $10,000 items that auctioneer seems a bit foolish to me. I can also add that in the auctions I have had people really do turn those boxes upside down and sideways going through them. I would contest that it is harder to hide an item than you may think. You may have been the only one there with enough cash to call him out on that item 2400 is pretty stiff for a damaged piece. I have never been to an auction where a $10000 piece is not a highlight item.
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