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Posted By: Bob

When you have a number of fellow collectors going in together and having one of their number doing the actual bidding for all of them, with a pre-conceived agreement as to how high to bid and which cards (should they win) each gets, I think the auction house and consignor win. Case in point is a lot in the Mastro auction which I feel sure none of the "group" would bid on individually, yet banding together they make a strong bidding interest. The group may not win but with a strong bidding interest, the ultimate winning bid would likely be higher than if just individuals would be bidding.
This is not collusion or price-fixing and I don't think the slope is slippery at all.