Heritage Auctions, revisited

[Exhibitman]

OK, speaking lawyerly for a moment, I have to call BS on Ivy:

First of all, the fact that he says HA doesn't do something does not trump the express terms of the auction rules that allow it do so something. Having the right to do something that you do not do voluntarily is not the same as being prohibited from doing something by contract. If HA is committed to not bidding in the last 7 days or not allowing its employees to bid on their own stuff, it should be part of the express rules of the auction. Otherwise it is a meaningless voluntary posture that can be changed at will.

Second, because there are no teeth to the purported policies it leaves open the possibility that HA can do what Ivy says it does not at any time, which creates the appearance of impropriety. Us bidders have to trust the AH to do the right thing. If the rules expressly authorize the wrong thing, we cannot have that trust. No trust = lower bids.

Finally, I just wanted to point out that HA can rewrite the rules any time it wants, so there are no real barriers to conforming the rules to what Ivy says are the actual practices.