With my limited experience...alarm bells are ringing
The winning bidder seems to have had his bid amount raised from a 'winning absentee bid' of $1100 to $1400 without any other bids....or so I thought and then you see this in the small print ...
"Bidding details for Live Auction Floor Bidders are unavailable and cannot be displayed."
Call me suspicious....but having an absentee bid 'on the table' the 'auctioneer' can see their max. amount......throw in some 'ghost' floor bids (for which 'they' do not hold records of floor 'bids' ie "unavailable") and you 've just bumped up the price $300, increasing the commission fees.
And then of course....once you found out that your 19th C sword is a 'spritely' late 20th C which has been probably been 'fumed' with ammonia, salt and vinegared and even possibly urinated on....you discover this in the small print...
...."All property is sold "as is", and neither the auctioneer nor any consignor makes any warranties or representation of any kind or nature with respect to the property, and in no event shall they be responsible for the correctness, nor deemed to have made any representation or warranty, or description, genuineness, authorship, attribution, provenance, period, culture, source, origin, or condition of the property and no statement made at the sale, or in the bill of sale, or invoice or elsewhere shall be deemed such a warranty of representation or an assumption of liability. All sales are final, no returns under any circumstances. Jewelry dwt and carat weights are approximate. Precious metals not tested....."
A sorry outcome for the buyer, I feel.
( Disclaimer, the opinions expressed in this post are just possibilities or situations that could occur....with online auctions in general ....and are not aimed at any particular individual or auction site, house or company
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Regards David
(actually ...perhaps you should call me sarcastic....not suspicious
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