Guys, none of this is surprising or unusual and it all occurs in auctions everywhere. I have bought at auctions on the Continent, in the UK, the USA and in Japan and would never, ever bid on anything that I have not personally inspected or have paid a pro to look at.
Yes, one can get bargains at auction but as gunman said, auctions are the place where dealers dump the stuff they wouldn't dare sell to private clients. My friends who are dealers in rare books, antiques and prints dump their problems at auction and generally get good prices for things they would never offer their clients.
Many people think that auctions are where "wholesale" prices reign. Sometimes one can get astoundingly good items cheap but equally prices exceed anything reasonable.
Auctioneers also "run up" prices. Yeah, I know it's illegal but it is done, even to good clients.
