I doubt any pipes will "slip through" at a complete bargain, but I wonder if all of the high end pipes will start at $50? That seems quite low for a number of his pipes.
Sometimes, I think, a pipe needs to sit for awhile to find the right buyer at the right price (from a seller's perspective). You're probably not going to have enough eyeballs, let alone people with enough cash to maximize the true worth of a collection like this if it's blasted out all at once.
This was my very limited experience, but if I hadn't waited for the month I did to sell one of mine, I would have left a few hundred bucks on the table.
I'm not sure all high end pipes benefit from a straight auction style.
Tough auction, especially here with the emotional component a number of people will have. Would be nice for people here who had a connection to him to afford a memory of Fish, but on the other hand, if his family needed or wanted the money, it's maybe not ideal for them in a number of examples that will come out.
I forgot to add that a number of the pictures don't look very good. I hope whoever is organizing this knows what they are doing.