Over $3K in 24hrs, with 8 Days Remaining

[upnorth1]

I have a question about this action.

Of 23 bids on this item, including auto bids, the majority are by two bidders with a 0 and 5 transaction history. I find this odd given the high $$$ amount of this auction.

Is it possible that someone could artificially raise the bids by bidding using other accounts they have opened?

I'm not trying to discredit the seller so much as trying to understand this particular auction.

The seller does have an extensive history with feedback of 100%.

 

[Chasing Embers]

What did it look like before the accident?

 

[fishnbanjo]

Rodrigo is a stand up seller, have had more than a few transactions with him and wouldn’t be concerned there be any shill bids on one of his auctions, it’s more than likely 2 bidders with deep pockets wanting this particular pipe, regards.

banjo

 

[ssjones]

That kind of bid activity on a high end piece is pretty typical. You would think folks who buy a piece like this would have huge Ebay histories, but that seem to rarely be the case.

 

[upnorth1]

I was also thinking maybe bidders would use a secondary account as an extra means to keep their transctions and bidding private on higher priced items, an example being to avoid being contacted with offers to buy said item.

 

[Sloopjohnbee]

some shilling going on or something. No one here said anything informative about this pipe and I've never heard much about this or why it should be considered rare which leads me to believe it's fishier than sushi on a Sunday night.

 

[anthonyrosenthal74]

some shilling going on or something. No one here said anything informative about this pipe and I've never heard much about this or why it should be considered rare which leads me to believe it's fishier than sushi on a Sunday night.

Well, the guy learned under Sixten Ivarsson and other Danish masters, is an artisan pipe maker who only crafts about 120 pipes in a year. He carves the kind of a pipe a wealthy many will purchase to display in his office in a locked glass enclosure and never smoke. There are other artisans who sell their pipes in the mult-thousand dollar range as well.
https://pipedia.org/wiki/Tokutomi,_Hiroyuki

 

[kcghost]

Tokutomi pipes sell in the thousands of dollars but this one seems rather ordinary and not his usual caliber.

 

[ssjones]

George wouldn't have shared it if the pipe wasn't of some significance.

 

[anthonyrosenthal74]

this one seems rather ordinary and not his usual caliber.

Haha! What's ordinary about it? It's certainly not as ordinary as a couple of his pipes in this photo....

 

[sablebrush52]

There are a lot of things I don't understand, and stratospheric pipe prices are one of them.

On one level, there's no sense to it at all, such as whether a $4000 pipe will smoke 10 times better than a $400 pipe, or 100 times better than a $40 dollar pipe. The answer is no. So the price has little to nothing to do with a strictly utilitarian purpose.
It's all about emotion and perception. People with a passion and the financial wherewithal to fuel it will spend significant sums to fulfill that passion. If you love Tokutomi's aesthetic and his craftsmanship and want to own his pieces, you spend the money without complaint. If you love being able to afford very exclusive objects, a carver whose production is tiny is going to appeal to that love of exclusivity and the emotional satisfaction that owning such objects provides. You're paying for the stamp and bragging rights.
You could ask the same question regarding almost any collectible. Why should a painting, or a classic car, or stamps, or first editions, be any more or less an authentic object of a collector's passion than a pipe?

 

[anthonyrosenthal74]

You could ask the same question regarding almost any collectible. Why should a painting, or a classic car, or stamps, or first editions, be any more or less an authentic object of a collector's passion than a pipe?

You know, for only $2,230,000 you could own Detective Comics #27 :mrgreen:
I would totally own Detective Comics #27 if I could. I just had to throw that out there. :mrgreen:

 

[Sloopjohnbee]

The Bard has a point ::

 

[jpmcwjr]

Yes he does. I can grok a $4,000 pipe, but not a $200,000,000 painting by Jackson Pollock.

 

[jpmcwjr]

Dbl. Post. Sorry
"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits."

- Albert Einstein

 

[sablebrush52]

Something a little funky going on with eBay on this auction. The highest bidder, who had a record of 0 wins just a couple of days ago, now has a record of 100 wins but an approval rating of 0.
Hey eBay IT guys, you've got to do better at covering your tracks!

 

[ssjones]

That is very weird Jesse. I just checked an item I bid on my my history, even logged out and thus hidden, is accurate.

 

[disinformatique]

If I was this rich, I would fly to Japan, visit Toku's home and convince him to make a Ballerina shape for me.
Cheers,

Chris