I
suppose your crowd wouldn't want to make an offer until I have everything
listed, but I'd like to talk to your associates, in a group, as soon as
possible."
"Well, we all know pretty much what's in the collection," Gresham said.
"We were neighbors of his, and collectors are a gregarious lot. But we
aren't anxious to make any premature offers. We don't want to offer more
than we have to, and at the same time, we don't want to underbid and see
the collection sold elsewhere."
"No, of course not." Rand thought for a moment. "Tell you what; I'll give
you and your friends the best break I can in fairness to my clients. I'm
not obliged to call for sealed bids, or anything like that, so when I've
heard from everybody, I'll give you a chance to bid against the highest
offer in hand. If you want to top it, you can have the collection for any
kind of an overbid that doesn't look too suspiciously nominal."
"Why, Jeff, I appreciate that," Gresham said. "I think you're entirely
within your rights, but naturally, we won't mention this outside. I can
imagine Arnold Rivers, for instance, taking a very righteous view of such
an arrangement."
"Yes, so can I. Of course, if he'd call me a crook, I'd take that as
a compliment," Rand said.
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