I recognize the "flaw"....it's the point I was trying to make: sniping isn't always bad for the seller.

In your example, bidding $100 on a chip that's worth $20 is an outrageous high bid.

While it isn't one-of-a-kind, we're only aware of about 3-4 other Sahara sphinx ashtrays in collections. So, was $1000 an outrageous high bid? Not really ( o.k. some people would think $1000 is outrageous for a hunk of glass...) I was reluctant to bid that much but willing to pay it, if we had to.