Your story reminded me of an Ocean County Coin Club member here in Central NJ who used to travel from Staten Island, NY to attend each monthly meeting and bid on coins in the auction. On several occassions, Paul would repeatedly top his own bid at the next increment and the club auctioneer would bring it to his attention that he was already the high bidder... to which Paul would say; "I don't care, I just love this club so much ...." and sometimes the coin Paul was bidding on was the very same coin he donated to the auction!

True story ...