That is strange behavior if they were "partners". And it really didn't matter much since the reserve was $3000. Unless they intended to sell it for $2000 in spite of the reserve.

What makes the least sense is to sell 10 chips for $1500 total when that means they have to give $2850 back to Ric. Unless of course they have no intention of refunding Ric's money. There's still something very odd about Johnny's latest offer. If one lone chip was worth $3000, now that there's 16 known with only 10 more for sale, seems the chip should still be worth more than $150. Unless there's really a lot more than 10 available for sale.