Archie,

You stated that "If one or the other bidders for some reason was not participating in this sale, the chip would have gone for a lot less"

I disagree, I know of one other bidder who was waiting to bid on this auction 1,600+ with only a few seconds left, but could not get his bid in because the price of the auction had already past the 1,600+ amount he was going to bid. 1,600+ is less, but not a lot less.