Prices escalating?

Recently I've noticed that pre-sale estimates at some auctions have been surpassed by quite a large margin***, even on items of questionable value. has anybody else ran into this in their own locality?

*** http://www.thebee.com/aweb/aucwatch.htm

Mike, Perhaps with the Sothby thing everyone is being more cautious with their appraisals. If you raise the red flag on one thing perhaps everything will be looked at more closely. I'm not sayin that these appraisers have cheated in the past, it's kind of like seeing a cop on the road and everyone goes the speed limit for a little while. They eventually resume speeding, until the next cop. Doris

Mike, Perhaps with the Sothby thing everyone is being more cautious with their appraisals. If you raise the red flag on one thing perhaps everything will be looked at more closely. I'm not sayin that these appraisers have cheated in the past, it's kind of like seeing a cop on the road and everyone goes the speed limit for a little while. They eventually resume speeding, until the next cop. Doris

Dear Mike: Absolutely! I live in an area of large Mennonite communities and farms. Auction prices are continually rising past prices any we've ever seen before while the quality items are becoming harder & harder to find. The buyers (mostly dealers) appear to be a combination of under-educated about that which they buy or just don't care - they know what they can sell and for good $$$ too regardless of how questionable the quality..

Of late, glass, pottery & ceramic prices continually border on the ridiculous according to any available book or past precedent. I don't think the big houses troubles of late have contributed to this situation as much as eBay & MS have influenced the desireability of even the most common of old items. Carl