Rulebreaking, I know...  

nice...
you could take up a collection? I'll send you $10

Thanks Waffle...
...all donations welcome. I'll send over my paypal details 😉

Daniel
difficult call, will entirely depend who else is bidding too, and how much they want it!

That's my dilemma
I have a funny feeling i'll be outbid.
I've had a disasterous time recently. Missed out on a Knoll 116 Sideboard. Then - and this is the one that smarts the most - I got stuck on the road and due to my crap Blackberry, missed out on 5 Juhl Diplomat chairs on eBay. They went for £300. That then upset me enough to forget to bid on something else ending shortly after...
Oh well, all fun and games 🙂

A Snipe Tool
for eBay is the best way..always!

Hindsight is a wonderful thing
I'll be better prepared next time, mark my words

Hindsight is a wonderful thing
I'll be better prepared next time, mark my words

Pick the number that is the...
Pick the number that is the most you can afford and will allow you sleep soundly tonight win or lose....you should never be worried about being outbid if you could not afford to go higher in the first place. Also ...dont bid to fast and too eagerly or you might end up bidding against yourself if the auctioneer sees you can be driven up higher and higher....when the bidding slows after the initial sprint make sure you slow down with it.

Killian
That's great advice. Thank you.
My main concern is knowing whether I would end up paying over the odds for the chair, as I don't know it's realistic value. Many of these dealers over-inflate prices so you can't always gauge what a realistic price would be.

For $9800 give me a Papa Bear chair any day
The chair is lovely,but the grasshopper or Papa Bear have so much more presence.Anyhow,hope you land it for cheap.Good luck

Yeah
It's a really nice looking chair, but I can't imagine paying near that much for it.

yes
I cannot envision paying that much for a chair
I have a Erik Kirkagaard Desk chair which is a distant cousin of the above and it can be hard for quite a bit less...

luckily i don't have $9,800 to spend then!
I wouldn't pay more than $5,000/$6,000 for a Papa Bear Chair. I know the value of those, well, what I can pick them up for anyway. This chair is an unknown for me, I would think a realistic price would be $1,000 to $1,500?

I think you are not...
I think you are not understanding something here about auctions....The dealers will pull out when the profit is gone for them...then its among the private bidders...if it gets this far then its the private bidder with the deep pockets and no cares you have to worry about. Don't fool yourself that the bigger name dealers pay over the odds for stuff.