Allegations that “sham” bids drove up prices on a collection of rare wooden boats put a large national auction house on the defensive.
The $4 million auction of Lake Minnetonka, Minn., denizen Todd Warner’s collection of vintage wooden boats was a historic event in the rarefied world of classic and antique boating.
Eighteen months later, a lawsuit accuses Warner and Mecum Auctions Inc., an Illinois-based auction house, of soliciting bids from friends who didn’t really intend to buy, solely to drive up prices on certain boats.
