(h) Employees of Phillips and our affiliated companies, including the auctioneer,
may bid at the auction by placing absentee bids so long as they do not know the
reserve when submitting their absentee bids and otherwise comply with our
employee bidding procedures.
5 Conduct of the Auction
(a) Unless otherwise indicated by the symbol •, each lot is offered subject to a
reserve, which is the confidential minimum selling price agreed by Phillips with
the seller. The reserve will not exceed the low pre-sale estimate at the time of the
auction.
(b) The auctioneer has discretion at any time to refuse any bid, withdraw any lot, reoffer a lot for sale (including after the fall of the hammer) if he or she believes there
may be error or dispute and take such other action as he or she deems reasonably
appropriate. Phillips shall have no liability whatsoever for any such action taken by
the auctioneer. If any dispute arises after the sale, our sale record is conclusive. The
auctioneer may accept bids made by a company affiliated with Phillips provided
that the bidder does not know the reserve placed on the lot.
(c) The auctioneer will commence and advance the bidding at levels and in
increments he or she considers appropriate. In order to protect the reserve on
any lot, the auctioneer may place one or more bids on behalf of the seller up to
the reserve without indicating he or she is doing so, either by placing consecutive
bids or bids in response to other bidders. If a lot is offered without reserve, unless
there are already competing absentee bids, the auctioneer will generally open the
bidding at 50%