Something Smells Fishy

This series on Top eBay Chess Items by Priceisn't just about pricey chess auctions. It's also about eBay. Since the annual post-Christmas drought -- also seen in Bak to Basics-- continues, I looked into an unusual item that caught my attention, pictured below.

Three times the same item, titled 'James C. Christensen - The Chess Match', sold at live auction (as did 'Bak to Basics') during a two month time span? That's definitely unusual.

The description for the first item -- Nov 8, $2,960.00 -- said,

Hand Signed - Extra Large Canvas Edition - Image Size: 72"w X 48"h. Limited Edition Of: 40

The description for the second item -- Jan 9, $2,950.00 -- said the same, followed by a long, long paragraph (*) that started,

There Are 1,327 Named Openings And Variations To A Match In The Oxford Companion To Chess, But How Can A Player Remember Any Of Them When The Days Spectators Include A Pair Of Dragons?

The third item -- Jan 14, $2,950.00 -- went missing. Its auction detail page said only,

We had trouble finding some information about this item. Please come back to try again in a few minutes.

And the message persisted. What does all this mean? It means that something smells fishy.

(*) The same text -- with normal word capitalization, the grammatically correct "when the day’s spectators", and properly formatted in multiple paragraphs -- can be found at James C. Christensen - The Chess Match(greenwichworkshop.com), along with prices for the different editions. The most expensive is 'MUSEUMEDITION CANVAS; Image size: 72"w x 48"h.; Limited Edition of: 40; $2,950.00'.

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