Item Name & Description: A bottle of Fallen London‘s Hesperidean Cider, donated by Failbetter Games.
Fallen London is a free browser role-playing game set in an alternate Victorian-Gothic underworld, where three decades ago, London was stolen by bats and dragged deep into the earth by the Echo Bazaar. Many things are different now, including death itself . . . but once you die in Fallen London, you can never return to the surface. Unless you have a rare flask of Hesperidean Cider, perhaps.
Hesperidean Cider may just be the secret to immortality, and it’s the most expensive item in Fallen London. Though it’s been in the game from the earliest days, only one person has a bottle, as a reward for a pledge of $500 in the Silver Tree Kickstarter.
This is the chance for one lucky soul to acquire a bottle of this miraculous drink. Your Fallen London character will acquire a bottle of Hesperidean Cider. With it in your possession you need never fear Death again — waltz from the Boatman’s clutches and back to Fallen London in a single action! Are your friends suffering from wounds? Then invite them over for a tipple! See their injuries miraculously close!
Be the talk of the Fifth City. Be only the second Hesperidean.
Starting Bid: $100.
Bidding will open Monday, February 10, 2014 at 12:01 a.m. Eastern (GMT -5); it closes Sunday, February 23, 2014 at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time. More Information.
$100.
$125
$250
$130
Looks like we had two crossing comments there–the $250 bid is the valid one, for any next bidders. –your mod
$300
I do hope you’ll have some protection against sniping bids at the last second :).
Swinter, I haven’t in the past because very few auctions have been so hotly contested as for it to be an issue. I can remember maybe one time where someone snuck just in with a fairly small bid increase on a high-bid item? (I remember because it happened to me, although, heh, I can’t remember now what the item was.)
The general last-minute-bid issue is why I moved the end time of the auction to 5pm EST rather than midnight, so that more people in Europe would be awake. But let me think about this some more. On one hand, it might not be feasible or fair to change things now; the line between sniping and smart bidding is a tricky one; and the option that seems most likely to work for Con or Bust’s technological setup, extending the auction time, potentially adds a lot of complexity and uncertainty to the process. (And I don’t want to be greedy, or perceived to be.) On the other, I want people to be happy with how the auction runs. So, a lot to think about.
$350
400
$800
Interesting.
Mr Apples, welcome; but I must point out that here on the Surface, we are outside your jurisdiction. Delicious friend.
[Kate: this early in the auction period I would not worry about small rules changes provided clearly communicated. As someone who has both sniped and been sniped, I like the ‘5 min extension’ approach where every bid means that the auction will continue for at least 5 min; but it’s of course your shebang :)]
Also: $800? I mean, OK, NiteBrite, but still..
Ewan, tsk. Anyway, I’m taking the question about last minute bidding over here: /2014/02/community-feedback-sought-last-minute-bidding/ .
$1000
$1200
1400
$1600
Hungry…