Very strange.
Not seen anything like that before.
One possible and simple explanation is that he was bidding from the office, his wife from home and/or he also had a sniping service!
Overkill or what for a cheap item! Though I must say I was tempted to ask my son to bid on a sports car three weeks ago when I thought I might miss the end of the auction. I also set up a covering snipe, so I actually did two of those things just to make sure!
Paul