A Lot of Live Auctions

When I started the series on Top eBay Chess Items by Price, there were no live auctions. Now they pop up every fortnight and are always good candidates for the final post. The previous live auction item was Man Ray Chess Set, and I expect there will be more.

The painting pictured below was titled 'RAMÓN MUÑOZ RUBIO, Spanish, 1867-1910, The chess players., Oil on pan... Lot 796; Part of a live auction event on Saturday, Nov 7'. It started at US $200.00 and sold for $700.00 after 17 bids.

The description said,

LOT 796; Seller's Estimate: USD 500 - 700

RAMÓN MUÑOZ RUBIO; Spanish, 1867-1910
The chess players. Signed lower right "R.M. Rubio".
Oil on panel, 13" x 10". Framed 21" x 18".

Condition Report: Trace amounts of inpaint detected under blacklight, in sky and upper right edge in the shrubbery. Slight amount of loss to board at extreme top left corner and very slight anount of surface dirt.

Wikipedia says,

Inpainting is the process of reconstructing lost or deteriorated parts of images and videos. For instance, in the museum world, in the case of a valuable painting, this task would be carried out by a skilled art conservator or art restorer. • Inpainting

Along with that is a modern equivalent.

In the digital world, inpainting (also known as image interpolation or video interpolation) refers to the application of sophisticated algorithms to replace lost or corrupted parts of the image data (mainly small regions or to remove small defects).

I imagine it limits the value of the piece.