Yeah, the way he went about selling it is just stupid. For something that in your eyes is worth at *least* half a mil you do a little campaign, you advertise it. And of course eBay is not the best way to do it - it's not like there's going to be a bidding war. I think if you already have a collection like this you know the other persons who would want it. But then again those would probably already have a good chunk of it, so they'd only buy it to sell the items piecemeal. However, in that case, you need lots of time to work through it and make your business case, so the timeframe of an auction is simply not enough.
Hopefully he'll donate the lot to the Wiki. I'm willing to rent a boat and sail all the way to Genoa, then do a few ups and downs myself if need be.