Watching poker tournament highlights on YouTube it occurs to me that, the method of auction for the NOC list, some weird thing I just made up (and thank you Andrew for your insights regarding the precise mechanisms) it's, basically, a poker tournament. Bidding in rounds, anteing up, needing to have the money claimed as an important plot point...
It's poker, I described poker. The Necronomicon auction is, just a big poker tournament.
Which is totally a spy thing to get caught up in, especially in the Tower of Babel.