I think this is a really cool idea. Good luck with your fast.
At the risk of undermining your post by second guessing the decisions of people made 80 years ago under duress, I can’t read that article without thinking “If they were needed there, alive, to guard the seeds, maybe they should have eaten some of the 370,000 seeds?” To be clear, that does not diminish my respect for their restraint (I certainly could not have done that) or Vavilov’s contributions.
Actually, unlike a standard second price auction where it’s game theory optimal to just bid your fair value, there is a strategic element to this game, since the price you bid or offer will affect the clearing price. In this case, the price at which your P(trade_occurs) * expected_utility_gain_from_trading is maximized is probably not your true fair value. To give one simple example, if you were 100% confident their bid would be higher than your fair, you would definitely want to offer above your fair so that the mid price is higher.