Top-lot status was awarded to this pintail drake in the beaver tail style by the Ward Brothers, 18 inches long, which had provenance to the Ron Gard collection; it landed just above estimate at $264,000 ($150/250,000).
Review by Kiersten Busch
EASTON, MD. — Two days and 678 lots made up Guyette & Deeter’s Decoys and Sporting Art Auction, conducted November 15-16 at The Country School in conjunction with the 2025 Easton Waterfowl Festival. The approximately 30,000 weekend visitors had the opportunity to witness highlights from the collections of Martin and Deborah Maloy, Bill and Alice Walsh, Ted and Judy Harmon, Dean and Susan Hyde and Dr Michael Shannahan, among others.
“Our longstanding relationship with the Easton Waterfowl Festival is special,” shared owner Jon Deeter. “Our auction brings visitors to the 54-year-old festival in beautiful Easton, Md., and attendees of the festival get exposed to collectible decoys and artwork in a professional auction environment. I think the festival attracts nearly 30,000 visitors, but only a fraction of them attend the auction event.”
Even with only a fraction attending, the auction was an undeniable success for the firm, Deeter reported. “The sale finished at an unofficial $6.7 million, which is our highest-grossing November auction in the company’s history. This sale continued to show the strength we have seen over the last few years with multiple items selling for double high estimate. We continue to be very excited by the impact new customers are having on the decoy and sporting market.”
The first lot sold on day one was this rigmate pair of American mergansers by John Dawson (Duck Island, N.J., 1889-1959), 18 inches long each, which had extensive exhibition and publication history. The pair swam to $228,000 ($100/150,000).
Deeter’s last comment pertained to the bidding pool, which he described as “A growing audience that looks forward to great merchandise that this generational turnover is providing. Most of the more expensive items were sold to phone bidders, but the audience was participating, with many five-figure items being sold to them.” Deeter also mentioned that the sell-through rate was 95 percent over the course of the two days.
Day one, and the sale as a whole, was led by a pintail drake in the beaver style (so called because of the flat orientation of the tailfeathers), made by the Ward Brothers of Crisfield, Md., which earned $264,000. The highest priced of just fewer than 30 decoys by the brothers to cross the block, this example was “the only bird in this rig with a resting pose,” according to catalog notes. “The nestled head and puffed breast accompanied with the slightly raised back and flat beaver tail combine to make this one of the Wards’ true masterpieces.”
The remaining decoys by the Ward Brothers ranged in price from $1,440 for a pair of mallard bookends from the Maloy collection, to $192,000 for “possibly the only known cedar body ruddy duck” they had made. The latter, carved circa 1940, was made in the 1936 gunning style and retained its original Ward Brothers stamp, which read “Male Ruddy Duck” underneath.
Made by the Ward Brothers circa 1940, this 14-inch-long cedar body ruddy duck in the 1936 gunning style is possibly the only known example. Its rarity may have helped drive its price past its $60/80,000 estimate to reach $192,000.
Another Ward Brothers highlight was a humpback-style widgeon drake with a turned head, stippled paint on its back and sides and an extended, upswept tail. Cataloged as “very rare,” this decoy was used on a print of Ward Brothers decoys by Milt Weiler and was featured in Quintina Colio’s American Decoys and Robert Shaw’s Bird Decoys of North America. Its publication history combined with the fact that it was the only humpback widgeon Guyette & Deeter has offered in the last two decades may have helped drive its price up to $144,000, shattering the decoy’s $80/120,000 estimate.
The Maloy collection took up the first 132 lots of day one, including the first lot to sell: a rigmate pair of American mergansers by Duck Island, N.J., carver John Dawson, which swam to $228,000, the second-highest price of the day. The hollow-carved pair measured 18 inches long each and had additional provenance to a 1966 exhibition at the IBM Gallery of Arts and Sciences (New York City), a 1967 exhibition at the St Paul Arts Center (St Paul, Minn.) and the Mackey collection.
Also from the Maloy collection was a pair of hollow-carved mergansers with carved eyes and thin extended crests by an unknown maker from Cape May County, N.J. Both birds had inlaid weights on their underside, as well as Mackey collection ink stamps; they also had provenance to the David and Peggy Rockefeller collection. They did much better than their $80/120,000 estimate, smoothly sailing to $198,000.
Although these 14¼-inch-long Cape May County, N.J., hollow-carved mergansers did not have a known maker, they were dated to the late Nineteenth Century and had extended provenance; they were bid to $198,000 ($80/120,000).
Other notable lots from the Maloy collection on day one included one of potentially two known English/Dawson pintails by John English (Florence, N.J.) ($132,000), a jack curlew in feeding position by A. Elmer Crowell (East Harwich, Mass.) ($114,000), a decorative ruddy turnstone with split tail carving also by Crowell ($102,000), a “very rare” feeding yellowlegs with deep relied wing carving by Fredrick Melville Nichols (Lynn, Mass.) ($102,000) and a rigmate pair of American mergansers by the Mason Decoy Factory (Detroit) ($96,000).
A hollow-carved Canada goose decoy made by Harry M. Shourds of Ocean City, N.J., flew to the highest price of day two, $39,000. The bird had “excellent paint detail” and a Mackey collection ink stamp on its underside, indicating its provenance to the William J. Mackey, Jr, collection. It was retained by the Mackeys until 2007, when it was acquired by a private Southwest collection. One additional lot of Shourds decoys sold — a pair of goldeneyes with inlaid lead weights with provenance to the Maloy collection ($5,700).
While Astoria, Ore., carver Charles Bergman was only represented by two lots, one of those earned the second-highest price on the second day. A pair of widgeons in their original paint, cataloged as “rare,” were raised to $24,000, surpassing their $12/18,000 estimate. The hen of the pair had scratch feather paint detail, and the drake was carved with “HL” on its underside. The other Bergman lot, a hollow-carved pintail with raised neck seat and extended tail spring, earned $6,000 ($2,5/3,500).
Charles Bergman (Astoria, Ore., 1856-1946) was the carver behind this pair of widgeons, 14 and 14½ inches long, which flapped to $24,000 ($12/18,000).
A selection of eight decoys by Jim Schmiedlin of Bradfordwoods, Penn., kicked off day two of the sale, with a hollow-carved working wood duck leading the flock at $17,400. It had a slightly turned head and extended crest, as well as its original paint. One of the most interesting aspects of the bird was a message written on its underside, which read “This wood duck decoy — A rare species in my big-water gunning rig, was used on the waters of Lake Erie (PA) and Pymatuning Lake (PA & OH) — 1993.”
The remaining Schmiedlin decoys ranged in price from $3,900 for a hollow-carved surf scoter with a slightly turned head and relief wing carving, to $10,200 for a hollow-carved ruddy duck with a wide body and slightly turned head, dated “10/2003.”
Some of the most unique decoys on the second day were carved by contemporary decoy carver Oliver Lawson of Crisfield, Md. Lawson’s hollow-carved whistling swan, signed and dated “1993” on its underside, measured 32½ inches long and led the group of three works that represented the artist. The swan’s design incorporated a slightly turned head, and relief wing carving with raised, crossed wingtips. It surpassed its $12,000 high estimate, gliding to $13,200.
Lawson’s sculptural common yellowthroat paired with a lady’s slipper flower bloomed to $12,000, tripling its $3/4,000 estimate. The 4-inch-long bird was placed on a natural wood perch, looking at a ladybug on the stem of the flower. A pair of decorative quail with relief wing and tail feather carving, both dated 1969, also found a new home at $5,700.
One of the smallest carvings in the sale, this 4-inch-long decorative common yellowthroat was perched on natural wood and placed with a lady’s slipper flower. Made by Oliver Lawson (Crisfield, Md., b 1983), the piece was raised to $12,000 ($3/4,000).
Two more ducks earned some of the highest prices on day two — Charles E. Shang Wheeler’s (Stratford, Conn.) hollow-carved black duck with a slightly turned head and Elkanah Cobb’s (Cobb Island, Va.) black duck with an inlaid seat and raised wingtips. The former, by Wheeler, was “never rigged or weighted” according to the auction catalog and had provenance to the Madden collection and a private Southern collection; it earned $12,000. The latter, by Cobb, had provenance to the Bill and Alice Walsh collection and was obtained from Larry Lambert. It was featured in Henry A. Fleckenstein, Jr’s, Decoys of the Mid-Atlantic Region and sold for $11,400.
Just fewer than 50 lots of sporting art were highlighted on day two, led by Ron Van Gilder’s (b 1946) acrylic on board titled “The Grand Passage.” The work featured a migration of bluebills and canvasbacks and measured 36 by 72 inches in a quality decorative frame. It flew past its $4/6,000 estimate to reach $10,200.
Guyette & Deeter’s next gallery sale, closing December 6, will feature the work of contemporary carver Cameron McIntyre. Prices quoted include buyer’s premium as reported by the auction house. For information, 410-745-0485 or www.guyetteanddeeter.com.
