Guyette & Schmidt, Inc conducted its 24th annual spring decoy auction on April 23′4 at the Pheasant Run Resort, in conjunction with the National Antique Decoy & Sporting Collectibles Show, and grossed $2.1 million.
The sale pushed Guyette & Schmidt’s total auction sales to $117-plus million. The crowd was quite large, with 325 registered bidders in the audience and another 180 people bidding by phone, absentee or online. Prices were under estimate on the first day but near mid-estimate on the second day; 51 lots sold for more than $10,000 each.
A pair of long-necked pintails, circa 1900, by an unknown maker from Kankakee, Ill., sold below estimate for $97,750, while a group of five rare shorebirds by Daniel Lake Leeds of Pleasantville, N.J., sold above estimate at $140,000.
Decoys by Charles Perdew brought high prices at the sale. A sleeping mallard hen sold for $74,750, a canvasback drake for $63,250 and a pair of mallards for $40,250.
Prices were high for miniatures by Elmer Crowell, Virginia decoys, Maryland decoys and decoys from North Carolina, while decoys from Michigan and Wisconsin were soft. World record auction prices were established for many decoy makers, including Charles Jester, Walter Sibley, Steven Lane and Daniel Strickfaden.
Guyette & Schmidt, Inc’s next decoy sale will be July 18 and 19 at the Wyndham Hotel in Portland, Maine, in conjunction with a 75-table decoy show.
Guyette & Schmidt is at 933 Talbot Street in St Michaels, Md. For more information, www.guyetteandschmidt.com or 410-745-0485.
