Ira D. Hudson’s rigmate pair of red-breasted mergansers, from the storied collection of William H. Purnell, Jr, were the sale’s top lot at $144,000 ($150/250,000).

Review by Madelia Hickman Ring

PEMBROKE, MASS. — “In my 30 years in the sporting art field, I have never seen more interest. The number of new buyers was rather staggering. At one point, there were so many bids coming in that our pace slowed to less than 30 lots an hour and people were complaining. Having to slow down to accommodate an unprecedented number of bidders is an auction firm’s and consignors’ dream. Complaints like that, I can live with,” were Stephen O’Brien, Jr’s, comments following Copley Fine Art Auctions’ two-day Sporting Sale on July 10-11.

The 637-lot auction surpassed its $2.6 million high estimate, achieved a 95 percent sell-through rate and continued the house’s trend of setting many new world records. American buyers prevailed throughout, though decoy specialist Colin McNair noted there was some interest from Canadian buyers and expats.

The bar was set at $144,000 on the first day, achieved by a rig-mate pair of red-breasted mergansers carved circa 1930 by Ira D. Hudson (1873-1949) in Chincoteague, Va. Described in the catalog as “exceptional,” the desirability of the pair was bolstered by their provenance to William H. Purnell, Jr, who was described in the lot’s essay as “perhaps the greatest Southern decoy collector of all time.” As if that weren’t enough, the pair were closely related to ones included in several publications.

Another storied collector — William J. Mackey, Jr, — was part of the history of a goose carved around 1880 on Cobb Island, Va., by Nathan F. Cobb, Jr. (1825-1905). The Mackey-Carton Cobb goose decoy was being debuted to the modern collecting community after spending three-quarters of a century in a New Jersey estate. It was made originally for Oscar Crumb (1904-1975) of Oyster, Va., who, along with his forebears are generally considered to be “major players in the waterfowl history of Northampton County.” It sold within estimate, for $80,400.

The Mackey-Carton Cobb goose by Nathan F. Cobb, Jr, measured 26½ inches in length and had been off the market, in the Carton family, for about 75 years. Interest pushed it to $80,400 ($60/90,000).

Provenance to the collection of Dr James M. McCleery also adds cachet to any decoy and the sale featured many opportunities for collectors to own a bird he had. Bringing the highest price for any such bird was a scoter by Augustus “Gus” Aaron Wilson (1864-1950), which had been illustrated in several books, including Call to the Sky: The Decoy Collection of James M. McCleery, M.D. by Robert Shaw (Houston Museum of Natural History, 1992). It sold for nearly its high estimate, at $45,000.

O’Brien had mentioned several new auction records and those were seen throughout the sale. In the decoy category, Lloyd Johnson (1910-1965), Robert “Bob” White (b 1939) and Mark McNair (b 1950) were among those makers with now new higher record setting prices. A pair of wood ducks by Johnson that had also been in the Mackey and Carton collections and were made around 1950 in Bay Head, N.J., brought $11,400, while an early black duck, which White claimed to be “the best I ever made,” found a new home for $19,200. It had been made in 1969 in Tullytown, Penn., and came to sale from a private Pennsylvania collection. Rising to $45,600 was Mark McNair’s “High-Tri” pair of mergansers made for the collection of Barry and Bernice Stavis, which multiplied its high estimate more than five-fold.

“The decoy market continues to be robust,” McNair told Antiques and The Arts Weekly. “We’re finding new people through new avenues and continue to knock down record prices for top makers at a good rate. It was the third Copley auction in a row to set a record for a Mark McNair decoy; he represents the movement of greater appreciation for the top contemporary carvers.”

“The Pilar Fights a Blue Marlin Off Cuba North Coast, Ernest Hemingway” by Lynn Bogue Hunt, oil on canvas, 22 by 18 inches, finished at $126,000 ($25/35,000).

Fine art results were as strong as those for decoys. Provenance and publication history was equally on display with Lynn Bogue Hunt’s (1878-1960) “The Pilar Fights a Blue Marlin Off Cuba North Coast, Ernest Hemingway,” a vibrantly colored dynamic painting of a fisherman aboard Hemingway’s boat trying to land a blue marlin. The painting had been the cover of the May 1940 issue of The Rotarian and it had been in four private collections previously. Copley’s catalog entry did not mince words, saying “this work, depicting one of the greatest American outdoor writers and sportsmen of all time, painted by Hunt, his good friend and storied illustrator, is one of the most important angling paintings ever to be offered for sale.” Bidders appreciated its significance and the price realized — $126,000 — was just $500 short of the artist’s current world auction record, which Copley set in 2007. It was also the second highest price achieved in the sale.

For those who appreciated the composition of Hunt’s blue marlin painting but might not have had the pockets deep enough, a painting of a leaping sailfish, painted in 1946 by William Goadby Lawrence (1913-2002), was another option to pursue; it sold for $25,200, a new world auction record for the artist. Described as one of the greatest fish painters of all time, the artist’s biography, as the catalog described, cited artwork featured in Field and Stream and The Saturday Evening Post as well as works exhibited at the Library of Congress, the Museum of Natural History and the US Coast Guard Academy Museum.

A watercolor depicting fly fishing for Atlantic salmon at Le Cran Serré, one of the most famous pools on the renowned Moisie River, was executed by Ogden M. Pleissner (1905-1983), who the catalog noted to have been “a regular guest at the Moise Salmon Club. The Moise is one of the world’s great salmon rivers and the Cran Serré is one of the river’s greatest pools.” Estimated at $30/50,000, it realized a strong $72,000.

“Le Cran Serré – Moisie River” by Ogden M. Pleissner, watercolor, 18 by 28 inches, traded hands for $72,000 ($30/50,000).

Other new world auction records in fine art were “Flushing Quail Covey” by David A. Hagerbaumer (1921-2014), which nearly doubled its high estimate when it sold for $18,450. It came to auction from the Curt Mettam collection and demonstrated the artist’s understanding of the natural world, honed by years working as a taxidermist.

Of the nearly 640 lots in the sale, more than 100 (102 to be exact), came from the collection of prominent decoy collectors and scholars Jeff and Joyce Hay; most were sold on the second day of the sale. The Hay collection was led at $13,800 for a green-winged teal made in the mid Nineteenth Century in Philadelphia. Another highlight of the Hay collection was the “Ohio Decoys” mallard, so called because it was on the cover of the couple’s 2015 book, Ohio Decoys. The mallard was used at the Winous Point Shooting Club in Port Clinton, Ohio; the catalog noted the club is “considered to be America’s oldest continuously operated hunting club…[the] iconic carving epitomizes the best of the Winous Point Shooting Club’s decoys.”

Copley Fine Art Auctions’ next auction will be a Fall online sale in October and the 15th Annual Winter auction will take place in February.

Prices quoted include the buyer’s premium as reported by the auction house. For additional information, 617-536-0030 or www.copleyart.com.