July 28 & 29, 2015 - Portsmouth, New Hampshire
Guyette & Deeter, Inc. Summer Decoy Auction Sizzles
Guyette & Deeter, Inc. conducted their annual summer decoy auction on July 28 & 29 at the Sheraton Harborside Hotel in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. It was accompanied by a 50 table Buy, Sell, & Swap. The auction grossed $2.4 million, which was near mid estimate. There were an overwhelming number of participants, bidding from the audience, phone, absentee, and over 948 registered online. Bidding battles for key decoys erupted continually as many items sold over estimate, and in some cases multiple times over estimate. Two lots sold for over $100,000 and 45 lots sold for over $10,000.
The sale featured the collections of Sam Dyke, Tom O’Key, Harry Seitz, Jack Milne, Dr. Lloyd Griffith, Bernard M. Billick, Doug and Ellen Miller, the Vermont Folk Life Museum, Reid Newcomb, and the Arizona State University.
The top lot in the auction was an exceptional curlew by Thomas Gelston that was formerly in the decoy collection of well-known folk art collector Stewart Gregory. It sold for $258,750 to a bidder in the audience. The other lot that sold for over $100,000 was a one of a kind decorative feeding yellowlegs by Elmer Crowell that sold for $103,500. Other highlights from the sale included a large gull from Eastern Long Island, New York selling for $48,875, a feeding Canada goose by John Tax selling for $86,250, a Ward Brothers pintail selling from $69,000, and a merganser hen by Charles Osgood selling form $89,125.

Curlew by Thomas Gelston

Merganser hen by Charles Osgood

Pintail by the Ward Brothers

Gull from Long Island, New York

Flying pintails by the Ward Brothers

Goldeneye by Albert Laing

Scoter by Albert Laing

Bufflehead by Dan English

Brant by Jim Schmiedlin

Snow goose by the Ward Brothers

Bufflehead hen by Shang Wheeler

Canada goose by Rowley Horner

Pair of bluewing teal by Charles Perdew

Eider by Gus Wilson

Cobb Family robin snipe

Winchester advertisement

Duck call by Victor Glodo

Mallard by Ferd Homme

Robin snipe by Robert Andrews

Pintail hen by Elmer Crowell

Wood duck by Elmer Crowell

Redhead by the Mason Decoy Factory

Black bellied plover by Eli Doughty

Bluebill by the Ward Brothers

Union Metallic Advertising

Feeding yellowlegs by Elmer Crowell

Canada goose by John Tax

Golden plover Elmer Crowell

Canada goose by John Tax

Merganser by Oscar Bibber

Old Town Canoe model

Pair of pintails by
the Ward Brothers

Pair of canvasbacks by the Ward Brothers

Black duck by the Ward Brothers

Winchester Christmas shotgun shell box

Brant by Elmer Crowell

Canada goose by Clarence Bailey

Pair of mallards by the Ward Brothers

Mallard hen by Ferd Homme

Tern by Obediah Verity

Black bellied plover by Harry V. Shourds

Brant by George Asa Miller

Greenwing teal by the Mason Decoy Factory

Pair of widgeon by the Ward Brothers

Goldeneye hen by the Mason Decoy Factory

Fish plaque by Hardy

Pair of mergansers by Ira Hudson

Merganser by Lee Witherspoon

Peters advertising