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.