Crowell “dust jacket” plovers, $649,000.
Elmer Crowell full-sized, spread-winged standing goose, $605,000.
Eight decoys eclipsed the $100,000 mark at Guyette and Schmidt’s annual spring decoy auction at the Pheasant Run Resort this past week, April 22-23.
The sale, featuring the collection of decoy authority and author John Delph, soared past the $3.2 million estimate bringing in a healthy $4.3 million.
Leading the auction was a rare Elmer Crowell full-sized spread-winged standing goose that sold at $605,000 including premium. A pair of Crowell “dust jacket” plovers also brought huge prices at $270,000 and $320,000 hammer, combining for a total, with premium, of $649,000. The rare oversized shorebirds were dubbed “dust jackets” after having examples from the rig of roughly 12 appear on the covers of dust covers of both Mackey’s and John Delph’s books.
Other decoys to clear the $100,000 hurdle included a record price established for a Canadian decoy when a Tom Chambers wood duck realized $187,000, an Elmer Crowell standing wood duck went out at $143,000, a Gus Wilson eider drake $126,500, a pair of Canadian wood duck stick-ups by an unknown maker $111,650 and a John Dawson merganser realized $115,500.
A complete review will appear in a future issue.
