Like a hunter who kept his favorite duck blind secret for decades, only to find it invaded by beer-swilling teenagers, many veteran collectors look askance at new buyers who seem to have stumbled upon their terrain. “The new breed of decoy collectors coming into the market wants an entire collection today,” says Joe Engers, publisher of Decoy magazine. “I’ve known collectors who have waited 20 or 30 years for one particular bird to come on the market, only to have new buyers push the prices to a height they may not have wanted to go to.” Free from the weight of history that long-time collectors carry, Engers says it is common to see new buyers bidding $75,000 for a bird that sold for $35,000 only a few years ago.
Guyette attributes this phenomenon to the fact that most new buyers come from a background in which auction estimates are set deliberately low so presale expectations can be easily met. “They expect to bid two to three times the estimate because they are used to that in the fine arts market,” he says. “Unfortunately, that is not the case at decoy auctions.” On the other hand, Guyette points out, decoy dilettantes are not always to blame for skyrocketing prices. Some veteran collectors simply ignore presale estimates entirely and will inflate prices simply because they desire a particular decoy. “They don’t really care what the experts say it is worth,” he adds.
 | | A PREENING pintail drake by Elmer Crowell, purchased in 2003 by Stephen O’Brien Jr. for $801,500, setting the world record for a price paid on a duck decoy. |
While trends continue upward, O’Brien notes that new collectors can still ferret out opportunities to buy undervalued birds at auction. Historically, carvers throughout the United States and Canada created birds specific to the region in which they carved. Long Island craftsmen, such as Obediah Verity, created decoys of birds native to that area. Other carvers from such duck-hunting hot spots as the Chesapeake Bay, Maritime Canada, Massachusetts and Minnesota did likewise. Collectors share this regional pride. “Decoy lovers tend to have an affinity for birds from their own region of the country,” O’Brien explains. “For any number of reasons, typically the death or divorce of a regional collector, some areas become hot while others cool off. These fluctuations present excellent buying opportunities.”Guyette admits that he usually advises his clients to diversify their decoy holdings across a broad spectrum of regions, much like diversifying a stock portfolio. “Don’t just buy New England birds; buy some from the Midwest, the South or the West Coast,” he says. Many new buyers, however, have shunned this geographic collecting strategy and are choosing decoys based solely upon a carver’s reputation. Crowell, Lothrop Holmes and Nathan Cobb Jr. may never be household names, but in decoy circles their creations have reached celebrity status.
VALUE JUDGEMENT Antique waterfowl decoys represent a unique arena of American folk art. In recent years, they have also become prized collectibles; the most coveted pieces easily garner six figures at auction. But newcomers to this market can still find lower barriers to entry by focusing on high-quality works in various price categories and heeding fluctuations in geographical trends. |
Buying strictly big-name decoys is a fairly safe strategy, but collectors should remember that birds are not judged by name alone. “Just like in the fine art market—people jump when they hear a name like Picasso or Matisse—people get excited when they hear the name Elmer Crowell,” O’Brien says. “But I’ve seen some very average Crowell examples going for way above average prices. That is a mistake.”
Knowing a carver’s history also helps buyers make smart decisions. “We just sold a Crowell ruddy duck for $177,000,” Guyette says. “He only made two ruddy duck decoys that anyone is aware of. If it were a standard mallard, it would be lucky to have brought in $30,000.” A decoy’s condition carries great weight in determining its value, but collectors in this field are more forgiving with their assessments than most other antique collectors. Nancy Druckman, head of the American folk department at Sotheby’s, explains decoys were carved and painted with the intention of being used in the field. “The market favors actual working models rather than highly decorative decoys that never saw the water,” she adds. Working decoys were stacked in the back of boats and cars or carried to hunting camps by the dozen in canvas sacks. Over the course of time, they suffered dings and chips. Many decoys were repainted at the beginning of every season, although those with the original paint intact retain more value. There also should be signs of rust and corrosion on the underside of the bird where a lead weight was attached.
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