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deep on the dead rise (sloping surface), bore the
initials – L.D., the mark of ‘Mr. Lee Dudley,’
one-time professional gunner and celebrated
decoy maker.” It is reminiscences such as
this that still motivate ever-optimistic decoy
collectors today.

Only in America

It was thirty-one years later, 1965 when two
more seminal decoy books were published.
Adele Earnest brought her The Art of the Decoy:
American Bird Carvings to press, and William J.
Decoys
Mackey produced his American Bird Decoys. It
did not happen overnight, but a new generation
of nature-minded, folk art enthusiasts was

Highly Collectible taking note of

AMERICANA Stan Van Etten Lothrop Holmes Earnest book, Mary Black,
America’s decoy history.
This feeding
In the Foreword to the
Yellowlegs by
By
sold at auction
the Director of the Museum
for $82,600.
of Early American Folk Arts
in New York, writes: “The
erious collectors of American antiques and American wildfowl decoy is here presented as an
folk art will not be surprised by the title of art form both useful and beautiful … Decoys
Sthis short article. The January 2000 are explored here, for the first time, as folk art
Sotheby's and Guyette & Schmidt Auction of … Mrs. Earnest’s book establishes the decoy as
the James McCleery, M.D. decoy collection a fascinating, unique, and indigenous American
tallied just shy of $11,000,000. Some 563 decoy folk art.”
lots sold for a total of $10,817,746 for an In her opening pages, Adele Earnest writes:
average-per-lot of $19,214. The top-selling “Why did the decoy arts develop only in
decoy brought $684,500, more than twice the America? It is evident that only in North
amount of the previous record holder. Sixteen America did the carving of wildfowl lures
This important Canada goose by Charles Safford lots sold for $100,000 or more. develop as a popular art of diverse and
sold for $517,500, a record price for a multitudinous proportions.” She goes on to cite
Safford decoy, making it the 12th most Documenting The Market the reasons for the widespread development of
expensive decoy ever sold at auction. decoy carving in America. First, she says, there

Naturally, the decoy marketplace has not always been so pricey. It took time to get there. were birds, countless numbers of them. “They
The first decoy book of any significance, Wild Fowl Decoys, was written by Joel Barber were here, the largest bird migrations in the
(1876-1952) and published in 1934. He was an early 20th century architect from New York world. A flight of geese could take all day to
City who was a pioneer collector and promoter of duck decoys as American folk art. His own pass, and then darken the face of the moon by
collection began when, by accident, he found a Red-Breasted Merganser hen near his Long night. The wildfowler had rich opportunities.”
Island, New York boathouse.
A brief sample of Barber’s writing sets the stage for the fascination, if not downright
compulsion, that compels today’s decoy collectors to pursue the finding of “just one more great
old decoy.” In the first chapter of
his book, Barber declares: “I am
still collecting, still lured and
victimized by decoys. On a visit to
Knotts Island, Virginia, for example,
I add to my collection a group of
old-time Ruddy Ducks. They
were very old and of singular
perfection … In the very act of
opening the door of the old boat-
house where I found them, I
recognized historical ground. The
Ruddies, six or eight of them, lay
forgotten in a corner with
miscellaneous gear … All were
scarred by service and bleached by This pintail hen and drake from the Kankakee Marsh The important long-neck swan from Hoopers Island,
exposure. Only traces of the brought $82,600 and $153,400, respectively. Maryland described in Adele Earnest’s Bonfire of the
original painting remained, but Swans is the exact decoy pictured in the book.
the bottom of each decoy, burned It brought $47,200 at auction.

24 Journal of Antiques and Collectibles