Page 40 - joa oct 22

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with David L Moore CPAA, Certified Professional Antiques Appraiser A Commitment to Excellence Since 1966

Keeping the Ducks in a Row: Appraising a Collection

was asked recently if I did decoy appraisals? If so, how do you Assessing the Collection
conduct a multi-item appraisal? I will try to simply lead you I conducted a decoy appraisal earlier this month that did require me
Ithrough a complex process that I have done many times in the past to rise at 3 a.m. and then drive a few hours to start the appraisal process
and hope to do many times in the future. at 7 a.m. I was engaged by the owner/collector to appraise 18 duck and
goose decoys, two confidence decoys, 4 shorebird decoys, 21 antique fish
Remembering and Planning decoys, 3 fishing reels, and miscellaneous sporting collectibles.
Pondering my assignment, I rolled out of bed at 3 in the morning, (All the pictures in this article are from this collection.) To get started I
got dressed in warm clothes, and had a cup of coffee. As I took my first gathered all of the items to be appraised in one room. I then divided
sip, my mind goes back to the early 1960s and an early rise to gather them into subject categories such as duck, goose, fish decoys, and
two large gunny sacks of wooden duck decoys and heading out the door sporting collectibles such as the lead shot dispenser, gunpowder tins,
with my grandfather and Dad to stand in line at Willow Slough wooden shot boxes, shotshell boxes, wildlife signs, fish gaffs, nets, lures,
Indiana Fish and Wildlife area in Newton County to draw for a Duck etc. I then gave each item a consecutively numbered tag. I measured each
blind or a Goose pit for a day of hunting. After the drawing, we then individual item to be appraised and wrote a brief description on the tag.
drive to a location near our chosen Duck Blind and launch our boat to I inspected each individual item and listed the carver, the location of the
row to our isolated spot on the slough. On our arrival, we place the 24 carver, and any particular traits or damage or lack of damage I find.
wooden duck decoys consisting of hand-carved Illinois River mallard
and pintail decoys around the blind. We then wait for the designated
time to shoot ducks who land near our decoys or fly low enough around
the blind to shoot.
My cup of coffee now empty, I come back to reality and gather my
sack of appraisal supplies, checking my instrument to make sure I get a
very detailed shot of the subject I will be dealing with. Off I go, to
engage, not in a hunt for ducks and Geese, but to appraise a Wildfowl
decoy collection. It seems that now I prefer to shoot duck decoys with With decoys, it is important to cite if they had any repairs and if the
a camera instead of ducks with a shotgun. repairs are hunter-field repairs or part of a professional restoration. It is
also important to assess if it has its original paint or has been repainted,
condition, and whether it has been re-headed or has its original head. I
list these types of items on a separate notepad. I then take detailed
photos with a high-megapixel camera. When photographing decoys, I
typically shoot each side and bottom. If the decoy is branded or signed,
I snap a picture of this also.

Approach
I have led up to this point to help you understand that appraising to
me is personal. I have had a lifelong personal connection to most things
I appraise. I was very fortunate in my childhood to have a grandfather
and uncle who lived next door and each had their own antiques
businesses, and who loved to hunt and fish. I was living with historic
antique firearms, wildfowl decoys, and old fishing lures. I am certified
This William “Billy” Shaw Canvasback duck decoy was carved in c. 1880s and is
as a professional antiques and collectibles appraiser, but my specialties believed to be a Shaw repaint. It has a D.W.V. Brand on the deep v bottom. It was
are circa 1750 to 1898 antique firearms, early American, English, and assessed as an early Shaw decoy because of the deep V-shaped bottom. D.W.V. was
Confederate Bowie knives, military antiques, American Folk Art, the brand of Daniel W Vorhees Sr. an important wildlife conservationist in Illinois.
Upper Chesapeake Bay (Cecil County Maryland) and Illinois River He was a charter member of and served as President of the Duck Island Hunting
duck decoys, antique American Midwest fish decoys, sporting and Fishing Club near Peoria. He was also President of the Illinois Sportsman’s
collectibles, and prehistoric and historic artifacts. Association. This decoy without the brand would have been valued at $500.
With this famous brand, $625

38 Journal of Antiques and Collectibles