Decoys, sporting art fly high at Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum auction | Arts & Entertainment
Guyette & Deeter’s Decoy and Sports Art Auction on July 29th and 30th at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in St. Michaels, Md. saw approximately 120 collectors and well over 1,000 who participated online and by phone. Guyette & Deeter’s annual summer auction traditionally takes place in New England; However, owners Jon Deeter and Zac Cote decided to try something new this summer by keeping things local.
“Our company has been based in St. Michaels since 2005. However, our November auction in conjunction with the Easton Waterfowl Festival was our only local event throughout the year. Talbot County is just a beautiful place to come to all year round and Jon and I look forward to sharing more of it with our customers from across the country,” Cote explained.
The sale included lures and sports art from the collections of Ron Davis, Dave Fannon, Mark Goldman, Charlie Hart, Dr. Lynwood Herrington, Charlie Hunter III, John & Dennis Jenny, Don Kirson, Dr. Preston Lowe, DC North, Kirby & Linda Roberts, Nancy & Randy Root, Rick & Liz Sandstrom, Geoff Stead, Jim Thompson, and Herb Wetanson.
After two days of auction, gross sales totaled $3.32 million, with 72 lots selling for more than $10,000 each, including one for more than $200,000. The top lot in sales was a Nathan Cobb, Jr. floating Brant, which sold for $252,000. Prices were high throughout the sale, a salesman said, with a 19th-century Nantucket hollow golden plover selling for $75,000; a pintail by Dave “Umbrella” Watson that sold for $70,800; a curlew by Eli Doughty that sells for $56,400; and a quirky mallard from the Mason Decoy Factory that sells for $48,000. Decorative lures also sold well, with a wood duck owned by Larry Hayden selling for a carver record $42,000.
Decoys and duck carvings weren’t the only highlight of the sale. Guyette & Deeter fetched high prices for some sporting artworks, with an Edmund Osthaus oil on canvas selling for $69,600 and an Aiden Lassell Ripley watercolor for $45,000. Folk art was also well represented at the auction. Three 19th-century cigar shop Native American carvings from the Mark Goldman Collection have sold at their median estimates of $84,000, $39,000 and $27,000, respectively, as has an 80-inch tall folk art joke tower found at the 1893 World’s Fair for $33,000 was sold.
“For a first time auction in a new location, our team handled this sale perfectly. The auction not only ran smoothly, but was a great success. We have to repeat that,” said Deeter.
Guyette & Deeter’s next auction will be held November 9-10 at the Talbot County Community Center in conjunction with the Easton Waterfowl Festival. The sale will take place with a live audience and will be accompanied by a 50-table dealer show. Quality deliveries will be accepted until September 15th. Call Jon Deeter at (440) 610-1768 or Zac Cote at (207) 321-8091 to register for this sale.