Copley Fine Art Auctions, Hingham, Massachusetts
Photos courtesy Copley Fine Art Auctions
Top honors at Copley Fine Art Auctions’ two-day winter sale February 23 and 24 were shared among several categories. The first honors went to a pair of White Mallard Club pinch-breasted pintail decoys by the Ward brothers, Lemuel T. (1896-1984) and Stephen (1895-1976), that together brought a total of $211,200 (includes buyers’ premiums). Each bird had been estimated at $80,000/120,000, and the results placed them in the top tier of results for Maryland decoys.
This celebrated pair of White Mallard Club pinch-breasted pintail decoys by brothers Lemuel Ward and Stephen Ward, circa 1932, each estimated at $80,000/120,000, sold separately; the drake (left) brought $108,000, and the hen, $103,200, for a total of $211,200. They were acquired from Abercrombie & Fitch by the White Mallard Club, Butte Sink, California.
Throughout their near century of existence, the pair has consistently brought record prices. They were the top lot at the October 1974 auction by Richard A. Bourne (1927-2016) from the William J. Mackey collection and were acquired by singer Andy Williams. Twelve years later Williams consigned them back to Bourne for Bourne’s August 1986 auction in Monterey, California, where they were the cover lot as well as fetching a world-record price from Ronald J. Gard. Since then they have been the centerpiece of Gard’s collection. Pinch-breasted pintails from the White Mallard rig in original paint are rare, and this pair has only light gunning wear. This pair has been published and illustrated extensively. In 2018, at Copley Fine Art Auctions, another pair of White Mallard Club pintails from the Donal C. O’Brien Jr. collection set an auction world record for any Ward decoy pair at $252,000.
The second set of honors went to Bald Eagles,a 1941 oil on canvas of screaming eagles against a boiling sky by Frank Weston Benson (1862-1951) that brought $210,000 (est. $100,000/200,000). The painting had descended in the Benson family. The sale had more than two dozen fresh-to-the-market lots from the family collection.
From the merest glance at the 1941 Bald Eagles (The Eagles) it’s easy to see why Frank Weston Benson (1862-1951) is Copley Fine Art Auctions’ owner Steve O’Brien’s favorite artist. The oil on canvas, 39¾" x 32", captures the frenzy of the birds, which is echoed in the turbulent sea and sky of North Haven Island, Maine. Estimated at $100,000/200,000, the picture brought $210,000.
Born in Salem, Massachusetts, Benson began fishing and hunting in the surrounding marshes early in his life and moved along to the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University and then to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and its school, becoming a leader of the Boston school of American Impressionism. The painting descended to the collections of his great-grandchildren Katherine Shaw Kripke and Samuel Benson Shaw and is illustrated in Faith Andrews Bedford’s The Sporting Art of Frank W. Benson (2000).
Bidders had plenty of opportunity to preview the sale as the Copley staff traveled across the country holding previews in various places. The sale itself was online only, livestreamed from Hingham, Massachusetts, where auctioneer Peter Coccoluto called the sale.
For information, visit the website (www.copleyart.com) or call (617) 536-0030.
Souvenir of Florida, a 1934 watercolor by Frank W. Benson, 19" x 24", depicting two fishermen in the heat of the day on the flats of the Florida Keys, brought a steamy $168,000 against the $30,000/50,000 estimate. The price is the highest for a Benson watercolor at auction since Wigeon sold for a record $131,000 at Copley Fine Art Auctions in 2008. The painting descended to Katherine Shaw Kripke and Samuel Benson Shaw, great-grandchildren of Benson, and is illustrated in Faith Andrews Bedford’s The Sporting Art of Frank W. Benson (2000). It was exhibited in Frank W. Benson: A Retrospective in 1989 at Berry-Hill Galleries in New York City and retains the gallery label.
The Purnell-Kirson Cobb black duck made around 1880 by Nathan F. Cobb Jr. (1825-1905) of Cobb Island, Virginia, is one of the best Cobb black duck decoys known. The underside of the 16" long hollow body bears Cobb’s serif “N” and the brands of William H. Purnell Jr. Estimated at $25,000/45,000, it realized $30,000. It came from the Nathan F. Cobb Jr. rig to the Donald Kirson collection. Rigmates were published in Wings of Wonder: The Remarkable Story of the Cobb Family and the Priceless Decoys They Created on Their Island Paradise by Dr. S. Lloyd Newberry (2020) and were in the auction of Donal C. O’Brien Jr.’s collection of sporting art and decoys at Copley Fine Art Auctions in 2018.
The sale opened with 11 lots by Mark S. McNair (b. 1950) of Craddockville, Virginia. The first was this preening black duck, 15" long, from McNair’s rig that sold for $7800 against the $3000/5000 estimate. In original paint, with even gunning wear, the bird had migrated from McNair’s rig to the collection of his father, Robert McNair, and then to another collection. McNair’s carvings have been sold in most Copley Fine Art Auctions’ sales. At Copley, the McNairs are practically family: Mark’s son Colin McNair is Copley’s decoy specialist and an artist, and his son Ian McNair is a carver and cofounder of High ’N Dry, maker of industrial-grade chest waders used in aquaculture on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. When Ian’s schedule permits, he can also be found at Copley auctions on the phone.
This dropped-wing wren by Anthony Elmer Crowell, circa 1925, life size at 5½" long, is rare, with high detail. It retains the maker’s “High Class Decoys of Every Description” stamp, the oval brand, and his penciled signature. Estimated at $5000/8000, the little bird brought $19,800. Davenport and Dorothy Phelps West acquired the bird from the artist, and it later went to a Cape Cod collection.
This life-size flying surf scoter, 30" x 21½", by Anthony Elmer Crowell (1862-1952) of East Harwich, Massachusetts, is rare and is likely his first flying sea duck to come to market in over 25 years. The carving is both refined and complex, with incised tail feathering and blended feathering from head to tail. From a Cape Cod collection, the bird brought $20,400 against the $17,500/22,500 estimate. It was published in Elmer Crowell: Father of American Bird Carving by Stephen B. O’Brien Jr. and Chelsie W. Olney (2018).
This preening willet by Mark S. McNair was made around 1980 with an inlaid raised wingtip and is signed on the underside. From the Kirby Roberts collection and estimated at $1500/2500, it realized $9000.
In their 2005 book Masterworks of the Illinois River,Copley Fine Art Auctions’ president Stephen B. O’Brien Jr. and Julie Carlson describe this pair of green-winged teal by Charles H. Perdew (1874-1963) of Henry, Illinois, circa 1945, as among the greatest Illinois River decoys made. The 10½" long birds, with raised wingtips and original paint, brought $32,500 (est. $20,000/30,000). The pair was exhibited in 2005 in The Illinois River Meets the Chesapeake at the Ward Museum of Wildfowl Art, Salisbury, Maryland.
Charles H. Perdew carved this 16" long Illinois River pintail around 1928, and it is included in Stephen B. O’Brien Jr. and Julie Carlson’s Masterworks of the Illinois River. Perdew gave it his early three-piece body construction, and his wife, Edna Perdew, gave it her finest scratch-comb paint. It is from the mixed rig of ducks commissioned in 1928 by banker George K. Schmidt (1869-1939) of Chicago and bears his brand. The Schmidt rig decoys rested in a bank vault for some 40 years, and to date only seven of the rig have surfaced. Estimated at $25,000/35,000, the bird brought $41,250. It went from the George K. Schmidt rig to the Walter Ruppel White collection and to the Masterworks of the Illinois River collection. Its rigmate is illustrated in the 2002 Fish and Fowl of the Great Lakes by Donna Tonelli. It was exhibited in 2005 in The Illinois River Meets the Chesapeake at the Ward Museum of Wildfowl Art, Salisbury, Maryland.
Third-generation decoy carver Harry Vinuckson Shourds (1861-1920) of Tuckerton, New Jersey, is identified as the maker of this Johnson JEB rig redhead drake that sold for $22,200 (est. $20,000/25,000). The 14¾" long bird, circa 1890, was found by Lloyd Johnson (1910-1965) and John Hillman, and it retains the JEB brand, along with four museum and collection marks. It is included in Decoys: North America’s One Hundred Greatest by Loy S. Harrell Jr. and in James R. Doherty Jr.’s 2011 Classic New Jersey Decoys. It was the subject of a painting and prints by Burton E. Moore Jr. (1945-2016). Provenance includes the JEB rig, the Johnson collection, the Malcolm Fleming collection, and the Donald Kirson collection, from which it was consigned. Additionally, it was on view at the Ward Museum of Wildfowl Art, which will become known this summer as the Museum of Eastern Shore Culture at Salisbury University, Salisbury, Maryland.
Salmon Fishing by Ogden Minton Pleissner (1905-1983) depicts the moment when the fisherman reels in the fish as the guide is poised to gaff and net it. The fisherman, the guide, and the fishing rod all bend in the same arc toward a fish one cannot see. Estimated at $30,000/40,000, the 18" x 22" oil on canvas brought $50,000. It came from the family collection of Norman B. Woolworth of Winthrop, Maine, to an unidentified collection, and was sold into another collection at Copley Fine Art Auctions in July 2008. The painting was published in 1984 in The Art of Ogden M. Pleissner by his friend and fellow sportsman Peter C. Bergh. Raised in New York City, Pleissner was early on a dedicated sportsman and a dedicated artist; by age 27 he had sold a painting to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and that was just the beginning.
Blue-Winged Teal by David A. Maass (b. 1929) brought $21,250 against the $6000/9000 estimate. Out of over 220 paintings by Maass over the last quarter century, only three depicting blue-winged teal have surfaced; this example is thought to be the finest. The oil on board, 24" x 32", depicts five birds seeming to hover above the viewer’s head while two others are in flight. Largely self taught, Maass is among the most prolific artists of sporting art, and his work is desirable. The painting came from a Wisconsin collection.
This portrait, Hollybrook Abandon by Minnesota artist Richard Evett Bishop (1887-1975), depicts the most famous English springer spaniel to have undergone field trials in the U.S. The oil on board, 11½" x 15½", is signed and dated 1938 by the artist. It brought $19,200 (est. $6000/9000). Hollybrook Abandon was owned by Harry I. Caesar, who in 1925 was one of the founders of Leash, a club for gentlemen dog lovers and a speakeasy as well. The dog’s field trials in 1937 and 1938 were held at Fishers Island, New York, and he received many important awards. Caesar commissioned the painting through The Sporting Gallery and Bookshop in Pennington, New Jersey, and it retains that label. From the Caesar collection it descended to Harry A. Caesar II. It has been published in the Princeton Alumni Weekly, volume XXXVIII; in “Hollybrook Abandon Takes Springer Open All-Age Stake Second Year in Row” by Henry R. Ilsley in the New York Times October 23, 1938; and in “Brilliantly Contested Springer Spaniel Stake Goes to Hollybrook Abandon” in the New York Times, October 24, 1937. It was also published in December 1926 in Forest and Stream and in The Art of Aiden Lassell Ripley by Stephen O’Brien Jr. and Julie Carlson Wildfeuer.
This mallard drake made around 1948 by Charles Walker (1873-1954) of Princeton, Illinois, for the Clifford Jolley rig was featured by Stephen B. O’Brien Jr. and Julia Carlson on page 61 of their 2005 book Masterworks of the Illinois River. The 17" long bird demonstrates Walker’s talents for carving and painting. Estimated at $10,000/15,000, it brought $22,800. It came from the Donald Kirson collection. Jolley supplied Walker with the wood for his carvings.
Mason’s Decoy Factory, Detroit, Michigan, 1896-1924, made decoys in several well-defined categories, with Premier-grade birds being their highest grade. This Premier-grade swan, 21½" x 26½", was discovered in a waterman’s shack on Smith Island in Chesapeake Bay in the 1960s and retains old gunning paint and moderate wear. It was on view for 20 years at the Havre de Grace Decoy Museum in Maryland. When the bird departed the museum, Alan Haid, a leading Mason dealer, acquired it in a parking-lot transaction, and it took up residence in his Connecticut home. Haid and dealer Russ Goldberger selected it for the dust jackets of their “Expanded” and “Updated” editions of their 1994 Mason Decoys: A Complete Pictorial Guide. Estimated at $50,000/60,000, it sold for $63,000. From the Smith Island shack, it entered the Maryland collection of Donald J. Federroll; it went then to the Alan and Elaine Haid collection and finally to the collection from which it was consigned.
Bert Graves (1880-1956) and his Graves Decoy Company of Peoria, Illinois, created this pintail drake around 1925. It is included on page 97 of Masterworks of the Illinois River byStephen B. O’Brien Jr. and Julie Carlson. The 17½" long decoy with comb-scratch paint is from the rig made for Walter C. Peacock (1878-1946), a prosperous Chicago jeweler who was a sportsman, national trap shooting champion, and founder of the Lincoln Park Gun Club. It appears never to have been gunned. In fine condition, it brought $15,990 (est. $12,000/18,000). It was exhibited in The Illinois River Meets the Chesapeake at the Ward Museum of Wildfowl Art, in Salisbury, Maryland, in 2005 and at the Center for American Decoys in the Peoria Riverfront Museum, Peoria, Illinois.
Frank Weston Benson’s circa 1920 pencil drawing Blackbirds and Rushes is signed “F.W. Benson” and titled and inscribed “To Sylvia.” Sylvia was the artist’s youngest child, and the drawing, a 9¼" x 13¼" sketch, is number 170 in Benson’s catalogue raisonné by Adam E. M. Paff. It brought $10,200 (est. $200/10,000). It came from the collections of Katherine Shaw Kripke and Samuel Benson Shaw, great-grandchildren of Benson.
Lifelong Connecticut collector Marjorie Wiggin Prescott (1893-1980) collected books, manuscripts, and prints in addition to British and Continental furniture and decorations, much of which sold at Christie’s in 1981. Her less well-known collection of decoys turned up at an auction held by Richard A. Bourne (1927-2016) the same year, and it included this ruddy duck hen and its mate by the Ward brothers, along with others they had made for the Prescott family, now in top collections across the country. This hen and her mate passed through the Ralph Sterling collection, which was discussed in Decoy Magazine in 1986. The hen and mate were made of solid cedar in 1931; they are rare and are considered among the best of the Ward brothers’ work. Estimated at $12,000/18,000, the hen brought $26,400. It is hoped that the two birds can be reunited at some point. This bird has been published extensively, including in 2000 in Loy S. Harrell Jr.’s Decoys: North America’s One Hundred Greatest.
Originally published in the May 2024 issue of Maine Antique Digest. © 2024 Maine Antique Digest
