Chincoteague, Virginia - Guyette, Schmidt & Deeter teamed up with Zeb Barfield auctions for a second time on September 21 & 22 to sell the second half of the contents of the Chincoteague Refuge Museum.
The decoys and other items were displayed under a large tent on the museum grounds. The crowd was roughly the same size as for the first sale of the museum contents on May 10 & 11, but there were more decoy and antique dealers this time around.
The sale grossed $290,000, with the top lot being a one of a kind full size swan, circa 1970’s, by Oliver Lawson (Crisfield, Maryland), which sold for $12,800, a world auction record for the carver.
There were numerous decoys by Frank Finney (Virginia Beach, Virginia) in the sale. Most sold in the $1,000 range, but a swimming swan and a reproduction of a Nathan Cobb, Jr. swimming Canada goose sold for $5,175 each (both by Finney).
There were quite a few decoys by the museum’s resident carver “Cigar” Daisey in the auction. A group of five dowitchers on a coral base by him sold for $6,050.
Online bidding through Artfact was available for around 300 of the 1,000 lots in the auction. Also a limited amount of phone and absentee bidding took place.