327 Peep with Wire Legs Nantucket, MA, c. 1920
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A small sandpiper carving with shoe-button glass eyes, carved raised wings, and wire legs with sheet-lead feet. Original paint with wear, putty loss to thigh areas, and a replaced bill. provenance:
Private Collection, Nantucket, Massachusetts
$2,500 - $3,500 328 Running Yellowlegs Flattie Edward Franklin “Capt. Frank” Besse (1852-1934) Westport, MA, c. 1880 An early one-and-one-quarter-inch-thick, flat-sided, feeding shorebird decoy with black shoe-button eyes. Original paint with flaking and light gunning wear including a tight neck crack on one side, old in-use touch-up to the white underside, and some flaking. literature:
Bill LaPointe, “Capt. Frank Besse & Edward Gosling”, Decoy Magazine, Lewes, DE, March/April, 2010, p. 9, rigmate illustrated.
330
$1,000 - $1,500 239 329 Dunlin Cape Cod, MA, c. 1900 A rare species of shorebird decoy, once known as the red-backed sandpiper, with tack eyes and an alloy bill. The size, distinct bill shape, and paint also suggest that this could be an even rarer curlew sandpiper decoy. Previous to this bird’s discovery, only a handful of these alloy-billed shorebirds by this talented Cape Cod carver have surfaced. The tail retains a curved metal wire insert designed for stringing the decoy and for carrying it in the field. Original paint with an appealing, old second coat of white on the underside with gunning wear and age cracks to head and neck.
331
$2,000 - $3,000 330 Lesser Yellowlegs Coffin Family Nantucket, MA, c. 1900 A delicately carved, tack-eyed shorebird decoy with an applied head. In repaint with light wear and a professional bill replacement. $200 - $300
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331 Yellowlegs Nantucket, MA, c. 1880 This carving shows similar characteristics to the carvings attributed to Captain James Wyer (1816-1899) of Nantucket, MA. A tack-eyed shorebird decoy showing expertly joined two-piece construction. In old, possibly original paint, with gunning wear, and touch-up around the replaced bill.
332
$600 - $900 332 Golden Plover Cape Cod, MA, c. 1880 A full-bodied shorebird decoy with hard wax eyes and nicely stippled feather paint. Original paint with heavy gunning wear including a tail chip and shot scars. $400 - $600 161