The Winter Sale 2013
Copley’s Winter Sale 2013 of sporting art and antique decoys fired on all cylinders with all 4 cover lots selling and setting more than half a dozen new world records. The 363 lots offered achieved $1.7 million in sales and an impressive 90% found buyers. Session I of the sale was highlighted by a Philip R. Goodwin (1882-1935) oil painting, titled October Hunting (see image to right). The work, featured as the frontispiece in Scribner’s October 1911 issue, was highly sought after by a number of bidders, eventually selling for $161,000, the second-highest price ever for the artist’s work at auction.
In Session II of the sale, Copley’s decoys showed strong results with 9 of the top 10 lots finding buyers. The cover lot of the sale, an important Gus Wilson (1864-1950) preening eider drake decoy ($150/250,000), settled within its estimate, selling for $172,500 setting a world record for an eider by any maker.
Preening Eider Drake
Augustus Aaron Wilson (1864-1950)
Maine, c. 1900
Sold for $172,500
Percival Leonard Rosseau
(1859-1937)
Irish Setters on Point, 1918
oil on canvas, 20 1/4 by 28 in.
Sold for $34,500
Pintail Pair
Charles S. Schoenheider, Sr. (1854-1944)
Peoria, IL, c. 1900
Sold for $54,625
Harry Curieux Adamson
(b. 1916)
Medina County Impressions, 1975
oil on board, 26 by 40 in.
Sold for $43,125