DDG&T

DDG&T Ducks Dogs Guns & Trucks. Gunner Pack Leader. Waterfowl enthusiast.

James Lapham (1908/9 - 1982), Dennisport, Mass. Miniature Whistlers and Redhead. Lapham’s relationship with Elmer Crowel...
02/26/2026

James Lapham (1908/9 - 1982), Dennisport, Mass. Miniature Whistlers and Redhead.

Lapham’s relationship with Elmer Crowell reminds me of Roy Conklin’s relationship to Chauncey Wheeler. Same eras, different locales.

Love his paint.

Whistlers acquired from Jos.B. French collection.

02/14/2026

Roy Conklin, Working Brant, circa 1940-50.
Mason Decoy Factory, Canvasback, Fox Island rig.

Decoy Magazine publishes an incredible year in review of the leading auctioneers’ decoy sales (e.g., Guyette & Deeter, C...
12/30/2025

Decoy Magazine publishes an incredible year in review of the leading auctioneers’ decoy sales (e.g., Guyette & Deeter, Copley), covering each auction in meticulous detail (thanks Joe!). But I have been curious about longer trends. Fortunately, the issue includes historical data in tabular form. I created the chart above to depict the annual gross sale data graphically. Takeaways:

📈 Since 1986, the decoy market grown steadily. Avg realized prices have compounded at 5.4% annually, rising from $1,103 to $8,495 in 2025. This growth coincided with significant supply contraction: lots fell from > 6,000 in the late 1980s to ~2,000 in recent years. The finest deeks are staying in private collections, creating real scarcity, even as notable collections have come on-line.

🚀 The post-pandemic era marked a strong resurgence, fueled by the shift to online bidding. Gross sales rose from $13.4M in 2020 to $18.3M in 2025, the second-highest total ever. Avg prices peaked at $8,844 in 2024 before settling at $8,495 this year. The premium segment remains esp strong, with 250–326 lots annually clearing $10K or more.

💪 The market has proven resilient through economic downturns. The dot-com bust triggered a sharp 59% drop in gross sales, yet averages held firm and rebounded quickly by 2003. The 2008 crisis was tougher, with sales falling ~60% and taking a decade to recover. In contrast, COVID brought only a modest dip, followed by the dataset’s strongest surge (+33% in 2021).

⚖️ Comparatively, decoys have delivered solid nominal returns (~5.4%), outperforming U.S. inflation (~3%) and residential real estate (~4.5%), while tracking closely with gold (5–6%) and high-end fine art (5–8%). They lag equities (S&P 500 ~10–11%), but come with higher volatility (58% std dev vs. ~16% for stocks), typical of a niche market.

My outlook: ongoing supply constraints + ever-more-curated auctions should press prices up. Extrapolating current trends, avg prices could reach $12,000–$15,000 within five years, with annual gross sales potentially topping $20M by 2030.

To me, the decoy market is now all about scarcity and provenance rather than volume.

Decoy Magazine publishes a year in review of the leading auctioneers’ decoy sales (e.g. Guyette & Deeter, Copley), cover...
12/30/2025

Decoy Magazine publishes a year in review of the leading auctioneers’ decoy sales (e.g. Guyette & Deeter, Copley), covering each auction in meticulous detail (thanks Joe!). But I have been curious about longer term trends. Fortunately, the year end issue includes historical data in tabular form. Based on that, I created the chart above to depict the annual gross sales data. Takeaways:

📈 Since 1986, the decoy market has grown steadily. Average realized prices have compounded at 5.4% annually, rising from $1,103 to $8,495 in 2025. This growth coincided with significant supply contraction: lots fell from over 6,000 in the late 1980s to approximately 2,000 in recent years. The finest decoys are staying in private collections, creating real scarcity, even as notable collections have come on-line.

🚀 The post-pandemic era marked a strong resurgence, likely b/c of online bidding. Gross sales rose from $13.4M in 2020 to $18.3M in 2025, the second-highest total on record. Avg prices peaked at $8,844 in 2024 before settling at $8,495 this year. The premium segment remains strong, with 250–326 lots annually clearing $10,000 or more.

💪 The market has proven resilient through economic downturns. The dot-com bust triggered a sharp 59% drop in gross sales, yet averages held firm and rebounded quickly by 2003. The 2008 crisis was tougher, with sales falling ~60% and taking a decade to recover fully. In contrast, COVID brought only a modest dip, followed by the dataset’s strongest surge (+33% in 2021).

⚖️ Comparatively, decoys have delivered solid nominal returns (~5.4%), outperforming inflation (~3%) and residential real estate (~4.5%), while tracking closely with gold (5–6%) and high-end fine art (5–8%). They lag equities (S&P 500 ~10–11%) and are more volatile (58% std dev vs. ~16% for stocks), typical of a niche market.

My outlook: ongoing supply constraints + ever-more-curated auctions should continue upward price pressure. Extrapolating current trends, avg prices could reach $12,000–$15,000 within five years, with annual gross sales potentially topping $20M by 2030.

To me, the decoy market is now characterized by scarcity and provenance rather than volume.

11/26/2025

Memory Bird.

Been spending time researching the artist Roy Conklin from Alexandria Bay, NY (1909-1967). The last of the Holland Stree...
11/22/2025

Been spending time researching the artist Roy Conklin from Alexandria Bay, NY (1909-1967). The last of the Holland Street Whittlers, Roy’s work reflects the changing times: market hunting had been outlawed a little more than a decade before he began carving, which meant less demand for vast decoy spreads. Although he carved some working decoys, his real interest was in artistry and the decorative market.

Here are a couple of examples from his body of work: the first piece is an early flyer-board (1937) featuring two miniature applied Blue-winged Teal. Although Roy painted/carved a number of flyer-boards, often featuring mallards and other common species, this one is unique because of the BWT species. Roy kept this flyer board in his collection until his death.

Photos 2 and 3 feature a hen and drake merganser. The hen merganser is a rare carving for Conklin (this is the first one I’ve seen). Although this hen and drake were neither “rig mates” (these are decorative, not working decoys) nor likely carved together, they might as well be considered a “pair” because of their striking similarities, including the prominent crests. The paint is a highly graphic, stylized naturalism, typical of Conklin.

Pic 4 is a working decoy — a black duck — from Roy’s own hunting rig. The black has a high head posture, popularized by Frank Coombs, another ABay carver. Coombs said the high-head deterred ice build-up in cold-weather hunts. Roy embraced the pose in many of his decoys, including this working black.

Thanks to for bringing the flyer board and mergansers to market.

11/15/2025

Whistling in the wind …

11/15/2025

3 in 1. Dragging along a couple of decoys.

10/28/2025

Big mail day. A working Conklin black from Roy’s hunting rig.

10/25/2025

Season opener. Day for bluebirds.

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