Guyette and Schmidt, Inc Antique Decoy Auction Firm

Wooden hunting decoys are one of the hottest old American collectables today. A hobby that was pretty much unheard of twenty years ago, is now enjoyed by thousands of collectors a.11 over nation and prices for prime decoys have accelerated tremendously in the past few years.

It is not uncommon to see rare important works trade hands today in the $10,00 to $30,00 range, and a handful within the last couple of years have been sold for $50,000 to $60,000. Within another year or so, some of the rarer examples will definitely be trading in the $100,000 range, according to James D. Julia and Gary Guyette, an auctioneering team who have acquired the reputation as the most knowledgeable dealers on antique Wooden decoys circuit.

For the first time ever, Julia and Guyette will be conducting a major decoy auction in the Midwest. Contrary to the fact that many wealthy and sophisticated decoy collectors reside in the greater Midwest and western regions, until now, no one has ever conducted an important decoy auction in the Midwest.

The Pheasant Run Resort in St. Charles will be the site of this "first ever" Midwest decoy auction on April 24-25, and will feature from between 500 to 600 fine lots of antique American decoys. The auction will be held in conjunction with and just prior to the National Antique Decoy Show on April 25-26.

Anticipated receipts from the two-day decoy auction are figured at between $750,000 and $1 million, proving that "Thar's gold in those old wooden decoys!"

Gathering Dust

And where do these special and valuable decoys come from? Literally everywhere. Many of them are the same old wooden decoys you or your father may have hunted over years ago and are now gathering dust in your attic or cellar. For example, one old wooden eider duck decoy last year sold for $15,950 and was discovered in a coastal Maine cottage a few months prior the auction, where it had been used as a door stop.

A unique sleeping black duck owned by Charles Perdew of Henry, Ill., which is expected to bring between $8,000 and $12,000 was found this winter in an old boathouse in New Hampshire. Another area collector, Robert Elliston of Bureau, will be displaying an extremely rare, one hundred year old, Canada goose, which is expected to bring up to $15,000 at the auction.