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July 23, 2000: Harmon's Splendid Crowell mallard hen at $55,000 tops Harmon's annual Summer Decoy Auction By
Jackson Parker Last time we saw this splendid mallard hen that A. Elmer Crowell of East Harwich on Cape Cod made for Dr. John C. Phillips of Wenham Pond on the North Shore of Massachusetts was at two museum exhibitions – the Peabody Essex Museum of Salem (1989-1991) and the Heritage Plantation of Sandwich (1992). It was clear that you couldn’t do a meaningful Crowell exhibition without including this important bird. Crowell ran Phillips’ hunting camp on the Pond from 1900 to 1910, and he did some of his best work for Phillips. This bird was his best grade with its carved crossed wing tips and tail detail; it was made circa 1912-1915 and had Crowell’s early oval brand and Phillips’ JCP initials. Now it was offered at Ted and Judy Harmons’ Decoys Unlimited annual summer auction in Hyannis, Massachusetts on July 23, 2000 with an estimate of 55,000/82,500, and we were surprised to see it go at low estimate. Was it the tiny tail tip restoration and a few tiny spots on one side? Whatever the reason, it was as beautiful as it was historically important, and a great buy. Eliminating a dozen lots with no relation to wildfowl, we have an offering of 434 lots of which 23 (1/2%) did not sell, leaving 411 lots that sold for $355,506 for an average of $865 per lot, and was 2 ½% under total low estimate after deducting the $56,430 total low estimate of the unsold lots. The Top 25 Lots (6% of those sold) accounted for $216,480 (61% of the gross) and was 11% under total average estimate for the top 25.
Top 25 Lots at Harmon’s Decoy Auction, Hyannis, Massachusetts, July 23, 2000 1. A.E. Crowell (MA) mallard
hen (63A) $68,750 $55,000 Totals $244,200 $216,480 Key:
The Top 25 Lots (6% of
the 411 lots sold) accounted for $216,480 (61% of the $355,506 gross)
and was 11% under total average estimate for the top 25. |
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