Rare Wigeon Pair by Lloyd Aaron Sterling (1880-1964)

Lot 113

About Seller

20 Winter Street
Pembroke, MA 02359
United States

Founded in 2005, Copley Fine Art Auctions is a boutique auction house specializing in antique decoys and American, sporting, and wildlife paintings. Over the course of the last two decades, the firm has set auction records for not only individual decoy makers, but also entire carving regions. Copley...Read more

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About Auction

The Winter Sale 2025, Day 1 by Copley Fine Art Auctions

Live

The Winter Sale 2025, Day 1

By Copley Fine Art Auctions

Feb 21, 2025

Set Reminder 2025-02-21 10:00:00 2025-02-21 10:00:00 America/New_York Bidsquare Bidsquare : The Winter Sale 2025, Day 1 https://www.bidsquare.com/auctions/copley/the-winter-sale-2025-day-1-17703 Lots 1-261 Copley Fine Art Auctions cinnie@copleyart.com

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Lot Description

Rare Wigeon Pair
Lloyd Aaron Sterling (1880-1964)
Crisfield, MD, c. 1920
14 1/4 in. long

These bold Crisfield ducks are among the finest wigeon pairs by any maker. They are also exceedingly rare, as they seem to have been made like swans and gulls, as additions to rigs, rather than as full rigs of baldpate. Compounding their rarity, finding Sterling decoys, especially pairs, in good original paint is extremely challenging. The design of these birds shows the Crisfield archetype which influenced the Ward Brothers, with wide bodies and strong lines. Each decoy is finished with rich stippled paint, and excellent scratch feathering.

In their Ward Brothers book, Ron Gard and Brian McGrath chose to include a Sterling wigeon drake to contrast with the Wards' interpretations. They also addressed the special relationship Crisfielders had with wigeon decoys: "This bird was often referred to as the robber duck for his habit of stealing food that had been loosened from the bottom by the feeding of other ducks, geese and swans. This habit is also what made the wigeon decoy into the rigs of other birds such as canvasbacks, scaup, mallards, black ducks, and geese. Swan decoys, placed among wigeon decoys made a particularly effective rig. It would seem that even though the wigeon decoyed into other species, hunters and decoy makers alike still used wigeon decoys, possibly because of the attractive coloring of this bird."
Original paint with even gunning wear, including a crack in the drake's underside and the hen's back. Drake has paint loss to heartwood on breast, a restored chip along underside of bill, and touch-up to head including a reset crack. Hen has a replaced eye. Overall, very good condition for this maker.

Provenance: Private Collection, Maryland

Literature: Ronald J. Gard and Brian J. McGrath, "The Ward Brothers' Decoys: A Collector's Guide," Plano, TX, 1989, p. 92, related wigeon illustrated.

Condition

Please refer to the description; if you have questions, email colin@copleyart.com.
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