It was the fourth time the previous world auction record – $305,000 plus premium paid in July 1997 at Guyette and Schmidt for a running curlew c.1890 – was broken in the sale. The sale totalled just under $11m, with all but 13 of the 600 lots finding buyers, a selling rate of 98 per cent.
New world auction record for a decoy
US: SETTING a new world auction record for a decoy, this sleeping Canada Goose c.1917, by renowned carver Elmer Crowell of East Harwich, Massachusetts, was estimated at $400,000-500,000 by Sotheby's, New York in a joint sale with Guyette and Schmidt of Maine, but sold to Boston dealer Stephen B. O'Brien Jr in the room on behalf of a client at $620,000 (£375,760) plus premium on January 23.
