An early 20th-century black bellied plover decoy attracted more than a mate at the auction of decoy expert William Mackey’s collection. The decoy, hand-carved and painted in spring plumage by A.E. Crowell, sold for $830,000 at a Guyette and Schmidt sale in Maryland. The hand-carved and painted bird is well known among decoy collectors because it is from the same rig as the three famous “dust jacket” decoys pictured on the cover of Mackey’s book, “American Bird Decoys.”

 

 

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