Folk Art Carved and Decorated Sei Whale, circa 1920s

Antique Carved Sperm Whale, circa 1900, a fine and early hand carved figure of a sperm whale with carved and painted detail to open jaw, in original black paint with highlights. A ve...

Schooling Mackerel by Barnaby Porter, circa 1970s, a sculpture made from reclaimed wood on the mid-coast of Maine. Porter used old found wood to cut and hand paint these three mackerel "weathervanes," mounted together as a school - this was part of an original room-sized installation. The sculpture is in excellent, as made "distressed" condition as shown in photographs. Porter's work has been exhibited in the Farnsworth Museum and elsewhere and has been featured in the TV show, "Made in Maine', and in magazines such as Fine Woodworking...

Folk Art Brigantine Weathervane by Frank Adams (1871 - 1944), West Tisbury, Martha's Vineyard, circa 1930s, a hand built weathervane of a brigantine with square-rigged foremast and fore-and-aft-rigged mainmast, with wooden hull, characteristic cut sheet metal sails with folded fore-edges, and wire rigging. The weathervane is in original nicely weathered paint and condition. Frank Adams was a folk artist on the Vineyard best known for his duck decoys, but also for these weathervanes, ship models, miniature decoys...

19th Century Sailor's Folk Art Woolie of a Square-Rigged Ship, circa 1850, a sailor's folk art hand stitched wool yarn picture of a British single decker Ship of the Line, flying the...

Antique Seascape with a Five Masted Bark, by Julius Gregersen (German: 1860 - 1953), circa 1921 - 1928, an oil on canvas seascape with view of the five masted bark KOBENHAVN sailing ...

19th Century Sailor's Folk Art Woolie with Triple Decker Ship of the Line and Sloop, ca 1850, depicting a starboard side view of a majestic square-rigged triple decker warship under ...

American whimsy with traditional 'ball in cage' decoration, all carved and whittled from one continuous piece of wood, circa early 20th century. The bottom tip suggests that this pie...

Hand carved and painted mint green fish souvenir spool from Nantucket Island (ca. 1940s, MA, USA). The fishing twine is connected to a small metal hook affixed to the fish's mouth. Warm patina / good age commensurate with history (small spots of wood / paint loss along with crazing). Small but impressive vintage fishing collectible...

Carved figure of a woman standing upright on a scrolled base. Carved from Pine with in service paint, American, circa 1850.

3-575 hand carved wood grey whale wall sculpture signed Claire on verso

This is a special carving with incredible details. The piece is early 20th century sourced in France and in a private collection for decades and now available for purchase. The detai...

A scarce early Duluth Fish Decoy American folk art sculpture, depicting a Orca killer whale, hand-carved by the late David Earl Perkins (Duluth, Minnesota, 1934-2018), featuring the realistic original hand-painted black finish with cream white accents, glass eyes and metal fins, signed at the underside "DFD", on a lead weight. circa 1960s/1970s Originally based on lures used for winter spear fishing, see below for the Duluth Fish Decoy story. - Dimensions: (approx) 8" Wide, 3.25" High, 4.75" Deep - Provenance / Acquisition: Property from a prominent Dallas, Texas estate Acquired from highly reputable auction house, Austin Auction Gallery, est.1983, Austin, Texas - Very good original vintage condition with beautifully aged patina and typical wear, character and charm - The Duluth Fish Decoys Story: (From the DFD website and in the words of Dave & Jim Perkins) "I guess it all started when I speared my first northern pike – what a thrill.  The only thing better was to spear one lured in with a decoy I made myself. I made more decoys to spear more fish and found out I liked making decoys as much as spearing northerns.  Well, soon enough, my decoy/lunch box had more decoys than lunch. So I laid off the making and stepped up the spearing. Then when the fish tore them up and they scraped up against each other in the lunch box and they rolled around on the floor of the dark-house they weathered with an aged, charactered, antique patina.  It wasn't long before friends paid more mind to my spearing decoys than my fish stories.  Said they’d like to have some to set on the mantle – said they were folky.  So I laid off the spearing and stepped up the carving. Now I've been making DFD (Duluth Fish Decoys) spearing  decoys for longer than I want to admit – they say you’re only as old as you think you are. Being on the north side of seventy, I been making them for… let’s just say a long time.   I don’t know a web site from a stick of fire wood but the kids and grand-kids have been pestering me to get one for years. In fact, I told Jim, you make the web thing and I'll make the decoys that go on it.  But with the demand being more than I can keep up with, he's been making them right alongside of me - just like when he was a kid. Great to keep it in the family - two generations of DFD. Who'd of thunk it.   What a hoot it’s been to create something so enjoyed by others. Along the way our DFD decoys have ended up in The American Museum of Folk Art, on a limited edition print, in a governor’s mansion, in Hollywood actors' homes, in fishing decoy books, with interior designers, in art galleries, on a DVD, and now in a coffee table book devoted entirely to DFD.  What a hobby it’s been – what a blessing of God.   I hope to continue as long as my health holds out.   Lo, these many years later our DFD spearing decoys are still hand-crafted with that aged, weathered, antique patina.  As with all folk art there’s no two alike.  The pictures give the length of the decoy but it may vary by a half an inch.  They all have glass eyes and are hand painted with a brush – no air brush for us. The lead belly...