"A dealer tried to buy my decoys and told me they should be displayed in a "direct light" free room, in controlled humidity. Like a closet I asked. He thought that was the perfect place. Nice safe, dark, protected and just waiting for the next owner."
About 20 years ago a picker looking for old stuff in the country stopped by as I was working in the shed. He noticed wood sea duck decoys I had bought for a dollar each from a buddy who had chipped them out 30 years previously. They were chipped with flaking paint and raked by shot.
"What do you want for them?" he said. I figured 25 per cent markup would be good. I wasn't using them; they were too heavy to lug around. "How about one twenty-five each." He pulled out a wallet bulging with money and started counting out $10s and $20s.
Two dozen tollers at $1.25 each to me were $3,000 to him and you could have knocked me sideways.
