Summer 2017

Summer 54 www.afamag.com | w ww.incollect.com HIGHLIGHTS Copley Fine Art Auctions, LLC will present the Donal C. O’Brien, Jr. Collection of Important American Sporting Art and Decoys on July 27. The Collection, built and curated over six decades by one of America’s great conservationists, is virtually unrivaled in its breadth and quality. It is considered by many to be the finest sporting art and American bird decoy collection ever assembled, totaling well over 500 objects and constituting a remarkably complete collection of classic sporting art and decoys. O’Brien was among the first to recognize decoys as a true American art form rather than as strictly utilitarian; he was an avid and early col- lector in numerous fields. In a 2005 Forbes article by Monte Burke, O’Brien noted, “When I was a young boy, while my friends were playing with electric trains and teddy bears, I was out collecting decoys.” Many of his decoys were “source collected” directly from the carvers and their families during the early, emerging days of decoy col- lecting, giving them premium quality and impeccable provenance. O’Brien was very active in the 1950s and ‘60s, trading with Adele Ernest, Malcolm Fleming, William J. Mackey, Jr., and other early collec- The Donal C. O’Brien, Jr. Collection of Important American Sporting Art and Decoys Copley Fine Art Auctions Sporting Sale The Hotel 1620 | 180 Water Street Plymouth, MA, July 27–28, 2017 For information call 617.536.0030 or email info@copleyart.com John English (1852–1915), Pintail Drake, ca. 1875. The only example known in original paint. Delaware River decoy authority Bob White calls it, “the best Delaware River decoy in existence.” Estimate: $60,000-$90,000. Thomas Chambers (1860–1948), Wood Duck Drake, ca. 1890. One of only two known in original paint, and recognized as the best of the two. It is widely considered to be the finest Canadian decoy ever to have surfaced. Estimate: $80,000-$120,000. tors. Whereas Mackey collected quantity and Ernest was a dealer, O’Brien was a connoisseur. As a carver himself, he brought his artistic eye to his pursuit, and his influence shaped decoy collecting as we know it today. O’Brien was an attorney with the New York firm Milbank, Tweed, Hadley and McCloy, where he served as legal counsel to the Rockefeller family. As an ardent conservationist, O’Brien was a leader of the Audubon Society for decades, as well as the Atlantic Salmon Federation and other conservation organizations. In particular, O’Brien helped to further the concept of Important Bird Areas, or IBAs, raising awareness of the four main migratory flyways. In O’Brien’s New York Times obituary, David Yarnold, Audubon Society’s chief executive, notes, “Birds don’t know about state boundaries [and] Donal was always urging Audubon to think the way birds see the world—to think about large-scale conservation.’” O’Brien was chairman of the board of the Audubon Society for fif- teen years and involved for over twenty-five years. He was the recipient of the Audubon Medal in 2010, one of the highest honors in conserva- tion. His obituary continues, “Like many of the nation’s early conservationists, Mr. O’Brien expressed much of that passion through hunting; he also amassed an enormous collection of duck decoys.” Indeed, a 1971 Sports Illustrated feature on O’Brien states, “his prize- winning collection of decoys seems out of this world.” O’Brien’s connoisseurship led him to collect the very best carvings, by individual makers, that are also considered pinnacle decoys by region.