Why does Guyette & Deeter still list Charles Bunn Decoys as William Bowman Decoys?
More like the Misleading Auction House
In the upcoming July 2016 Guyette & Deeter auction, once again, they offer Charles Bunn decoys listed as by William Bowman (they also offer a William Henry Bennett Curlew that is listed as by Chief Cuffee). Gary has not yet learned you can't be right if you are wrong. It's like beating a dead horse but the words that Jackson Parker wrote in 2004 still ring true today.
"It seems that Guyette & Schmidt has not caught up with the latest research on who made the Bowman decoys." Today you can add the name Deeter to the list, and G&D also has not kept up with the research on William Henry Bennett, the real maker of the "Cuffee" decoys.
The academics will eventually decide who made the decoys, not an auction house, no matter how self important they think they are. Auction houses have a bad track record on accuracy, and so far the academics are solidly in support of Bunn. In fact, people outside of the so-called decoy world can't believe anyone would accept the Bowman story at this date.
Another thing Gary hasn't learned, "Be carful of what you ask for." If my early research for Bunn had been accepted from the beginning, and if G&S hadn't stated that "additional research is necessary" before they could reassign the decoys to Bunn, I may not have kept up my research, and I may not have compiled all the research that I have for the decoys made on Long Island, including the best known shorebird decoys made by Charles Bunn in the early 20th century, not in the late 19th century, Gary.
A few months after my 2004 January / February article in Decoy Magazine, "Charles Sumner Bunn The True maker Of The Bowman Decoys", Guyette & Schmidt auction house's official response to the Bunn article is found in their annual July auction catalog. It is only a cursory acknowledgement of the research compiled for the article on Charles Bunn. At the time, this was the most important research ever presented on Long Island decoys. Below is G&S tepid response to this new information.
"Comments on Decoys Historically Attributed to William Bowman"
In the 12 years since this statement was printed in 2004 by G&S, a great deal of the "requested additional research" has been discovered and presented for Charles Bunn, and none for Bowman, which also has been proven to have been a fabrication. It is extremely difficult to get the requested universal acceptance for Bunn. Guyette &Schmidt & Deeter, along with some agenda driven dealers, collectors and museums, persist in their refusal for the acceptance of the valid research presented for Charles Bunn. Charles Bunn was said by pioneer decoy collector Donald C. O'Brien to be, "The Greatest Shorebird Maker Who Ever Lived."
Why does G&D steadfastly support the William "Bill" Bowman fabrication? What would cause the self proclaimed "Most Trusted Decoy Auction Firm In The World" to act in such an a unprofessional manner? There is empirical evidence for Bunn as the maker of the decoys and no evidence for Bowman.
An Auction house is supposed to describe an item for sale accurately, to the best of their ability. Calling these decoys William Bowman decoys is far from accurate, and it is well with in their ability to accurately describe the carvings as to have been made by Charles Sumner Bunn. I can't believe Gary Guyette doesn't know who the real maker of theses decoys really was.
So why do we find this description in the G&D April 2016 auction catalog, "Lot 453, Rare greater Yellowlegs alert pose by William Bowman, Lawrence, Long Island last quarter of the 19th century. Believed by some to have been made by Charles Bunn. Relief wing carving with extended wing tips. Shoe Button eyes slight thigh carving." Actually the eyes are German black glass, not shoe buttons, but don't let the facts get in the way. There is also a problem with the sentence, "Believed by some to have been made by Charles Bunn" Believed is defined as something someone accepts as true or real, i.e. Christians believe that Jesus walked on the sea and rose from the dead. Those are beliefs, not proven substantiated facts.
It is not a belief that Charles Bunn made the decoys that Gary Guyette likes to call William Bowman decoys. It has been proven that Charles Bunn made the decoys. That is a fact, not a belief. And who are the people G&D say "believe" Bunn made the decoys? They are the people who can read and comprehend what they have read. Intelligent people who don't have an agenda. People who truly care about the real history of Long Island decoys and their makers.
See May/June 2015 article in Decoy Magazine which shows that the "alert pose" shorebird decoys made in this period by Charles Sumner Bunn were inspired by the art work of Rex Brasher found in the book Birds of America published in 1917. So it is not a late19th century piece as described by G&D. It really was made in the first quarter of the 20th century. I am sure Gary Guyette and Jon Deeter received that issue of Decoy Magazine.
William (Bill) Bowman, decoy maker, is a fabrication that was perpetrated by Bill Mackey and Newbold L. Herrick on the Museums at Stony Brook, and eventually, decoy history. Newbold Herrick received a $27,000 tax right off and Mackey got a great curlew decoy out of deal. This Curlew later sold after his death for $10,500. This all based on Mackey's appraisal for the Herrick donation.
See Hunting & Fishing Collectables Magazine May-June 2006 where you find the first of Ronnie McGrath's rebuttals of my research masquerading as articles. This response is to my original Decoy Magazine articles on Charles Bunn and his decoys in the November/December 2003 and January/February 2004 issues of Decoy Magazine. Ronnie's rebuttal points out that that the Federal Government "contested the Bill Mackeys appraisal" of $27,000 for a charitable contribution of folk art. That charitable contribution was a $27,000 tax write off for Newbold Herrick. In 2016 dollars that would be around a $200,000 write-off. Mackey's figure of $27,000 was alot of money for old decoys at that time, however, the Mackey appraisal won out over the government's appraiser. I think an interesting side note is that the Yellowlegs, lot 453, in the G&D April 2016 auction sold for $27,500 almost mirroring Mackey's 1966 appraisal for the 17 Bunn shorebirds donated to the Museums at Stony Brook.
The two so-called biographies selected for the April 2016 auction used by G&D for information and proof for William Bowman decoy maker is ridiculous, stilted and once again very unprofessional. G&D also stacked the deck in favor of Bowman with two disproven and out of date research sources.
G&D first cites, The Great Book of Decoys (1990) edited by Joe Engers, Chapter 8: Long Island Decoys by Frank Dombo. This is an out of date book written over 12 years before my discovery of Charles Bunn. I have wondered if this was a slap at Joe Engers for his acknowledgment that Bunn is the real maker. If you do go to the first reference sited by G&D for William Bowman, on page 98, this is what you find:
"Shorebirds are certainly the most important category of Long Island decoys. They go from the very realistic of William Bowman's curlew, dowitcher,and golden plover."
That's it. Only a statement that has been disproven. On page 99, is a full page photo of a Charles Bunn curlew with this description, "Curlew by William Bowman of Lawrence. A truly fine example of a shorebird decoy." Again no proof or evidence is presented for a William Bowman as the maker of the Bunn decoys.
This citation has been discredited by the very editor of the book Joe Engers when he wrote this statement in reaction to all the new research that proved Bunn to be the real maker, Decoy Magazine November/December 2015, pages 18, 19 and 21, "As far as Decoy Magazine is concerned Charles Sumner Bunn is undoubtedly the carver of these exceptional Long Island decoys".
The second citation used is By G&D is The Decoys of Long Island, a catalog printed in 2010 by The Long Island Decoy Collectors Association. The only thing of value the catalog has to offer are the writings of Geoffrey K. Fleming, the former director of the Southold Museum on Long Island's North Fork. Some members of the Long Island Decoy Collectors Association led by Timmy Sieger and Ronnie McGrath are dedicated to the perpetuation of the William Bowman myth. This group of decoy collectors are supposed to be dedicated to the research and history of Long Island decoys. However, they actually took a vote not to even discuss Bunn V. Bowman. They ignore all the research that has been presented for Bunn.
There is no mention of Bunn in the catalog, nine years after the research for Bunn was presented as the real maker. And it is no surprise that in the "Biographies" section of this catalog on page76, we find "William Bowman" who's birth and death dates are strangely listed as dates unknown. It is just the same rehash of Mackey and the Herricks disproven nonsense, which ends with this sentence, "William Bowman is well known for being Long Island's most famous and sought after carver." By their taking this absurd stance for Bowman over Bunn, they display a total disregard for real research, as well as American and Long Island history.
So why would G&D Auctions use disproven and out of date references for their cataloging of Lot 453 and other Bunn decoys they have presented that they call Bowman's? And why didn't G&D cite the latest articles written for Decoy Magazine by Joe Jannsen and myself on the decoys made by Charles Bunn? G&D failed to explain why some people "believe" Bunn is the maker, which would be those articles not cited. I can only assume this is the only way Guyette & Deeter can bolster their untenable support for the William Bowman myth. How very unprofessional. And the truly despicable thing about G&D stance for Bowman is they shamelessly and selfishly will not give credit to the real maker.
