Where Were the "Obadiah Verity"and "Will Southard" Decoys Actually Made and Who Really Made Them?
I am sure of three things about the decoys said to have been produced in the Seaford area of Nassau County referred today as Obadiah Verity,Will Southard, Verity Family or the "Seaford School":
(1) The decoys were not made by any of the many Obadiah Verity's found on Federal Censuses from Nassau County
(2) The decoys were not even made in Nassau County, N.Y.
(3) The attributions for both Obadiah Verity & William Southard as the makers of decoys was fabricated. There was never any research or documentation for the two attributions.
As we go back in time to the early days of decoy collecting, we can trace the evolution of the changing attributions for the decoys that today are said to have been made by Obadiah Verity and William Southard.
1934 - Wild Fowl Decoys by Joel Barber
I can find no mention of Obadiah Verity or William Southward, or photos of the decoys that would be attributed to them 45 years later.
1959- Suffolk Museum at Stony Brook presents an exhibit, "Wild Foul Decoys"
In March of 1959, the museum presented an exhibit of Long Island decoys. The shorebirds exhibited were divided into three categories; Snipe,Curlew and Plover. It lists no makers names. It lists only the owners of the decoys. Newbold Herrick is listed as one of the owners.
1961-Decoys at Shelburne Museum
This book/catalog on the museum's collection does not mention Osborn, Verity or Southard and presents no photos of shorebird decoys that would later be referred to as Osborn, Osborn type, Verity or Will Southard.
1964- Decoy Collectors Guide, Hal Sorenson, November-December
Presents a list of the"Makers of Collectable Hunting Decoys". There is no mention of William Southard on the list, but on page 14, we find "Obadiah Verity -Seaford Long Island 1850".
1965-American Bird Decoys by William J.Mackey Jr.
1965- The Art Of The Decoy by Adele Earnest
1965 -Decoy Collectors Guide, Hal Sorenson
H.F.Osborn snipe stool: Who was Henry Fleet Osborn of Bellport, Long Island?
He was born born October 15,1810 and died on December 1, 1873. His father was Charles Osborn and his mother's name was Charlotte. The 1870 federal census lists Henry as a farmer. His wife's name was Eliza. They had three children. He is listed as being buried in the Woodland Cemetery on Station Rd. North Bellport, NY. I have found no contemporary references for him as a decoy maker.
In Mackey's American Bird Decoys, plate 85, we find four shorebirds decoys. These decoys today would be cataloged as, and sold as, Obadiah Verity decoys. The text reads, "Three typical Long Island Black bellied Plovers, with a tiny Sanderling on the left. Birds of this style and quality are attributed to H.F.Osborn of Bellport. They are well designed and durable." There is no mention of why they are attributed to Osborn.
Plate 86, we find four shorebird decoys. Two are Yellowlegs that would today be attributed to William Southard, and a Black-bellied Plover and a Yellowlegs that most likely would be referred today as Verity Family decoys, or they would be assigned to another unverified and undocumented Verity name. The text for plate 86 reads, "A Black-bellied plover rises over three yellowlegs. They are proof that the classic "Osborn" style influenced other Long Island carvers. Paint patterns and carvings follow the basic tradition.This group comes from the western end of Long Island".
On page 101 we find Mackey as usual making undocumented pronouncements:
"The group in plate 85 are in the style of H.F.Osborn pioneer Bellport gunner and decoy maker. The attractive and practical patterns found many imitators,and decoys with minor variations in the carving and plumage patterns have turned up all along the South Shore."
"Since they constitute such an important and desirable group, others of the Long Island School types are shown in plate 86. Known makers of bird decoys similar to those shown include Nelson Verity (1861-1954) of Seaford, Obadiah Verity(ca 1870-1940) of Massapequa, Frank Kellum (1865-1935) Babylon, T.Carman (1860-?) of Amityville, Al Ketchum of Copiague, John Lee Baldwin of Babylon and many others in the area around Amityville."
Mackey presents no documentation for the above "names" for what he calls "Long Island School". So what Mackey seems to be claiming is that there is a Long Island School of shorebird decoys which are all patterned on decoys "attributed"to H.F.Osborn" from Bellport. Mackey places the origin of these decoys in Suffolk County not Nassau County.
Mackey also does not shows any photos of the decoys he says were made by the "Long Island School" decoy carvers. In Plate 86, we see decoys that Mackey called Osborn types, but they are not attributed to a particular person. Mackey also wrote, "William Southard of Bellmore, working early in the present century made one large rig marked JB. They are of the best quality." So according to Mackey, the way to identified William Southard decoys is that they are all marked with "JB". This would mean that the decoys called Southard's today should all be marked "JB", or the decoys on the market today called Southard's aren't the snipe stool Mackey was writing of.
The names Obadiah Verity and William Southard would be taken taken from Mackey's list of names and be used by George Combs Sr. and Jr., and Bud Ward to establish Verity and Southard as decoy makers, which eventually will became part of the fabricated fable of the Andrew Verity "tape recording", on which Andrew Verity purportedly identified Obadiah Verity" and "Will Southard" as the makers of the heretofore Osborn and Osborn type decoys (see the Museums at Stony Brook's catalog/book Gunners Paradise for the undocumented story by George Combs Sr., page 25).
The Art Of The Decoy by Adele Ernest, 1965
Plate 22 -"sandpiper" description sandpiper Long Island New York c.1880 "Henry F. Osborn" style (.c1880). In 1880 he had been dead for seven years.
Plate 28. "sandpiper"- Sandpiper Long Isand" no attribution as to maker.
Plate 32. "Black -Breasted Plover Feeding" no attribution as to maker.
All of the above decoys would be listed today as "Obadiah Verity decoys".
Decoy Collectors Guide, Hal Sorenson August -September, 1965
Page 25 photos "Some Long Island Yellowlegs" Collection of Harold B. Evans Jr." The Yellowlegs at the top of the page: "Greater(or winter) Yellowlegs by George B. Robert Mastic, L.I. about 1880 Carved wings."
I am not sure if he is referring to George W. Robert from Mastic who was born in 1880, but none of the Robert family made the decoy. This decoy today would be considered a classic "William Southard" by collectors. This decoy is also said to have come from Mastic which is somewhat farther east than Bellport in Suffolk County, and once again, not placed in Nassau County.
1971 Milton (Milt) C. Weiler portfolio Shorebird Decoys, text by William J.Mackey Jr.
Plate 19: Whimbrel and a cork Sanderling is listed as by H.F.Osborn.
Plate 20: Yellow legs and Surf snipe by The Seaford Carvers.
Plate:23: Black-bellied Plover By the Verity's.
All of the above decoys would be called Obadiah Verity or Verity family decoys today, except for the Yellowlegs in plate 20, which would be called a William Southard
1972- July 2nd
William J. Mackey Jr. Dies
The King is dead long live the Princes.
Mackey was definitely the King of decoy accumulation.
Decoy Magazine September/October 1991
In an article written by early decoy collector William H.Purnell Jr., he writes that when he first met Bill Mackey. Mackey had invited to him, "to come see his collection as he had over 7,000 decoys." No collector/dealer would be the King of decoy collectors after Mackey. The void would be filled by many princes. These collectors/dealers were always searching for new discoveries in boat houses and garages, barns and basements, but they also began acquiring decoys from Mackey's estate, starting with the famous Richard A. Bourne Auctions of Hyannis, Massachusetts. The now famous decoys from these auctions, the great and common, have circulated throughout the decoy collecting world over the last 45 years. Some of the decoys from these auctions which had sold for moderate prices then as H.F. Osborn's and Osborn types, today command prestigious sums of money as Verity's and Southard's.
Some early collectors on Long Island were Doug Rogers, Bud Ward, George Combs Sr. and Jr., Bill Joeckel, Ronnie McGrath, Malcolm Fleming two different Frank Murphy's, Harvey Richardson, Ruth and Ed Call, Dick Cowan, Dick Healy, Gil Herzy and many others. They met informally at each other's houses and traded decoys and sold decoys. Ruth and Ed began to informally get together where they mostly traded decoys in the beginning. That changed with the Mackey auctions. Now money became the driving force in decoy collecting.
Bud Ward would become the most influential of the Long Island collector/dealers from Long Island, and he really loved the shorebird decoys called H.F. Osborn. In 1972, these decoys were not high end decoys. Bud Ward changed all that when he began touting how great the decoys were he now called William Southard and Obadiah Verity. Bud especially liked the ones he called Obadiah Verity's. His influence on the direction the value of theses decoy was so great that in 2000, Sotheby's /Guyette & Schmidt from the Dr James McCleery auction, a feeding decoy listed as by Obadiah Verity. was the 10th highest priced decoys sold at auction in the year 2000, selling for $156,000.
1973-1974: The Richard Bourne Auction Company sells some of the William J. Mackey Jr.'s Collection; The famous Mackey Auctions. These auctions will be a pivotal moment in decoy collecting. Most of the early collectors were at the auctions, including Dr James McCleery who purchased the Charles Bunn Curlew for $10,500.00, which set the auction record price for a decoy at time. This hollow Curlew was said to have been the center piece of Mackey's collection.
In the Mackey auctions the decoys that are today referred to as made by Verity and Southard are still listed as made by H.F.Osborn or Osborn types.1973- American Decoys by Quintana Colio
Quintana Colio was Mackey's photographer, traveling and collecting companion.
On page 73, we find a feeding plover and a feeding knot both listed as by "H.F. Osborn, Bellport".
Today they would be by Obadiah Verity.
1974 -Decoys of the Atlantic Flyway by Gorge Ross Starr Jr. M.D.
On page 75, Black-breasted plover made in 1830 by Henry F. Osborn of Bellport, L.I."
This decoy would be identified today as made by Obadiah Verity or a Verity family member.
It is a repaint that would be today be attributed to Wilbur A. Corwin, Bellport, L.I.
1975-1979: The Period of Transformation
During this period the undocumented H.F.Osborn and Osborn style/type shorebird decoys will become the undocumented Obadiah Verity and Will Southard shorebird decoys. What was reason for the decoys to change from Osborn and Osborn types decoys to Obadiah Verity and William Southard? The transformation came mainly from the campaigning efforts of three well-known Long Island decoy collectors/dealers, Bud Ward, George"Pop"Combs Sr. and George Combs Jr. The Combs' were also carvers.
There was no strong following for the Osborn attribution. It was Mackey who had attributed them to "H.F. Osborn"and "Osborn types". Collectors had just unquestioningly gone along with what Mackey said and Ernest who was influenced by Mackey, had written in their books in 1965. This name change produced no backlash from the decoy collecting world. A little confusion about who made them, but no great outcry. Once Bud and the Combs duo had gotten the auction house to start identifying the decoys as Verity's and Southards, they were on their well way establishing the new names. Collectors and institutions started to get on board the Verity& Southard train.
Collectors are always a revolving and evolving group of people, older collectors being replaced by new collectors, evolving into self-declared decoy experts. Historical decoy knowledge is disseminated by the unknowledgeable to the unknowledgeable.
Many of the collectors /dealers in the decoy market in the 1970's were people who had known Bill Mackey and had dealings with him. The early collectors had relationships with each other as it was a very small world and out of it came people who were supposed to be the experts of their areas. Documentation or research was non-existent or minimal at best. Collectors would rely on the words of the "experts"as proof as to who the makers were.
Bud Ward and the Combs's decided for whatever reason that H.F. Osborn wasn't the maker and that the shorebird stool were not made in Suffolk County, but instead in Nassau County. Nassau County just happened to be the county that Bud Ward and the Combs' all lived in.
Of the three, Bud had the most influence in the decoy world. He became an adviser, confident buyer and consignor to the the auction houses. He was also an adviser to major collectors. Bud had the knack to find the right bird for the right buyer. A lot of his success was due to the fact Bud was fun to be around. He was very entertaining. He told great stories. He was very opinionated and could be combative. He knew where most of the bones were buried the fakes, re-heads or repaints. But he was also a gunner, fisherman and a bayman, who always seemed to have the a stub of a cigar clinched between his teeth. He made his early living from his fish store, and later by selling decoys, but the one thing above everything else; he was highly trusted. People always brought him birds to get his opinion on their value or condition or maker. He placed many great birds into major collections. Bud developed clientele that would pay top dollar for great birds. More than once a decoys he had sold would come to auction. He would buy it back many times at a bargain price and flip it at some point in the future for a profit. One of Buds best know clients was Dr. James McCleery, but Bud had buyers in all strata of decoy collecting.
Bud didn't think all that much of cork stool, but he knew that Dick Cowan sure did, and when he found great cork birds he contacted Dick and hammered him on the price. He got good money from collectors that no one else would have attempted. He knew his clients and told them what they needed to have in their collections. When Bud dangled great cork stool under Dick's nose, he was a goner. Bud knew Dick was the only guy who would pay what Bud was asking for cork stool and Dick usually ran a tab with him. I did the same when I got my hands on great cork birds. Dick Cowan was the first person I called. I too love cork birds but as Bud would say, "When you're a dealer, everything's for sale". In my opinion, cork stool are some of the best decoys ever produced on Long Island and they are really undervalued. The snobbery of the cork is inferior to wood decoys started long ago.
By the mid 1970's Bud and the Combs' (but especially Bud) had begun to exert considerable influence on the decoy market and the auction houses. They became some of the Long Island decoy experts, but it was Bud Ward who became "The" expert on L.I. gunning stool. It was thought by most that his word was as good as gold when it came to decoys, especially L.I.decoys. That is what had made it so easy for Bud to make the claim for Verity& Southard.
The last time I can remember Bud exerting his influence was in 1996. Bud was suffering from terminal cancer and was in the end stage, yet there he was at Richard Oliver's October auction in Delmarva, Maryland, and still buying! Bud and I were looking over the shorebird decoys that would be coming up that day. Bud pointed out lot 588, cataloged as: "A Fine Obadiah Verity School Peep in Original Paint and Condition." Bud said that's a Combs.(George Combs Sr.). He went right to Richard Oliver and told him who had made lot 588 and it was pulled instantly from the auction. I wonder what collector owns that bird today?
1975: In the Spring North American Decoys magazine is found a memorial to Milt Weiler who had passed away in the fall of 1974. A reproduction of a painting by Weiler is used in the memorial. It is of a Stevens Brothers Whistler and a "Nelson Verity " peep, with the caption, "Capt. Nelson Verity Surf Snipe Seaford, Long Island." This decoy today would listed and sold as an Obadiah Verity.
1976: The Bird Decoy: An American Art Form
Edited by Paul A. Johnsgard
Obadiah is almost there.
In this book's shorebird section we find four decoys listed as" Obadiah Verity" all from the Bud Ward collection. On Page 28, we find a Black-bellied plover attributed to Obadiah Verity (1860-1910); reference lists Mackey's book 1965, from the Bud Ward collection. Mackey lists Obadiah Verity as living (1870-1940) Bud dates are (1860 -1910). There were many Obadiah Verity's from the Seaford area and for years after the the Combs' and Ward claim for Verity and Southard, it would be debated which of the many Obadiah Verity's it was who had made the decoys, which is incredible because there is no documentation ever presented for any of the Obadiah Verity's as the maker.
Page 15, we find two B.B. Plovers. One bird is from the Herrick rig, both birds said to be Obadiah Verity's work from the Bud Ward collection.
Page 162, Yellowlegs by William Southard c.1880, Bud Ward Collection.
Page 172, (Peep) by Obadiah Verity (1860-1910), Bud Ward Collection.
This book firmly plants the Obadiah Verity and Southard flags for the decoy collectors and auction houses and writers. From then until the present, these decoys, for the most part, wold be listed and cataloged as Verity's and Southard's, but the H.F.Osborn attribution would still pop up occasionally.
1977: Part 1 North American Decoys magazine, page 13, there are three Black bellied plovers from the Herrick family listed as by Obadiah Verity. Newbold L.Herrick had said they were made by Ben Verity from the Gilgo Inlet Life Saving Station only nine years before, which can be found in the 1966 Mackey appraisal for the donation to the Museums at Stony Brook.
1979: Winter North American Decoys magazine, Page 32, photo of a Yellowlegs which would today be called a Southard, is still listed as a "H.F.Osborn Bellport, Long Island, c.1846".
1979: The fictional story of George Combs Sr. visit with Andrew Verity in a nursing home where he claimed Andrew had identified the decoys as being made by Obadiah Verity and Will Southard. This added to the Verity/Southard myth (see Gunners Paradise, page 25, in a section called "A Trio of Greats" William Bowman,Thomas Gelston and Obadiah Verity.
The Combs story is obviously a fabrication, but it would cement the two attributions of Verity and Southard as the makers. These attributions have lasted up until today, even though there never has been any documented evidence for Verity and Southard.
Why did Bud decide the decoy were Verity's and Southhard's? Perhaps he really believed they were the makers, but he knew he had no documentation. The reason may be simply that Bud and the Combs' decided they could take some low-end decoys and turn them into more expensive decoys.
The couple of times when I asked Bud about the Pop Combs visit to see Andrew and the alleged tape recording George Combs Sr. claimed to have made of the event, Bud would make a face and grunt. I had the feeling that George Combs Sr. came up with the story and Bud didn't challenge it because it helped him in his goal of establishing Verity and Southard as the makers.
I and others repeatedly ask George Combs Jr. to hear the tape recording that he claimed to have of his father's conversation with Andrew. Even the the museum's history researcher at Stony Brook Museums was not allowed to hear it. He would not let anyone hear it always saying he couldn't let anyone hear it because he was going to use it in a future book that he never wrote. This excuse was of course ridiculous. You should want everyone to hear poor old Andrew "Grubie" Verity nearly on his death bed call out, "Diah".
For me, when looking at the decoys called Obadiah Verity and William Southard, in my opinion, the decoys were made by the same person or persons who worked very close together.
A Tern decoy pictured on page 58, plate 38 in Mackey's book is assigned it to Nelson Verity. This decoy at the time did not fit the profile of what had been called Osborn and Osborn type decoys. This Tern and its rig-mates later became Obadiah Verity Terns, and again with out any documentation being presented.
The decoys called Verity's and Southard's have been found all over Long Island, and even in other states, so there is no reason to tie the decoys to Nassau County. All roads once again lead to the Herrick's and their shorebird donation to the Museums at Stony Brook.
April 18, 1959:
When Newbold L.Herrick donates shorebird decoys to the Museums at Stony Brook, he lists the decoys known today as Obadiah Verity's as made by Capt. Ben Verity, Life Saving Station, Gilgo Inlet (Nassau County).The decoys that are known today as Will Southard's, N.L.Herrick said were made by Capt. Dan Havens, Moriches, L.I. (Suffolk County).
September 20, 1966:
The Mackey Appraisal of the donation of thirty three shorebird decoys to the Museums at Stony Brook, he lists decoys by Nelson Verity (Tern ), Dan Havens, and Ben Verity. No Obadiah Verity is mentioned.
Decoy Magazine, Fall, 1982
On the cover of the fledgling Decoy Magazine which was then a quarterly and had begun printing only two years before in 1980, shows the contemporary made sign that reads "O.Verity Decoy Maker". There are shorebirds placed around the sign in the sand that Bud Ward claimed were made by Obadiah Verity. In the "Contents"section on page 3, it says that all the, "Obadiah Verity shorebirds" on the cover are from the Bud Ward collection.
On pages 18-19 of the issue is a short non informative "article" titled, "Obadiah Verity Classic Long Island decoy maker". This is mostly a pictorial piece and has very little text; "Obadiah Verity (1870-1940), Massapequa", not Seaford, and there is no documentation presented for an Obadiah Verity as a decoy maker. The Photographs consist of two famous duck stool pairs. A pair of Broadbill and a pair of Mergansers, and a feeding B.B.Plover; all are from the Bud Ward Collection.
Typically with decoy fabrications we find statements like this, "Very Little is known about Verity;"
This statement is interesting in the fact that Bud Ward stated that Obadiah is said to have died in 1940. Why would there be a mystery about a guy who died in 1940 on Long Island! What he should have said was that nothing is known about any Obadiah Verity making decoys.
The article says that, "Although Verity's decoys are often underrated", which translates to undervalued, (but Bud was changing that. The birds in the article had been exhibited at The Mid-Atlantic Wildfowl Festival held in Virginia Beach. Bud was spreading the Verity gospel everywhere he went.
The article also quotes Bud's good friend George H. Purnell Jr. who was also pushing the Verity agenda. He says, "Verity decoys are in the same class with Crowell, Cobb,,Bowman and Shourds." The Verity myth would continue to be accepted as fact and the decoys called Verity's would continue to increase in value.
Bringing the decoys back home to Suffolk County
Were the Decoys that been called Osborn's and then Verity's really made in Suffolk County as first asserted and not in Nassau County as later claimed? There is a circumstantial possibility that this is the case. There is no evidence or documentation for any of the Verity's or Southard from Seaford, Massapequa or Baldwin as makers of the decoys that are attributed to them today.
The donated Herrick decoys came with two L.L.Bean baskets. When interviewing Orson D. Munn Jr., he had told me of the two L.L.Bean baskets filled with snipe stool that had once been in the basement of his house on Gin Lane, known as "The Arches". Orson said at some unknown time, someone had stolen the two baskets of shorebird stool, and that is why he only had the two Bunn snipe left that he consigned to Julia & Guyette in the September 1986 auction, as they had been sitting on a mantel upstairs, and not in the basket in the basement. That Julia &Guyett auction had listed the two decoys as by "William Bowman" over the objections of Orson who had told them they were made by Charles Bunn when he consigned them. After he received his catalog with the shorebirds listed as by Bowman, he once again told the auction house they were by Bunn, saying he had no idea who this Bill Bowman was.
In July 2006, Joe Jannsen, Orson Munn, Donal C. O'Brien and I visited the Long Island Museums at Stony Brook to meet with curator Joshua Ruff. The reason for the visit was to have Orson compare the Herrick donated decoys to the stool from his basement. Orson looked at the decoys from the Herrick donation and proclaimed them to be identical to his fathers missing snipe stool, and not just the "Bowman's". Joshua was told by Orson that the decoys he was calling Bowman were really made by Charles Bunn (see Decoy Magazine November/December 2015, page 18, "The Final Chapter on Charles Bunn").
As I have written in the past, when I broached the subject with Orson that maybe one of the Herrick's had taken the two baskets of snipe stool, he bristled and was actually offended that I would suggest the Herrick's would steal the decoys from the basement. I never actually said that the Herrick's stole them. I was merely speculating on a possibility. I then went on to say maybe his father had given the decoys to the Herrick's without his knowing it. Orson wasn't happy with that suggestion either, so I dropped the subject. I had a feeling Orson had a suspect in mind as the thief, and it most likely wasn't a peer.
Orson Munn Sr. was an extremely close friend of Newbold L.Herrick who donated the two L.L.Bean baskets of snipe stool to the Museums at Stony Brook that are judged by Orson to be identical to the missing Munn decoys and baskets. I believe there is more than a good chance that the two baskets of snipe stool donated by Newbold L.Herrick are the very same missing Munn snipe stool and the two L.L. Bean baskets from Orson's basement, which would put the decoys' origins in Southampton, Suffolk County, and not Nassau County as claimed by Bud Ward and the Combs'.
There was never any documentation for any of the many Obadiah's or for Will Southard as decoy carvers, and there is no documentation that I have found for H.F. Osborn as the maker. My theory is that these decoys called Verity's and Southard came from Southampton and are part of the Shinnecock School of decoy making, and not the "Long Island School" that Mackey had claimed, later referred to as the"Seaford School". Bunn was a decoy maker for many years. I have proven that the misattributed "Bowman" shorebird decoys that Bunn made could not have been made until after 1910. So what was Bunn making prior to 1910? We also have Mrs. Martinez saying of her great grandfather father James Bunn (1810-1895), that he had taught Charles Bunn "all his hunting skills" which I assume would have included the making of decoys. I feel that there is a good possibility that the "Verity-Southard" decoys are really Charles Bunn or Bunn family decoys.
Some dates used over the years for Obadiah Verity
Mackey (1965): (1870-1940)
Richard Baldwin (1970's): (1830-1901)
The Bird Decoy, Bud Ward Collection (1976): (1860-1910)
Museums at Stony Brook (1979): (1830-1901)
Decoy Magazine, Bud Ward collection (1982):(1870-1940)
Which proves there is no evidence for any Obadiah as the maker of the decoys. At the very least you would need a consistent birth and death date, not to mention there is no documentation for any of the Obadiah Verity's as a decoy maker.
