History

Back in the late 1960’s when “good ole duck and snipe stool” sold for less than $100.00 each, there were a number of long time decoy collectors on Long Island who generally only saw each other at an antique gun show or a water fowlers carving show. When we did get together there was much excitement and much pleasure, buying selling or swapping decoys. We were a small group, and the collecting field was wide open. Very little history was written and verbal historical information was traded between the collectors. At that time most of the collectors were duck shoots and collecting duck stool fitted in with their life style.

The first real attempt to organize them as a unit was in 1968 at the bay house of Capt. G.W.Combs, Sr., during the annual shoot out and clam bake held each fall on the marsh of Seaford. Among the collectors who were there that expressed a desire to have a decoy collectors society were G.W. Combs, Sr., G.W. Combs, Jr., Jack Combs, Ron Bauer, Ron McGrath, Frank Murphy and Bud Ward. During the next year they would meet at one 

another’s house for a swap session.

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On September 21, 1970 the first organized meeting took place in West Islip. Called the “L.I. Antique Decoy Collectors Society”, it was headed by George Combs, Jr. and Bill Joeckel. At that meeting there were 27 collectors. The temporary Chairman was Malcolm Flemming, temporary Secretary and Treasurer was George W. Combs, Jr.

The L.I. Decoy Collectors Association was formed in Jan. 1971.

Officers for that year:

President                       George W. Combs, Jr.

V. President                   Bill Joeckel

Secretary                       Debbie Libaire

Treasurer                       Frank Murphy

Historical Society          Ron McGrath

Board of Governors        Malcolm Fleming, Frank Scrace, Bud Ward,  Gilbert Herzy

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The first Long Island Decoy Collectors Association display was held March 1971 at the National Decoy Show in Babylon. Our first Long Island Decoy Collectors Association show was held on Sept 25-26, 1971 and thus began a tradition of decoy collectors meets and shows that have inspired numerous future collectors and decoy collectors’ societies over the past years.

Our efforts back in 1968 made a passage for the country’s first, and one of the finest organizations of its kind. The Long Island Decoy Collectors Association and its members’ efforts in cooperation with numerous museums, writers, historians and other collectors through the past years have led to many great contributions in the field of decoy collecting.

Today decoy collectors come from all walks of life. Many books and decoy shows provide a wealth of information on the historical importance and identification of decoys from any region.

The Long Island Decoy Collectors Association meets once a month with a calendar of events, guest speakers, bird of the month (specie, maker, or region), decoys for sale or trade.

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