December 2017

My Favorite Three Decoys December 2017

                  The December favorite three speaker was John Griffiths. He said that when he first began decoy collecting in 1993 he started collecting decoys by Manahawkin carver Hurley Conklin. 

                  He brought in a pair of lightweight white cedar buffleheads and a coot that was carved by Hurley Conklin.  John read a short bio about the carver, Hurley Conklin grew up in Cedar Run New Jersey.  He went clamming and fishing in the summer and duck hunting in the winter. He began carving at age 15 when he received an order for a dozen black ducks by Sherwood Corliss. Corliss liked the decoys so much that he ordered a dozen sheldrakes and thus began Conklin’s decoy carving career. He was also a guide for the Marshelder Island Gun club and for many locals in Cedar Run.

                  John added that when Bill Mackey’s collection was auctioned off in the early 1970’s decoys by Hurley Conklin started to increase in price.

                  Thank you to John for showing three of your favorite decoys and for sharing a little bit of history about the decoy carver that helped to start you on the road to decoys collecting.