Duck Decoys Value: Working Decoys, Makers and Prices

Most old duck decoys are worth about $25-150 as of October 2026. Plastic and molded decoys from the 1950s onward sell for about $5-20. The money is in the known makers: Mason factory decoys in original paint, the Ward brothers of Crisfield, Maryland, and A. Elmer Crowell of Cape Cod sell for thousands, and two Crowell decoys sold privately for $1.13 million each in 2007.

Decoys were tools. Hunters bought and carved them by the million, set them out on open water, shot over them, repainted them and stored them in barns, so most survivors are worn working birds by people whose names are lost. Collectors treat the best of them as American folk art, and the market splits sharply between those few and the rest. What decides the price is the maker, the region and style, whether the paint is original, and the condition of the wood. Nearly all of that can be read from the decoy itself.

Quick answer

• Plastic, papier-mache and pressed-fiber decoys: about $5-20.
• Wooden working decoys by unknown carvers: about $25-150, more for strong regional style in original paint.
• Factory decoys: Wildfowler and similar roughly $75-300; Mason standard grades (glass, tack or painted eye) roughly $150-600, more for rare species in strong paint; Mason Challenge and Premier grades in original paint roughly $1,000 to five figures.
• Named carvers: Ward brothers and Crowell decoys roughly $1,500 to six figures; the record is $1.13 million.

How do you identify and value a duck decoy, step by step?

Work out what it is made of, whether it was a working or decorative bird, who made it and whether the paint is original. Price only after those four.

1. Check the material. Pick it up. Solid or hollow wood feels like wood and usually has a weight or keel on the bottom. Cork bodies are light and often have a wooden head. Plastic, papier-mache and pressed-fiber decoys are light and molded, with seams. Plastic and molded decoys are almost always 1950s or later.
2. Decide whether it was a working decoy. Working decoys have a lead weight or wooden keel, a line tie or staple at the front for an anchor line, and wear from use: dents, shot marks, rubbed paint and checks in the wood. Decorative carvings were made for a shelf, have a flat base or no weight, and show fine, detailed feather carving and paint.
3. Look at the bottom for marks. Many decoys have a hunter's brand, initials or a club name burned or stamped into the bottom. That is the owner's mark, not the maker's. Maker stamps exist on some work, notably Crowell's shop stamp, first oval and later rectangular, and on factory decoys with labels or brands.
4. Look at the eyes. Glass eyes, tack eyes and painted eyes help identify factory grades and carvers. Mason, for example, sold Premier and Challenge grades at the top, then glass eye, tack eye and painted eye grades below them.
5. Read the style. The shape of the head, the profile of the body, whether it is solid or hollow, and the paint pattern place a decoy in a region. Compare with photos in auction catalogs.
6. Judge the paint. Original paint (OP) shows even age, wear on the high points and crazing that matches the wood beneath. A repaint looks fresher, may cover old dents or shot holes, and often has paint in cracks. Collectors distinguish working repaints done by hunters from modern repaints, and both reduce value against original paint.
7. Check the wood and head. Look for cracks, rot, a replaced or reset head, a broken bill and a missing keel or weight.
8. Price from auction results for the same maker, species and paint condition.

What are duck decoys worth?

These are rough ranges as of October 2026, based on decoy auction results and dealer prices. Prices for named carvers vary enormously with species, paint and condition, so the high ranges are wide and hedged.

The record is well documented. In September 2007, a preening pintail drake and a Canada goose by A. Elmer Crowell sold for $1.13 million apiece, as reported by the Boston Globe and summarized on Wikipedia, in a private sale of more than 30 birds worth about $7.5 million organized by Stephen O'Brien Jr. Those prices were for the finest examples by the most famous carver and are not a guide to ordinary decoys.

What is the difference between working and decorative decoys?

A working decoy was made to float in a hunting rig; a decorative carving was made to be looked at. Working decoys are simpler in form, sturdier and weighted, and they carry the wear of use. Their value comes from age, maker, region and original paint. Decoratives are often carved with individual feathers and painted in fine detail, and they include miniatures. Some of the most valuable carvers, Crowell and the Ward brothers among them, made both, and collectors pay for both. But a modern decorative carving by an unknown hobbyist is a $25-200 item, whatever the craftsmanship. The Ward World Championship, held in April in Ocean City, Maryland, is the main contest for contemporary decorative carving, and winning carvers there command their own market.

How do regional styles help identify a decoy?

Each hunting region developed its own shapes, because the water and birds were different. Collectors use the style to place an unsigned decoy and sometimes to name a carver.

• Illinois River: hollow, finely shaped bodies with detailed paint. Charles Perdew of Henry, Illinois is among the best known.
• Susquehanna Flats and Havre de Grace, Maryland: solid, sturdy canvasbacks and other diving ducks with paddle tails, made in quantity for the big rigs. R. Madison Mitchell is the best known.
• Chesapeake Eastern Shore: the Ward brothers, Lem and Steve, of Crisfield, Maryland, whose working decoys and later decoratives are among the most collected.
• Massachusetts and Cape Cod: A. Elmer Crowell of East Harwich, who carved decoys and decoratives commercially from about 1912 and died in 1952.
• Delaware River and New Jersey: hollow, lightweight birds, often with raised carved wing tips, and the hollow cedar decoys of Barnegat Bay.
• Connecticut, Maine and Long Island: a range of styles, including Shang Wheeler of Stratford, Connecticut, and Gus Wilson of Maine.
• Louisiana: decoys carved from cypress root and tupelo.

How do you spot repaints and fakes?

Look at the paint first. Original paint wears through on the high points, the head, the breast and the tail, and the wear shows wood beneath. A repaint covers dents, shot holes and cracks with fresh paint, often has paint inside old cracks, and can smell of modern paint under a warm lamp. Look under ultraviolet light: newer paint and touch-ups often fluoresce differently from old paint.

Fakes are mostly of famous makers and factories. Common tells are artificial aging with sanding and stain, wear in places a decoy would not touch, shot marks that look punched rather than driven, fake brands and stamps, and paint crazing that sits on top of the surface rather than following the wood. A decoy attributed to Crowell, the Wards or Mason at a bargain price deserves a specialist's look. Auction houses that handle decoys stand behind their attributions with descriptions of paint, condition and repairs, and that is a large part of why named decoys sell there.

What does condition do to the price?

These deductions are rough rules of thumb drawn from how auction houses price named makers, not fixed percentages.

A worked example

Say you find a wooden mallard drake in a garage. It has a lead weight nailed to the bottom, a staple at the breast for the anchor line, and the initials "J.W." burned into the bottom. It has glass eyes, a solid body, and paint that is worn through to the wood on the head and back, with crazing that matches the wood. There is no maker's stamp. The burned initials are a hunter's mark, not the maker's. Without a style that points to a known carver or factory, it is an honest unknown working decoy in original paint, worth about $75-200 as of October 2026. If a decoy dealer recognizes the head and body as a Mason Challenge grade, with Mason's distinctive glass eyes and paint pattern, the same decoy could be worth $1,000 or more.

Common mistakes

• Reading a hunter's brand as a maker's mark. Most brands on the bottom are owner marks.
• Repainting or cleaning before selling. Original paint is most of the value. Dust it gently.
• Assuming every old decoy is valuable. Most are worn working birds by unknown makers worth $25-150.
• Pricing a plastic or pressed-fiber decoy as an antique. Molded decoys are mostly 1950s and later.
• Trusting attributions in general antique shops. Many decoys are optimistically labeled Mason or Ward.
• Splitting a rig. A group of decoys from one hunter or club is often worth more together.

How WorthPic reads duck decoy photos

WorthPic runs on the newest and most capable AI model available, tuned for exactly this kind of identification. From photos it reads the species, material, body shape, head style and eye type, distinguishes working from decorative birds by the weight, line tie and wear, reads brands and stamps on the bottom, and looks for repaints, reset heads and repairs. It then places the decoy against auction results for that type and gives an honest US dollar range with a most likely figure, explains what drives the price, and says which extra photo would settle it. What it cannot know from a photo is whether a paint layer is original under ultraviolet light or whether an attribution to a famous carver is right, and it says so. It identifies and estimates. It does not authenticate, grade or appraise.

What to photograph

• Both sides of the decoy in daylight, on a plain background.
• The bottom, showing any weight, keel, brand or stamp.
• The head close up, from the side and front, including the eyes and bill.
• The back and tail, where wear and repaints show.
• Any cracks, repairs or a reset head.
• The whole group if you have a rig.

When should you get it looked at in person?

Plastic, molded and worn unknown decoys do not need an expert. For a decoy that might be Mason, Ward, Crowell, Perdew or another known maker, or for a rig of old wooden decoys, contact a decoy auction house. Guyette and Deeter, which has sold more than $305 million in decoys and sporting collectibles since 1984, and Copley Fine Art Auctions both specialize in decoys and will look at photos before a sale. The North American Decoy Collectors Association show, held each spring in Lombard, Illinois, is where serious collectors meet. For other sporting antiques often found with decoys, see our guide to vintage fishing lures, for selling more broadly, where to sell antiques, and for a mixed estate, our guide to antique appraisal.

Sources

• Wikipedia: A. Elmer Crowell: dates, East Harwich workshop, the $1.13 million record and the $7.5 million private sale.
• Wikipedia: Decoy: decoys as folk art and the September 2007 record sales.
• Guyette and Deeter: decoy auction house, more than $305 million in sales since 1984, auction schedule including the NADCA show sale.
• Copley Fine Art Auctions: decoy and sporting art auctions, Crowell sales over $1 million.
• The Ward Foundation: the Ward World Championship in Ocean City, Maryland.