At first glance you might wonder, "why blog about an Eddie Bauer display?" This just points out how knocked off and ripped off anything authentic has become. None of the pieces in this cabinet are fake or in a big box store.
This little shack is the "real deal". No faux finishing here, no decoys Made in China. They have been selling decoys on Ocracoke Island on the Outer Banks of North Carolina for over 40 years. It had a blue and white diamond painted floor that was naturally distressed.
In China, they must not have found a way to mass produce this type of swan decoy--wire armature covered with painted canvas-- cheaply enough to be able to flood the market. This is actually new to me!
Decoys are super expensive, the man who runs this shop told me one sold recently at auction for $5.5 million! He remembers buying them back in the day when you could get truckloads at $6 and $7 a piece, which was a goodly sum then. Apparently that's when he constituted his stock, which is now selling at around $300 for one like this or $900 for a canvas swan.
It makes me wonder what's left that's affordable to collect. I somehow seem to find random stuff, but almost everything has already been "the next big thing". Prices tend to stay at a certain level once this happens. Not that I was planning to collect decoys--country is not my style! Do you collect anything unusual? We'd love to hear about it!
