Verity Family Rare Tern

Obediah Verity (1813-1901) Seaford, Long Island, NY, c. 1880 13 in. long

The late 19th century brought about a change in millinery fashion. At that time, a hat decorated with feathers and wings was considered the height of couture. Though popular for fashion, terns were evidently no culinary delight. Market hunters received only ten dollars per hundred birds and thus terns were not widely hunted. For this reason, old working tern decoys are virtually non-existent, with Long Island being one of the few areas where rigs have been found.

A rare life-size decoy, this tern is one of the finest examples of the species by any maker. In July of 1999, a rigmate set an auction record for any Obediah Verity decoy at that time.

Two of this bird’s rigmates are illustrated on page thirty-one of Henry Fleckenstein’s book, "Shore Bird Decoys." The caption states that they “were made by Obediah Verity of Seaford, Long Island, New York - c- 1880. Only one rig of twelve are known to have been made by Obediah.”

This rare rig was passed down through the extended Verity family of Seaford to Nelson Verity (1854-1947). Nelson Verity is known to have guided Yankee baseball greats, Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, in South Oyster Bay. In early working repaint typical of the rig, gunning wear, and minor loss to right wing tip.

Provenance: Donal C. O'Brien, Jr. Collection

Literature: Quintina Colio, "American Decoys," Ephrata, PA, 1972, p. 74, related example illustrated. Literature: Joe Engers, ed., "The Great Book of Wildfowl Decoys," San Diego, CA, 1990, p. 103, rigmate decoy illustrated. Joe Engers, ed., “1999 Year In Review,” Decoy Magazine, Lewes, De, 1999, front cover, p. 9, rigmate illustrated. Robert Shaw, "Bird Decoys of North America," New York, NY, 2010, p. 131, similar decoy illustrated (caption reversed). Henry A. Fleckenstein, Jr., "Shore Bird Decoys," Exton, PA, 1980, p. 31, plate 34 and color plate 72, rigmates illustrated. William J. Mackey, Jr., "American Bird Decoys," New York, NY, 1965, p. 58, plate 38, related example illustrated. Timothy Sieger, "The Decoys of Long Island," Water Mills, NY, 2010, pp. 32 and 36, similar examples illustrated. Richard P. Baldwin, "The Verity Family of Long Island, New York," Southold, NY, 2000, p. 126.

Provenance

Donal C. O'Brien, Jr. Collection