I would say he was more focused on decoy collecting.
His collection of some fine examples was just sold along with the the subject gun at Guyette's fall sale in Easton.
He had some very nice Eastern Shore of Va. birds, a Eli Doughty Goose of his sold for $96,000

I sat in the gallery and watched the first 45 or so items . There were two goose decoys made by someone in Wisconsin I believe it was and the two combined brought $250,000 before premium . I'm no decoy collector so this is all foriegn to me but I thought quarter mill for two hunks of floating wood was eye opening :eek:

My first 8 seven frame was purchased from a member in the southwest and I believe I was told he got it from someone in the state of NY don't remmember where the letter said it went intially .

My hammerless was initially shipped to a wood company in the panhandle of Florida with specifications for it to pattern buckshot well . I bought that gun from a dealer in Indianna or Illinois forget which .

The Charlie Hunter gun as stated earlier I believe the letter said Kansas City and then at ome point Staunton VA . Now it's in central VA .

Craig, did you ever get to weigh the big gun to affirm it's 16 lbs?

Not yet :whistle: But I promise it’s on my to do list . I don’t have a digital scale at the house , but we have one at the shop . To be honest it hasn’t been out the house since the day I brought it home .

Craig, Charlie's home was in Staunton, VA.

It’s my understanding he had several . But if I remmember what I was told correctly he grew up in Staunton - Augusta county Virginia. Also if I’m not mistaken had a restored plantation type deal on the Mattaponi River down in the I think Wakefield VA area . I suspect this gun hung on the wall there , but I honestly don’t know .

Here is a link to the decoy auction recap with pictures of the top lots.
https://guyetteanddeeter.com/archive-pages/2021/n21.php

Wow!

Oh yeah those two goose decoys that brought the second and third highest prices really opened my eyes . Kinda made me think I’d wasted my time driving up there , as far as actually buying anything was concerned .