Copley Fine Art Auctions' July 21 to 22 sale, in Plymouth, Mass., featuring over 700 lots of antique decoys, folk art, books, and American art, smashed auction record prices for bird carver A. Elmer Crowell (1862-1952) and sporting artist Aiden Lassell Ripley (1896-1969).

Crowell's decorative running curlew, carved in about 1912, hit $257,250, well above the previous world record price of $189,000, also achieved at Copley, for a decorative decoy by the Cape Cod carver. The pre-sale estimate was $60,000 to $90,000.

This fresh-to-market mantel carving came from a private collection in California, and before that had descended in a family since the 1950s. It was made during a nexus in Crowell's career when he was transitioning from working decoys made for hunters to decorative carvings created for display.

A circa-1910 miniature Jack curlew carved by Crowell fetched another world record price in the "mini" category when it sold for $12,650, from an estimate of $4,000 to $6,000. The auction catalog described it as "one of the maker's finest and earliest examples." The piece came from the late art and decoy collector William "Bill" V. Tripp III who had assembled 50 fine miniature bird carvings offered in the sale.

A signature fall hunting scene by Aiden Lassell Ripley, titled "Springers and Pheasants," went to  $97,750, which achieved the artist's auction record even while it fell short of the $100,000-$200,000 estimate. Copley sold the Ripley hunting scene 'Point in the Corn" for $89,125 in 2008.

Boston-based Copley Fine Art Auctions will hold its annual Winter Sale in New York City on January 16, 2012.