Life After Death, Woodpecker Tree Mechanical Bank by Frank S. Finney (b. 1947)

Lot 152

About Seller

20 Winter Street
Pembroke, MA 02359
United States

Founded in 2005, Copley Fine Art Auctions is a boutique auction house specializing in antique decoys and American, sporting, and wildlife paintings. Over the course of the last two decades, the firm has set auction records for not only individual decoy makers, but also entire carving regions. Copley...Read more

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About Auction

The Sporting Sale 2025, Day 1 by Copley Fine Art Auctions

Live

The Sporting Sale 2025, Day 1

By Copley Fine Art Auctions

Jul 10, 2025

Set Reminder 2025-07-10 10:00:00 2025-07-10 10:00:00 America/New_York Bidsquare Bidsquare : The Sporting Sale 2025, Day 1 https://www.bidsquare.com/auctions/copley/the-sporting-sale-2025-day-1-19844 Lots 1-316 Copley Fine Art Auctions cinnie@copleyart.com

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Lot Description

Life After Death, Woodpecker Tree Mechanical Bank
Frank S. Finney (b. 1947)
Capeville, VA
28 in. tall, 16 1/2 in. wide

"As a young man in the 1960s, the coastal North Carolina area of the Great Dismal Swamp was my playground/fantasy world. I was fascinated by its amazing abundance and variety of life. I would often travel to Moses White's Mill, which was on the Old Swamp Road, to buy white cedar wood-also known as juniper wood-which I used for carving. Moses sold wood to all the North Carolina decoy carvers, including Ned Burgess, James Best, and Mitchell Fulcher. During these years, Billy Scripture (later a Major League Baseball player with the Baltimore Orioles) and I would sometimes go into the swamp via the old logging roads and cut our own cedar. The birds and wildlife I would see on these forays captured my attention and imagination, and I never forgot my experiences there.

"This piece represents some of those creatures and birds that I encountered all those years ago, all congregated on a dead cypress tree. This carving was made from swamp bowl gum, boxwood, and deer antler. The interior mechanism was completely engineered and fashioned by my hand. I have called it 'Life after Death' because of all the new and abundant life that this dead tree is providing protection and shelter to." - Frank S. Finney

Perhaps his greatest undertaking to date, this unique Finney carving shows the artist at not only the height of his creativity, but his engineering talents as well. A squirrel clutching a nut, a tree frog, a vine with leaves, and a snake adorn the bottom of the cypress tree stump. Five different branches house a squirrel eating a nut, a raccoon, and three different species of woodpeckers: a flicker, a red-headed woodpecker, and an ivory-billed woodpecker. When the top of the tree stump is lifted, these five carvings emerge from their respective holes, a nuthatch and a downy woodpecker "peck" at the trunk, and a slot for a coin is revealed at the very top. The tree is also adorned with three other stationary, larger woodpeckers: a hairy woodpecker, a pileated woodpecker, and a grand ivory-billed woodpecker perched majestically above the rest upon the pull.

The underside bears the maker's "Frank Smith Finney" signature on a heart-shaped removable inset for access to the bank's vault.
Original paint with minimal wear.

Condition

Please refer to the description; if you have additional questions, email colin@copleyart.com.
Shipping Info
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