Don Blyth: 80 years collecting the finest
“A skilled negotiator who could have written a book on the art of the deal”
The late Don Blyth was a shrewd, confident and accomplished collector of some of the finest antiques and collectibles. He was also a colourful, skilled negotiator – someone who’d been around the block more than a few times. Not many people can say they’ve been collecting for eight decades, but he could.
Sadly, Don Blyth died April 6, 2021 at age 90. Three days before his death, Ethan Miller, co-owner of Miller & Miller Auctions, sat down with Don to discuss his love of collecting and some of the lessons he’d learned along the way. During his lifetime, Don and his wife Joyce put together rare and important collections in a number of categories, including decoys, Guelph merchant jugs and crocks, decorated stoneware, bottles, firearms, sporting advertising and powder tins.
“The things he collected are important and one of a kind.”
Don and his wife of 68 years, Joyce, ran a successful farming operation in the Guelph, Ontario area for many years, while sharing a mutual love of collecting. Many of their most important pieces have now been consigned to Miller & Miller Auctions, to be sold at their June 5, 2021 Canadiana & Sporting Auction, The Don & Joyce Blyth Collection.
Some of the items Don collected have long-time collectors stunned. For instance, lot 105 is a circa 1870 12-foot-long trade sign in the form of a rifle that originally hung on Gurd’s Sporting Emporium in London, Ontario. Estimated to sell into the five figures, it comes with the Gurd’s postal cover featuring the sign to prove its origin. There’s also lot 275, a rare 1880s Union Metallic Cartridge Display Board estimated to sell between $20,000 to 25,000. In all, 289 pieces are up for auction and each tells an important story.
Lot 105 is a circa 1870 12-foot-long trade sign in the form of a rifle that originally hung on Gurd’s Sporting Emporium in London, Ontario.
“Don was knowledgeable, passionate and loyal,” says his long-time friend and fellow collector Bruce Malcolm. “And the things he collected are important and one of a kind. He had a great eye and understood the importance of history and provenance and he spent a lifetime preserving truly important Canadian artifacts.”
Don was also well known for compiling complete collections, something that requires knowledge, fortitude and patience in equal measure. “I was obsessed with looking for things,” he told Ethan during their conversation. “I’d buy a collection and keep the finest pieces. You want to have the rarest items and the finest condition. And then once you complete a collection you move on.” And when it was complete, he simply moved on to something else. Together, Don and Joyce managed to amass a complete collection of Guelph merchant stoneware. (Joyce wrote a book about them in 1982 entitled Jugs & Crocks of the Guelph Merchants.)
Don and Joyce amassed a complete collection of Guelph merchant stoneware. View the collection in our online catalogue.
“He was a skilled negotiator who could have written a book on the art of the deal.”
“Don was a confident man,” recalls Bruce. “He moved with ease in unique situations, whether it was a local card game, holding court at an antique arms show, educating a museum curator, discussing the merits of a particular lineage of cattle, or bidding on art at a big city auction house. He was also a skilled negotiator who could have written a book on the art of the deal. He was tough but fair. In other words, underestimate this country gentleman at your own peril.”
Bruce illustrates Don’s character with a story about a deal gone wrong. Years ago, Bruce was in the midst of trying to buy an important decoy collection from “a challenging individual”. The two men reached an agreement only to have the seller renege at the last minute. Still fuming a few hours later, Bruce relayed the story to his friend Don, who listened intently, then told him “you need a partner”. It was only a matter of days before the decoy collection was safely in the hands of Don and Bruce.
“Don had just administered one of life’s lessons to a person who had not honoured a deal.”
“Don Blyth, the country wheeler dealer with a western string tie, had just administered one of life’s lessons to a person who had not honoured a deal,” says Bruce. “To Don, a deal was a deal. We celebrated with a cold pint and a few laughs back at the homestead.”
Don and Joyce also bought a rare F.P. Goold 3-Gallon jug (lot 224) featuring a race horse decoration in cobalt slip. It was a pricey item they loved so much they financed it by cashing in several bonds.
This rare F.P. Goold 3-Gallon jug is offered as lot 224 in the June 5th sale.
And of course, there are stories that go along with their prized acquisitions.
The Union Metallic Cartridge display board (lot 275, mentioned earlier), for example, came to Don circuitously, as things often do. According to the story he told Ethan, years ago a university student was walking by a Weber Hardware store that was going out of business and he spotted the U.M.C cartridge board inside. Upon inquiring, the young man was told it had already been bought by a doctor in Clinton, Ontario. When the student tracked down the doctor to see if he’d sell it, the doctor refused, but took down his contact information. A while later, the doctor’s wife got in touch with the young man, explaining that her husband had died and the board was now for sale. Eventually it made its way into Don’s hands, and it is one of several important cartridge display boards in the sale.
Don’s collection includes several important cartridge display boards. Click the photos above to view.
“That board is extremely rare in the U.S.,” Don told Ethan, “but in Canada, I’ve owned three of them.”
A rare Hamilton Thomas Dalton decoy came his way and became a favourite, but was overpainted in black when he bought it. “That one I cleaned up with acetone and it came off like magic.” It and several other important decoys will be in the sale, including an Ivar Fernlund Canvasback Drake (lot 245), a Henry Freeborn Hollow Bluebill (lot 137), and a Donny Reid Bluebill Drake (lot 183).
Don believed the internet “opened up the world” to collectors, but often served up a sobering perspective at the same time. “Sometimes you think something’s rare then you look online and see 20 of them.” It also meant Don had to sharpen his instincts and be on the lookout for reproductions. “I don’t think I’ve ever bought a fake,” he told Ethan. “If I was suspicious I just didn’t buy it.”
Don’s collection includes an impressive selection of decoys. Click the photos above to view.
“I always hoped I’d bought something that would increase in value, but the main reason I bought it was because I liked it.”
Don was confident in his own instincts, even when they conflicted with the so-called ‘experts’. He once went to a lecture where the speaker advised that if you’re going to collect art it’s better to buy the best work from a lesser artist than a lesser work from a great artist. Don disagreed. Contrary to that advice, he bought “a horrible painting” by Group of Seven artist Tom Thomson, but as the painter grew in popularity, so did the value of the painting.
Seeing the value of your acquisitions grow is satisfying, but as Don emphasized with Ethan, that was never the driving force for him. “I always hoped I’d bought something that would increase in value, but the main reason I bought it was because I liked it.”
As for any regrets, Don had been an avid collector of antique firearms for years, but confided to Ethan he wished he hadn’t sold his rare Custer battlefield gun. He agreed to let it go for $750, but said it’s now worth $500,000. “I shouldn’t have done that,” he lamented.
The Don & Joyce Blyth Collection promises to be an exciting sale. The featured items will be passed along and live on, as will Don’s reputation. In the fall, Miller & Miller will offer the remainder of the Blyth collection, which includes approximately 60 rare Ontario-made pistols and rifles, along with early Colts and others.
“I recall stopping at Don’s table at a pre-pandemic show,” says Bruce. “He had a few antique cartridges on his table, but not of much significance. I asked Don why he bothered. He smiled with that twinkle in his eyes and said, ‘you can’t catch a fish if you don’t have a worm in the water’.
“Our friend Don – loyal, fair, extremely knowledgeable and passionate to the end.”
By Diane Sewell
Diane Sewell has been a writer for over 25 years, producing stories for some of the country’s top newspapers, consumer magazines and websites, as well as client newsletters and commissioned books.
Auction Details:
Canadiana & Sporting
The Don & Joyce Blyth Collection
June 5, 2021
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