A legendary hunter and fisherman in his home area of Winthrop, Maine, Irvine also carved fish trophies out of wood. People would take their freshly caught fish to his garage workshop, and a few weeks later retrieve a carved model in the likeness of the fish they had caught. Irvine never charged more than $25 for his works, which became collector's items and considerably increased in value after he died.
Lawrence Irvine was born in Winthrop, Maine in 1918 where he spent all of his life, except for a stint in World War II. He began carving fish in his 30s, supposedly after seeing others at a country fair, and deciding that he could do it better. Using mostly pine and simple tools, he carved at least 100 fish a year, saying "Yo...