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NICE; NEAR MINT c1940 Southern New Jersey Coast RB HEN MERGANSER Wood Duck Decoy
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NICE; NEAR MINT c1940 Southern New Jersey Coast RB HEN MERGANSER Wood Duck Decoy
Price: US $146.50
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VERY NICE, EXCELLENT CONDITION! c1940 Vintage New Jersey Coast; "Solid Cedar" HEN RED-BREASTED MERGANSERWood Duck Decoy;

Excellent Patina and this Nice Bird Was Hand Carved as it has Superb Spokeshave Marks!!

-NICELY POSED LONG NECK THAT LOOKS LIKE AN ALERT BIRD THAT JUST LANDED AND IS LOOKING FOR DANGER!

-ORIGINAL LEAD "PAD" WEIGHT & OLD,VINTAGE GLASS EYES!!

  • PAD WEIGHT HELD on with ANTIQUE SQUARE HEADED,IRONNAILS!!

-VERY OLD GUNNING BIRD with TURNED HEAD!

GREAT, THICK ORIGINAL PAINT!!

SHIPPING INCLUDES INSURANCE

This Vintage, 74+ year old, very nicely carved and styled, solidcedar woodHen Red-Breasted Merganserdecoywas hand painted and hollow carvedin the coastal region ofNew Jersey on theAtlantic Ocean coastalarea.

SOUTH JERSEY SHORE MERGANSERS: There aren't many places in the country where a collector can specialize in merganser decoys from a specific area. An exception to this rule is Southern New Jersey and specifically from Barnegat south to Cape May. And of these specifically painted and carved birds, nowhere else can you find the painted wing patterns indicative of the regionexcepton these South Jersey merganser decoys. It is also rare to find an area where mergansers decoys are plentiful because they were carved in such large numbers because they were the intended species to be shot. In many other areas you'll find them sporadically, but as confidence decoys, but their sheer numbers here indicate otherwise. In many cases the birds were hunted in the early spring before other species arrived in mass numbers for the market gunners. Also, depending on the economics of a time period and the cyclical abundance of birds, mergansers may of may not have been sought after for their fare as a table bird. When more edible ducks were available mergansers were typically not shot and during hard economic times the price of a shell was a consideration as to the ducks being hunted or shot at. While mergansers or "fish ducks" are plentiful in the midwest and other areas, you'd be hard pressed to find good examples of merganser decoys other than on a hit and miss basis except south Jersey and parts of Maine and Massachusetts.

The bodies of the coastal New Jersey mergansers were typically well-roundedwithusually raised tails,very muchlikethis decoy up for sale with itsgradual, escalatingtail. There typically was little carving detail except foron the head and bill where you would find carved in bill/head separation and sometimes carved in mandibles, although this particular decoy up for sale even lacks bill detail. Except for some goose decoys, Barnegat Bay duck decoys havea veryrounded body including both the head and body.All of these Jersey decoys have some type of lead weight on the bottom, but the vast majority have a rectangular or square lead "pad" that was either nailed or screwed onto the bottom. The exception to this was decoys that have a lead ballast weight that was poured into a gouged out, rectangularrecess in the decoy's bottom much like the decoys of Harry V. Shourds, John Updike and others. The choice for the anchor line tie was eithera folded and screwed in piece of leather or, like in the case of this decoy up for sale, some type of screw eye or a loop-bent nail. Also like this decoy, the bodies ofthe coastal New Jerseydecoys were usually made from cedar slabs that were cut to length and then cutintorough shape andfinished using draw knives, rasps and files.The wonderful, yet sometimes modest paint jobs were with a high quality oil basedexterior or marinepaint for a rugged finish demanded of the decoys used on the big and often rough,open saltwater.The vast majority of the decoyshad carved,painted, tackor no eyes, but like this decoy up for sale, eventually more and more had glass eyes as the 20th century grew on. This decoy is very nicely carved and painted with a great headwood-pecker shaped head with anicely cut in crest on the backof it. The headwas mounted to the bodyusing marine glue and nails that were aimed at an angle to go through the base of the neck and into the top of the neck shelf on the body.The bill isa veryaccurately carved merganser shape with its long and skinny form from its beginning to the end. This decoy is as solid as the day it was made soit could take a beating the rough coastal watersand withstandcracks, dents, chips or bill and tail breakage. The grain in the head is excellent as it runs perfectly with the bill so and it undoubtedly could take a solid hit and not break or crack. The head is so solidly mounted that I am sure that pickingup decoys up by the neck at the end of a long day was a consideration when it was made. This decoy is in extraordinary condition and extremely solid.

ThisRed-Breasted Merganserdecoy up for sale encompasses the great characteristics of the great Jersey Shore carvers andthe thick, originalpaint is inexcellent condition and now exhibits a very nice patina. Much like the vintage decoys from the turn of the century, the paint pattern on this decoy is basic and clean, although the typical south New Jersey merganser would usually have some type of crude painted on wing patch. Theoriginal bent or looped nail line tie is original and perfectly intact. Although this decoy may have been gunned over, based on the fact that there is little edge wear, minimal paint lossand the absence of any shot holes, this decoyappears to have been lightly gunned overand retired well before its time. It couldhave howeverseen quite a bit of action beinghuntedover and it was justvery well cared for. There isabsolutely no checking, cracking, dents or breakage in this nice vintage bird. The head & neck/body seam is in excellent condition which is a testament to the quality of the work in attaching the head to the body. This decoy is as solid as the day it was made and you could gun over it today.As you can see, the decoy's lead weight is firmlyintact with 2 antique, square headed iron nails. This birdwas life-sizecarved andmeasures 15-1/4"x 4-3/4" wide x 7-1/8" tall and thisnice bird weighs arig-manageable 1-lb., 9-oz.A realAdult Drake Red-Breasted Merganserin the wildmeasures on average 22-24"from the bill to tail, and if you stretched this decoy out it would come toaround21"; a pretty good life-sized depiction for this decoy. If you have any questions or would like any additional photos feel free to email me.Thanks for looking.

I took pictures of this decoy both indoors and outside in natural light so you could get a good idea of the realistic and drab colors used to realistically paint this decoy. The first 12 photos are of this decoy outdoors and the 4 pictures that follow were taken indoors. The last8 photos are of other vintage southern New Jersey merganser decoys.






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