SUPERB FORM & TRULY ONE OF HIS NICER DAUBED GIBSON PAINT AND NICELY POSED, MID-HEIGHT & STRAIGHT-FORWARD HEAD!! - Awesome Vintage Old Hunting Decoy and His Most Sought After & Older, Working Bird Style!!
- BEAUTIFUL AND EARLY HAND CHOPPED BODIES BEFORE HE BOUGHT MADISON MITCHELL\'S LATHE in 1945!!
This is a Perfectly Symmetrically Carved & Painted Vintage Paul Gibson Canvasback Gunning Block! (see photos; especially front and rear views)
IF YOU ARE A FAN OF EXCELLENT OLD GUNNING BIRDS THAT SAW SOME ACTION & STOOD THE TEST OF TIME WONDERFULLY, THIS IS A GREAT DECOY FOR YOUR COLLECTION!!!
NICE SEMI-ALERT HEADED DECOY in the UPPER CHESAPEAKE BAY FASHION!!
All Original Rigging; Keel Weight, Line-Tie and Painted Eyes!!!
THE HEN RIG MATE to this DRAKE is ALSO on if YOU ARE LOOKING FOR AN AWESOME PAIR of PAUL GIBSON CANVASBACK DECOYS!!
SHIPPING INCLUDES INSURANCE
This 74+ year old, nicely formed, solid cedar Drake Canvasback duck decoy was hand carved and painted by Paul Gibson (1902-1984)of Havre de Grace, Maryland. Havre de Grace is a city in Harford County, situated at the mouth of the Susquehanna River and the head of Chesapeake Bay. It is named after the port city of Le Havre, France, which in full was once Le Havre de Grâce (French, \"Haven of Grace\"). During the Revolutionary War, the small hamlet known as Harmer\'s Town was visited several times by General Lafayette, who was considered a hero of the war. Lafayette commented that the area reminded him of the French seaport of Le Havre, which as previously mentioned had originally been named Le Havre-de-Grâce. Inspired by Lafayette\'s comments, the residents incorporated the town as Havre de Grace in 1785. The early industry of Havre de Grace included oyster and crab harvesting, and extensive fruit orchards. Products were shipped to markets along the East Coast and upriver. Havre de Grace also became widely known for duck hunting, and was a seasonal destination for hunters. They stayed at the town hotels and hired local guides to escort them hunting on the river and along the bay. Local artisans became known for their high quality decoy making, which is honored in the Decoy Museum of the city.
Paul Gibson Worked for the Edgewood Arsenal Fire Department for 25 Years Beginning in 1940!
Paul Gibson made it to the 8th grade and would have went further, but his father passed away and he to go to work to help out with the family finances. In 1915, at the age of 13, Paul made his first duck decoys. Paul worked in a grocery store for 24 years and then worked as a fireman the next 25 years at the Edgewood Arsenal. He eventually became the Department Chief and held that post until his retirement in 1965. While he was at the fire department he arranged for a rather unique situation whereas he could work every other day and on his off days he could carve decoys. He was known to have run a tight ship while fire chief, and at one point, he was in charge of 4 fire houses and about 50 men.
The Bluebills, Redheads, Wigeon and Mallards Pictured Above Were All Carved By Paul Gibson and From the Same Time Period as These Canvasbacks Up For sale!!
Although Paul\'s decoys closely follow the style of the Havre de Grace school of carving, unlike the majority of the carvers, Paul learned carving on his own as opposed to being an apprentice or being closely mentored by another carver. Paul was excellent with his hands and in addition to being an adept decoy carver, he built 2 houses, 2 cruisers and quite a few row boats. Paul Gibson was well known as being a very capable fisherman and hunter and when it came to carving decoys he made his own patterns and fashioned his own paint jobs.
Also From the Same Time Period as these Beautiful Canvasbacks Up For sale are a Pair of Paul Gibson Blue-Winged Teal, these Would Be Quite Rare from That Time Period!!
Also From the Same Time Period as these Beautiful Canvasbacks and Also Quite Rare is the Gibson Bufflehead Picture Above!!
His decoys were so well made that friends noticed that very few were ever returned other than to be repaired for obvious and incidental gunning damage or to be repainted, unlike this decoy up for sale which has beautiful 100% Original Paint. Like many others in Havre de Grace, Paul used either cedar or pine for his bodies, depending upon price and availability, and strictly used pine for his heads. It was also noted that Paul was uncompromising when it came to his paint and strictly used the finer oil-based marine paints that he could afford. Also like the majority of the older guard of carvers from the area, Paul began hand chopping his decoys and eventually bought his first machine lathe from Madison Mitchell in 1945. All of his decoys were hand-made until he bought Madison Mitchell\'s lathe. Gibson\'s sturdy decoys have chunky features and heads of white pine. Paul did most of the decoy work by himself other than roughing out wood with band-saws and other power tools which he would on occasion pay someone to help him out.
Again, A Beautiful Black Duck and a Goldeneye Hen with Awesome Early Form and Also From Roughly the Same Time Period as these Cans Up for sale!!
As stated, Paul Gibson never really worked or studied under other decoy makers, he was self-taught. But as his part-time business grew, Gibson turned to some of the town\'s kids to help him with the cruder aspects of decoy making and one of the first he used was living carving legend Jim Pierce (b. 1934). Jim one was quoted as saying he was about 16 or 17 years old at the time and he helped Gibson retrieve the cedar logs and together they cut the large stock into lengths that were perfect for carving sets of gunning blocks. This joint endeavor for Gibson and Pierce was no passing fancy and Mr. Pierce ended up helping and carving along with Gibson for over 20 years. Also, over the years some relatives helped in Paul Gibson\'s shop and in later years eventual carvers Jimmy Frey and George Hendricks worked in the shop for Paul.
Above are Photos of Some of Paul\'s decoys from around 1950 and include a Pair of Gorgeous, Very Full-Bodied Pintails and One of His Trade-Marked preening or Sleeping Canvasbacks!!
He carved in the Havre de Grace style, but made the bodies and tails of his birds thicker than usual and gave them shorter necks. Paul\'s style was very consistent over the years and he was known to be somewhat of a generous man. There was a Doctor from Baltimore that lost his collection of Paul\'s decoys to a fire and asked Paul to carve him replacements. Mr. Gibson agreed to carve replacements but he refused to be reimbursed for them. Paul loved to hunt and shot in many locations around the Susquehanna Flats and even ventured up a few miles to hunt the Cecil County area. Around 1965 Paul Gibson lost the sight in his right eye due to acute glaucoma. But he was quick to remedy this development so he made a gun stock so that he could use it under his left eye from a right handed position.
Above is a Photo of Paul Gibson\'s Customized Shotgun to Compensate for His Lost Eye!!
Another 1950\'s Photo, Above is a Photo of Paul Gibson\'s Trade-Mark Preening Canada Goose Decoys!!
Gibson could carve any species, but was locally famous for his swans. He hired an assistant to help him finish and paint his decoys and repaired and painted others\' lures. Though he did not carve in quantity, Paul Gibson earned the reputation of quality decoy maker among the carvers of the Susquehanna Flats. Like everywhere else, during the mid-1950\'s the demand for wooden gunning decoys was beginning to decline, and at this time and during other slow periods Paul Gibson made some miniatures, decoratives and wall hangers of sorts.
Above are Photos of Some Paul Gibson Products from Slow Times and Includes Some of His Much Sought After and Very Scarce Miniatures!!
Paul Gibson made his last decoys around 1983 and in May of that year he was honored at the Havre de Grace Decoy Festival where he was made honorary chairman. Paul went into the hospital later that year and on January 24, 1984 Paul passed away in his beloved Havre de Grace. Mr. Paul Gibson\'s funeral was handled by his friend Madison Mitchell, and he was buried at the Angel Hill Cemetery overlooking his beloved waters of the Susquehanna Flats where he enjoyed countless outings hunting for waterfowl.
This awesome decoy up for sale is in excellent original condition as the day he carved it and is perfectly symmetrical from both painting and carving standpoints including the location of the painted on eyes and the carved in head/bill delineation. This truly is an awesome decoy and consistent with his long-standing reputation it is still as solid as the day it was made. This is quite a testament since I am sure it saw some heavy gunning action and survived in remarkable original condition. He clearly signed this decoy at a later date around 1980, as he wrote after his signature \"40 yrs old\". This decoy has awesome 100% Original Paint, and his paint jobs were so revered, when a decoy needed a sprucing up before the next gunning season they came right back to Paul to give his Picasso\'s a touch-up. Great 100% Original Paint on this beautiful Canvasback up for sale and the nice color on the paint job has a perfect and deftly applied \"daubed\" paint pattern in the tradition of the Havre de Grace style which is still carried on by other Excellent Carvers today like living legend Harry Jobes and his sons, as well as David Walker, Pat Vincenti and Bryan Bodt among a host of others. As you can see, there is perfect daubing to his paint and it is superbly present on the back feathers, wing feathers and speculums with the myriad of brush swaths that it took to create it. This outstanding and Paul Gibson Canvasback up for sale measures 16\" long x a very stable 6-1/4\" wide x 7-3/4\" tall and weighs a hefty 3-lbs. 3-ozs. The truly outstanding and vividly colored Hen Canvasback Rig-Mate to this Drake that is also on also measures 16\" long x 6-1/4\" wide x 7-1/4\" tall and weighs a rig-manageable and also fairly hefty 2-lbs. 11-ozs. That Makes for an awesome pair of Rig-Mate Canvasbacks that are almost the exact same size, which makes for an awesome pair of decoys that have been in the protection of climate controlled, light-free collections. A great addition to your collection of classic wood decoys and shorebirds from one of Havre de Grace\'s more famous and noteworthy master carvers. If you have any questions or would like any close-up pics of an area feel free to email me. Thanks for looking.
The first photo is of this Awesome Paul Gibson Drake Canvasback decoy up for sale. The Next 9 Photos are of this Drake and The Hen Rig-Mate Up for sale together in case you are looking for an Excellent Pair of Mr. Gibson\'s Stately Canvasback Decoys. The Next 11 Photos are Again of this Gibson Drake Can by Itself and the Last 3 Photos are of other Gibson IS ABOUT MADISON MITCHELL, A GOOD FRIEND AND CARVING CONTEMPORARY OF PAUL GIBSON\'S, AND PERHAPS THE MOST WELL KNOWN MAKER OF HAVRE DE GRACE STYLED GUNNING DECOYS THAT PAUL GIBSON\'S DECOYS SO WONDERFULLY EXHIBIT!!
Madison Mitchell was born in Oakington, Harford County and spent his entire life in or near Havre de Grace. Madison Mitchell began making decoys in 1924 when helping Sam Barnes finish out his orders for that year. He had made decoys ever since, in addition to his occupation as an undertaker. His decoys were completely hand chopped until 1931 when he had a duplicating lathe built and began turning his own bodies. A great amount of work still had to be done as the lathe, like a band saw to other carvers, simply forms the block of wood into its basic shape. His early output consisted of hand chopped decoys. It would take ten pages to describe the life and accomplishments of Mr. Mitchell, but a great reference that can give you all of the interesting details of his life and his transition from undertaker to decoy maker, is all in an article on the \"International Wildfowl Carvers Association\" website which has a reprinted 2007 article from Decoy Magazine written by the fascinating and knowledgeable Jim Trimble. Or you can just about pick up any book that features the Atlantic Flyway or Chesapeake Bay and Mr. Mitchell and his outstanding decoys will be given prominence within the pages. For a nice full-color assortment of photos of his later decoys and every species, The Hagan\'s book, \"Upper Chesapeake Bay Decoys and Their Makers\", is a great pictorial reference.
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