Exceptional Ben Schmidt Michigan Drake Bluebill Duck Decoy Original Paint
Well-Formed Ben Schmidt Drake Bluebill Duck Decoy, Must See. When it comes to Michigan decoys, those carved by Ben Schmidt are near the top. Second only to the likes of Ferdinand Bach or Nate Quillen, Ben Schmidt and his decoys started a whole school of carver's that utilized hist style for their own fakes. Carvers like the Snow family, his brother Frank, and others have all taken style points from Ben's work to create decoys in his style.
Ben carved decoys in many different species including everything from teal to king eider, and while those decoys themselves are pieces of art, his working birds are some of his best creations. This particular working bluebill decoy is a great example of his work complete with great lines, an exceptionally formed head, great paint, and rugged style. This bird has that desirable Schmidt look of a content bird on the water, likely as close to the real thing that a wooden fake can get. It is branded multiple times in the bottom FB. In nearly all original paint except for the bottom. Keel is also an old replacement. Head has a very thin and old coat of varnish. I have done my best to document this decoy through both the text above and the photographs. I will do my best to accommodate any and all requests. The decoy you are seeing is the exact one you will be getting, therefore, there should be no surprises if you have taken the time to scroll through all the photos and read the text. Unless the decoy is listed in 100% original paint, expect some old hunter touch-up. Almost every single decoy I have for sale was in fact a working decoy part of a larger rig and subject to typical gunning wear including rubs that were typically touched-up between hunting seasons as a way to pass the time during the off-season.Some of these decoys are more than 100 years old and over the course of many hunting seasons it is bound to happen. Ben Schmidt carved his first decoys in 1914 when he needed a rig for hunting and ended up becoming one of the best-known carvers in Michigan (Engers 215).
His life-like style is atypical of the area, but other carvers have adopted and copied it since it was originated. With a band saw borrowed from a friend, presumably Ralph Johnston. Schmidt roughed out the decoy's shape and further refined the piece with a hand axe, lather's hatchet, spokeshave, plane and rasp. All of Schmidt's hollow decoys have been drilled out from the bottom and some have attached bottom boards. He relief-carved the wing tips and tail feathers, but for the other feathers, Schmidt took a rather unique approach. Using tools that he made himself, he impressed feather outlines by tapping these metal tools with a hammer. In this manner, Schmidt textured the surface of the bird with feathers of different sizes. Schmidt made thousands of decoys for his own use and for sale and supplied Detroit hunters for years. During the period of greatest productivity, Ben and his older brother Frank Schmidt. Worked together and made decoys displaying their combined talents. Between the two of them, they produced a decoy for every duck and goose species hunted in the Midwest. As the years passed, Ben worked by himself and specialized in special-order decoratives, miniatures and third-sized carvings. I say most because as you see some decoys will have a modest/fair-market reserve. Call it down-sizing if you will. If a decoy doesn't meet reserve, let's talk. NOTE: As with most sporting collectibles, along with being a great addition to a game room or home decor, vintage decoys have shown to be a sound investment that seldom decrease in value. Each decoy is truly a One-Of-A-Kind item as no two hand-carved decoys are exactly alike and with so few available decoys from each carver, as time passes, they will surely only increase in value. Be sure to add my to your favorite sellers/searches. I have many more decoys to add from all regions including the Chesapeake Bay, Ontario, Quebec, Michigan, New York, Illinois, the St. The item "Exceptional Ben Schmidt Michigan Drake Bluebill Duck Decoy Original Paint" is in sale since Tuesday, August 08, 2017. This item is in the category "Sporting Goods\Hunting\Vintage Hunting\Duck Decoys".The seller is "dckhuntr" and is located in Butler, Pennsylvania. This item can be shipped to United States, Canada.