NICE 100% ORIG. PAINT SCARCE EARLY c1900 MASON FACTORY REDHEAD Wood DUCK DECOY
100% ORIGINAL PAINT with Some Original Brush Marks! Well Worn Original Paint, Large Chip at Base of Neck , a Tail Chip and Patch of the Original White Lead Filler Missing from Bottom! Vintage "Just After" The Turn-of-the-Century, Tack Eye Standard Grade Drake Redhead!!
PAINT SCARCE EARLY c1900 MASON FACTORY REDHEAD Wood DUCK DECOY. 100% ORIGINAL PAINT, GOOD CONDITION!! Early; c1900 "MASON FACTORY" Standard Grade "Tack Eye". STRUCTURALLY VERY NICE & SOLID! If You Like Very Old Decoys that Were Heavily Gunned Over and Show It, but Stood the Test of Time & Could Be Hunted Over Today Here is a Great Decoy for your Collection! 117+ YEAR OLD DECOY with a NICE, BURNISHED, OLD PATINA! SOME of the ORIGINAL BRUSH MARKS are VISIBLE! ORIGINAL TACK EYES PERFECTLY INTACT!! Nice Decoy To Find; A Very Early Mason Redhead! It's Not Often You Come Across TACK-EYED ORIGINAL PAINT MASON DECOYS. THAT EVEN GOES FOR 112-YEAR OLD REDHEADS! HEAVY WEAR to the 100% ORIGINAL PAINT, CHIP at BASE of NECK, SMALL TAIL CHIP & ORIGINAL WHITE LEAD from the FACTORY MISSING on BOTTOM! TACK EYE DECOYS STANDARD GRADE were the MIDDLE GRADE of the STANDARD GRADE MODELS! SCARCE, TURN OF THE CENTURY (Well Over a Century Old), EARLY MASON REDHEAD! This 117+ year old decoy was made by the Mason Decoy Factory in Detroit, Michigan and is a Tack Eye, Standard Grade Drake Redhead Duck Decoy.This Tack eye model was their Middle-of-the-Line Model of the standard grade wood decoy series, one above the the paint eye and one below the glass eye Model! The painted eye was the entry model of wood decoy but the was the version that was made in the fewest numbers. The painted eye standard grade decoys were the quickest made with the least amount of attention to detail of all of the Mason decoys. They were quickly painted and carved and normally they were made with no frills or detail and simply made to resemble the species.
The heads were attached to the bodies with scored dowels and the quality control on standard models where the attachment wasn't flush was simply hid with a quick swath of white lead putty to fill and then evened flush with a finger. Like all Mason's, and especially on Standard Grade decoys, imperfections to the body were also filled with white lead. This decoy's head is as firmly attached as if made yesterday but it has a medium sized chip out of the base of the neck as you can see in the photos. This indicates that it probably came of at some point in time and was reset.Carved solid and hand-made and hand-painted just before and not long after the turn of the century. Of the several wood decoy factories in Detroit, Mason would outlive them all and have a 30 year existence. This decoy is structurally in good original condition and as you can see this decoy retains some of the awesome brush marks from the day an artist painted it some 112 years ago.
The Original Tack Eyes are nicely carved in and the paint on the grey bill and burgundy head looks very nice, although like the body it is well worn; but if anything it adds to the antique aura and appearance of this 117-Year old hunting decoy. Many Mason Decoys typically have had some type of loss to the original neck putty, which is quite normal as a great many of the vintage Mason decoys that you see have had some type of restoration or replacement done to their neck putty. This decoy is as solid as the day it was made with no play to the neck and head joint and the original paint is evenly worn with no fading or darkening from age and 100% Original!! Additionally, this decoy is in good original condition with mostly intact 100% original paint as you can see in the pictures; plus overall it is very dry and nice old and original paint with a beautiful and naturally burnished semi-sheen or slightly shiny matte finish to it from being handled over the years. The excellent patina on this decoy really is handsome although it is very hard to capture it in photos.
I think a few of the pictures capture the wonderful "character" that the surface of this antique and important old gunning decoy has. This decoy was obviously gunned over a century ago, but it has great character for an old gunning bird from over 117 years ago. The original paint was done nicely for a tack-eyed model and as you can see by the many photos, some of the famous Mason Paint Brush Marks are intact although well worn.This decoy is in 100% original condition, but to its credit it has no shot marks!! This antique decoy measures 13-3/4" long x 5-1/2" wide x 6-1/4 tall and weighs 1-lb.
A Nice decoy that will complement any collection of vintage duck and shorebird decoys from a company that represents as big a part of American Decoy History as any other maker or carver. IN THE PHOTO SECTION THAT BEGINS THIS LISTING THE FOLLOWING IS A DESCRIPTION OF THOSE PHOTOGRAPHS.Get Images that Make Supersized Seem Small. Auctiva's Listing Templates improve your auctions in minutes. Attention Sellers - Get Templates Image Hosting, Scheduling at Auctiva.
The item "NICE 100% ORIG. PAINT SCARCE EARLY c1900 MASON FACTORY REDHEAD Wood DUCK DECOY" is in sale since Tuesday, March 07, 2017. This item is in the category "Sporting Goods\Hunting\Vintage Hunting\Duck Decoys". The seller is "gjoldan" and is located in Romeo, Michigan.
This item can be shipped worldwide.