Vintage Oversized Illinois River Mallard Duck Decoy Pair By Tube Dawson
Vintage Oversized Illinois River Mallard Duck Decoy Pair. They are 18 in length and 7 wide. They are hollow decoys in strong original paint with very light gunning wear.
The drake has a bill chip that has been re-attached and the hen has a professional repair to the tip of the bill. There is also a tight hairline crack in the neck of the hen.
The original keel weights and line ties have been removed. Walter Dawson was one of Illinois most famous and prolific carvers. At seventeen, he began carving decoys - an interest he was to pursue for the next fifty years. During this time, in addition to his professional work as a carpenter and house builder, he made wooden decoys, duck calls, single-bowed fishing boats and several double-bowed duck boats. Dawson learned the carpentry trade from his father, but his first love was hunting.
Beginning in 1905, he shot for the market in the fall, winter and spring until market hunting was outlawed in 1918. He constructed the hollow-bodied decoys, mostly mallards and pintails, from red cedar or white pine in either two or three sections. The bodies were held on a carving horse he devised and then roughed out the blocks with a drawknife. He hollowed out the interiors and smoothed. Them on a homemade belt sander.
He rough-sawed the heads with a band saw and finished them by hand with a pocketknife. For additonal information, please see "DECOYS and DECOY CARVERS of ILLINOIS" by Parmalee & Loomis, published by Northern Illinois University Press in 1969. This is classic Illinois River decoy pair for your collection. It is a great investment grade pair of decoys that is sure to appreciate in value.
The item "Vintage Oversized Illinois River Mallard Duck Decoy Pair By Tube Dawson" is in sale since Friday, February 19, 2016. This item is in the category "Sporting Goods\Hunting\Decoys". The seller is "decoyss" and is located in Lemont, Illinois. This item can be shipped to United States, to Canada, to United Kingdom, DK, RO, SK, BG, CZ, FI, HU, LV, LT, MT, EE, to Australia, GR, PT, CY, SI, to Japan, to China, SE, KR, ID, to Taiwan, TH, to Belgium, to France, to Hong Kong, to Ireland, to Netherlands, PL, to Spain, to Italy, to Germany, to Austria, RU, IL, to Mexico, to New Zealand, SG, to Switzerland, NO, SA, UA, AE, QA, KW, BH, HR, MY, CL, CO, CR, DO, PA, TT, GT, SV, HN, JM.- Type: Decoy
- Game Type: Duck