Duck Decoy LT Ward & Bro. Signed and Dated
This is a rare find... Duck Decoy in excellent condition. Signed and dated - making it a very valuable collectible. This decoy, along with another we have listed, was part of an estate from Phoenix. A little history on the artists. As wildfowl carvers, Steve W. Ward turned folk art into fine art and contributed greatly to the heritage of the Eastern Shore of the majestic Chesapeake Bay.
Born with a withered arm and a deformed hand, Lemuel was not fit for the rigorous life of a waterman. While working as a barber, Lem took up whittling to pass the time, as did his brother Steve, and both men made decoys and displayed them in their shops. Steve's special talent was carving and Lem's was painting. Joining together as a team, and forming a business they called L. By the mid-1940s, many of the decoys they were then making would never be piled into the bow of a skiff or tossed overboard as they had in the past, but were destined instead to become mantelpiece birds -- exquisite pieces of folk art.
Lem Ward died in 1984 at 87 years old. It has been estimated that between 27,000 and 50,000 decoys -- working, decorative and ornamental -- with the actual number falling somewhere in between -- were made by the Wards.
Their lifelong work has inspired the creation of the Ward Museum of Wildfowl Art located in Salisbury, Maryland, founded by Charles Bound, long-time friend of Lem Ward. The item "Duck Decoy LT Ward & Bro. Signed and Dated" is in sale since Monday, February 06, 2017.
This item is in the category "Sporting Goods\Hunting\Vintage Hunting\Duck Decoys". The seller is "jjack498" and is located in Prosperity, South Carolina. This item can be shipped to United States.