Rare Antique, Richard Fresh Air Dick Janson (Drake & Hen Pintail Duck Decoys)
A Rare Pair of Drake & Hen Pintail Duck Decoy, carved by Richard Janson of. These decoys were identified by Butterfield & Butterfield (now Bonhams) of San Francisco in an estate sale and later donated to this ministry.
Although these decoys are in rough shape there are no repainting, touch-ups or repairs applied to them. They have only been dusted with a dry rag as they had simply been used for hunting and then stored in a basement for many years. In addition to general wear the hen has a cracked neckline and large chip on the top of her tail (see pictures). Richard Ludwig Fresh-Air Dick Jansonships carpenter, commercial fisherman, market hunter and the most prolific and influential of the early.In 1872, little is known of this colorful characters early life. Fresh-Air Dick Janson (FAD) lived on a floating ark at the mouth of Sonoma Creek where it enters the.
The earliest records document his commercial netting of striped bass on the adjacent bay. In the spring of each year FAD would join the Alaskan salmon fisheries fleet where he earned his sailors nickname by insisting to sleep on deck no matter what the weather. Janson used raw muscle power and primitive hand tools to fashion his decoys with redwood bodies and sugar pine heads. Most of FADs decoys were solid carved but hollow models utilizing precisely fitted chest plugs are not uncommon. The skeg (keel) design was generally implemented on his diver species. Variations in Jansons primary feather carving are known. In general, his early diver decoys (canvasback and bluebill) were fashioned with three carved primary feathers and his later models were carved with four. Smooth, featherless models are known. FAD carved high-necked models for use on the.The high-necked pintails are rare and only a few high-necked canvasbacks are known to exist. In place of a primer coat of paint, Janson soaked his blanks in linseed oil and finished them with a mix of white lead and oil-based colors. Pintails are the most common species found followed by mallards, canvasbacks, bluebills and green-winged teal.
Several brant are in collections today. Geese, cacklers and wigeon were made but none have been found. Janson's final product was a simple, graceful and solid design with an intrinsic aesthetic. His product was highly appreciated by sportsmen and the orders were certainly in the many hundreds, if not over a thousand.
The sports were not kind to Jansons weakness (alcohol and cigarettes). After World War II, FADs world began to crumble around himthe commercial fishing was waning, the vast numbers of ducks were in decline, the duck clubs were closing, the highways were widening and the plentiful and cheap plastic decoy substituted for the hand mad art form. His neglected ark sprung a leak and began to be reclaimed in the marsh mud. In 1951 the ark burned and Janson, with no place to go, spent his final years at the Oak Knoll Sanitarium in. Where he died in bed at the age of 79. The tragic life of this salty sailor is marked by the brilliance of his art. Today, Fresh-Air Dick Janson decoys are among the most prized by west coast collectors.REFRENCES Wildfowl Decoys of the Pacific Coast by Miller and Hanson, p. 142-152, The Great Book of Wildfowl Decoys by Joe Engers, p. 267-268, Decoy Magazine, Summer 1982, Vol. The item "Rare Antique, Richard Fresh Air Dick Janson (Drake & Hen Pintail Duck Decoys)" is in sale since Saturday, November 07, 2015.
This item is in the category "Sporting Goods\Hunting\Vintage Hunting\Duck Decoys". The seller is "4marksministry" and is located in Douglasville, Georgia. 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, ZA, 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, TR, BR, CL, CO, CR, DO, PA, TT, GT, SV, HN, JM.
- Country of Manufacture: United States