I am not a great expert on decoys, but I look at them a lot, and wait for one to strike me--as especially beautiful and elegant, or awkward or empathetic! I'm more interested in the stoic than the fancy, and this black duck won me for the sensitively carved shape of its head and body, and for the old green paint on its bill, and for being super heavy and substantial, and for the fact that from one side especially it appears to have double eyes--one orange glass, the other a painted yellow ring. If one looks on the underside at a certain angle you can see that the name of its maker was carved into it, but it is impossible to read now. It definitely worked, with the black paint worn off the well worn edges of its tail, where there is a bit of wood loss too. It is weighted underneath at both the front, whether there is a loop for tethering it, and at the center, with the weights laid into carved recesses in the body. Very early 20th century I would guess.
14 1/4" l x 7 5/8" t x 7 1/2" w, very sturdy and sound.
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