Early Factory Mason? Glass Eye Hen Mallard Duck Decoy 1900\'S Antique Bird
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Early Factory Mason? Glass Eye Hen Mallard Duck Decoy 1900\'S Antique Bird:
$41.99
MasonGlassEye Hen Mallard Duck Decoy
Description
A Number 1 Grade or Glass Eye grade Mason, this hen mallard was made by likely the most important and influential factory decoy company to ever exist. Mason decoys were sold in 5 distinct grade, No.3 or Paint Eye, No 2. or Tack Eye, No. 3 or Glass Eye, Challenge, and Premier grades in addition to a bunch of variations like Seneca Lake, etc. This particular decoy is an old working example of an early Mason factory decoy. Not perfect by any means, and very worn, but very pleasing and showcasing its many years of use and subsequent layers of dirt from being stored after it had been returned from the decoy rig. The decoy retains an old chain that was used as part of its anchor rigging and has a flat lead weight attached to its bottom to help it self-right in rough water. It is missing its eyes unfortunately, but that is an easy fix. While I am not an expert on factory birds by any means, I believe this is a Mason decoy, but it could also be another one of the early manufacturers that carved very similar birds, though I don\'t believer that to be the case.
Condition Report
In hunter\'s working paint, but verypleasing. Thepaint is very old and shows many layers of dirt, that I felt was best left un-cleaned as it adds to the patina. The paint is also cracked in a few years showing its age. It also has a slightly gilled age crack down the back, and the heavy was re-attached years ago and remains a little loose.
I have done my best to document this decoy through both the text above and the photographs. Please look over all the photos and if you have any questions or request any additional images, please just ask before offerding. I will do my best to accommodate any and all requests. The decoy you are seeing is the exact one you will be getting, therefore, there should be no surprises if you have taken the time to scroll through all the photos and read the text. While I do not generally take returns, I will accept a return if there is something blatant that I missed or failed to disclose. This doesn\'t happen often, in fact it never has to date, as I am generally diligent with my assessment of the decoy and provide detailed photographs, but something could get missed. I am human after all. Unless the decoy is listed in 100% original paint, expect some old hunter touch-up. Almost every single decoy I have for sale was in fact a working decoy part of a larger rig and subject to typical gunning wear including rubs that were typically touched-up between hunting seasons as a way to pass the time during the off-season. Some of these decoys are more than 100 years old and over the course of many hunting seasons it is bound to happen. Overall, I am easy to work with and more than willing to be helpful in any way possible.
Carver\'s Name/History
The Mason decoy factory has literally has hundred page books written about it, and it alone. While Mason may not be the earliest known decoy factory, it is undoubtedly one of the most notable and also the mostcollectible with prime Premier grade examples selling for many tens of thousands of dollars for mint models. While many glass eye examples remain, tack eye and paint eye models are often the most difficult to obtain, as they were \"low\" grade birds and not saved and coveted like the higher grade models. Here is the an excerpt from the Guyette and Deeter website about the Mason Decoy Factory:
\"An Irish immigrant who settled in Detroit, William J. Mason started making handmade decoys in the late 1880s. By 1896, Mason was working as a full time decoy maker in a shed behind his house. Mason combined the best qualities of the Peterson and Dodge decoys with his own personal observations of feather patterns. His early hand carved decoys with their snakey heads resembled Peterson\'s. In 1903, Mason began producing decoys on a lathe with high quality Michigan cedar properly cured and air dried so that the blocks would not split and the paint would not peel.
An assembly line operation involved a series of events. First, the cedar was cut to length with the bandsaw, after which bodies and heads were formed on a tracing lathe. Next, the heads were hand finished, attached to a dowel, and glued into the bodies. Then the decoys were finished and painted. The neck filler was put in, the decoy was painted with a mixture of linseed oil, turpentine and white lead by an apprentice painter, and finally a senior painter applied the final coats of paint. After Mason died in 1905, his son Herbert took over the business. By a combination of a great product, business acumen, and advertising, Herbert Mason made Mason\'s Decoy Factory into a phenomenon in the history of duck decoys.
Prior to William Mason\'s death, Mason\'s produced only the Challenge Grade and Premier Grade decoys. Herbert Mason expanded the product line to include lower priced Standard Grade models of three types: painted eye, tack eye, and glass eye. Thousands of the Standard Grade decoys were distributed to Sears and Roebuck and Von Lengercke & Antoine in Chicago, and Mason Decoys became a name product across North America.
- Premier Grade - two piece, hollow body, flat bottoms, glass eyes, swirl paint on breast, notch carved bill, carved nostrils, carved nail.
- Challenge - both one piece solid and two piece hollow bodies, flat bottoms, glass eyes, less elaborate paint on breast, no notch carved bill, lesser carved nostrils, painted black nail.
- Standard #1 or \"Detroit\"(glass eye) - smaller in stature, less carving, more paint detail, glass eyes.
- Standard #2 (tack eye) - smaller in stature, less carving, somewhat less paint detail, tack eyes.
- Standard #3 (painted eye) - smaller in stature, less carving, even less paint detail, painted eyes.
The business was so successful that Herbert Mason moved the factory to its final location near railway access in 1915. In 1919, Herbert Mason went into partnership in a paint business that became the largest supplier of paint for a growing automotive industry. By 1924, the seasonal nature of the decoy business versus his increasing interest in the paint business caused Herbert Mason to stop decoy production and close Mason Decoy Factory. The inventory not sold by department stores was given away, trashed, or burned.
Many Mason decoys are still in working condition. Their continuing popularity and durability is owed to the Mason carvers who took pride in their work and created the best product possible. There is nothing fancy about Mason decoys, but the shape of a head, arch of a neck or detailed bill carving keep these decoys from being ordinary. Earlier models have chubby faces, flat bottoms and a pronounced slope of the breast. On later models, the breast is less exaggerated and the decoys have an overall sleeker look. Over the years, the paint jobs done by hand remained consistently superior with blended colors under dotted, spattered, stippled and streaked designs.
In addition to the popular mallards, canvasbacks and scaup, Mason carvers produced old squaws, swans, white winged scoters, wood ducks, crows and doves. Mason Decoy Factory produced thousands of decoys during its operation until closing its doors in 1924.
The world sale record for the Mason Decoy Factory is a premier grade wood duck that Guyette & Deeter sold for $690,000 in 2014.\"
Shipping Information
Each decoy will be carefully packed to ensure no damage occurs in transit, under normal handling practices of course. I strive to ship all items within two business days, but sometimes life gets in the way and it may take an additional day to get the package shipped out to you. I don\'t want the decoy to arrive damaged and neither do you, so if I am short on packaging please understand that the third day, which occurs less than 2% of the time, is most likely due to having to purchase additional peanuts, bubble wrap, or a more adequately sized box. I will also gladly combine shipping typically for less than half of normal postage on the lowest priced shipping charge when two purchases are made, and shipped, at the same time. My shipping charges are as close to actual as I can adequately gauge. I don\'t like to use the shipping calculator as it is often incorrect. Be assured that I am not making money on shipping as supplies like tape, boxes, peanuts, and etc. all quickly add up. In fact, in most cases I am losing $ on shipping, but that is just part of the sellers experience. For international shipments buyers can use \'s Global Shipping Program or contact me for a quote. The choice is yours. In most cases I always ship USPS, but in certain scenarios where a package is heavy or being shipped to the west-coast, UPS may be used. All shipping charges are for the lower 48 states only, shipping to Hawaii or Alaska will incur additional charges.
Terms
Most of my decoys are for sale as a high-buyer gets it in a straight-laced no-reserve sale. I say most because as you see some decoys will have a modest/fair-market reserve. For the most part I am simply cleaning out my current collection and whittling it down to what I want to keep. Call it down-sizing if you will. So to that, I am not interested in taking a major hit and I am OK with keeping them for my own collection. I will also from time to time have a few fixed-price listing for items that I feel are better suited for potentially a singular buyer. I am easy to get along with. If a decoy doesn\'t meet reserve, let\'s talk. I am also always looking for select Ontario-carved decoys, so keep in touch.
*NOTE: As with most sporting collectibles, along with being a great addition to a game room or home decor, vintage decoys have shown to be a sound investment that seldom decrease in value. Each decoy is truly a One-Of-A-Kind item as no two hand-carved decoys are exactly alike and with so few available decoys from each carver, as time passes, they will surely only increase in value
*Be sure to add my to your favorite sellers/searches. I have many more decoys to add from all regions including the Chesapeake Bay, Ontario, Quebec, Michigan, New York, Illinois, the St. Lawrence River, region and the Maritimes in the coming days/weeks from various makers from Ben Schmidt to George Warin to Anger and will always hold shipments to combine shipping.
Early Factory Mason? Glass Eye Hen Mallard Duck Decoy 1900\'S Antique Bird:
$41.99