RARE, SUPERB 100% ORIG PAINT c1890 JOHN J.R. WELLS Black Duck TORONTO Wood Decoy

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RARE, SUPERB 100% ORIG PAINT c1890 JOHN J.R. WELLS Black Duck TORONTO Wood Decoy:
$370.99

BELOW is a PICTURE of this AWESOME J. R. WELLS BLACK DUCK Up For sale -with- AN ELAGANTLY FOLKY ROGER DOLSON Canvasback For SIZE COMPARISON!!

JOHN RICE \"JACK\" WELLS -or- JRW for J. R. Wells(1861-1953) Toronto, Canada (ST. CLAIR FLATS SHOOTING COMPANY; St. Clair Flats of Michigan & Canada)

John \"Jack\" Wells Hunted at The St. Clair Flats Shooting Company along with Other Famous Ontario Carvers Like Tom Chambers (1830-1905) and David Ward (1839-1912). These Were Some of the Earliest Flats Carvers and Were native to Toronto. At the Same Time in the Same Area, Some of Michigan\'s Earliest Documented Carvers Were Active. Another Equally Impress List, But of Michigan Origin, Were Henry Sampier (1856-1938), Along with Harsen’s Island locals, Charles and Fred Unger (1851-1925) and Zeke McDonald (1849-1938); Plus Chris Smith (1861-1937) of Algonac and Nate Quillen (1839-1908) of Pointe Mouille – All of these Men are among the Earliest Documented St. Clair Flats Decoy Makers.

Below Picture; All of the Great \"Flats\" Clubs Were Located Somewhere on This Map, Where the St. Clair River Ends, And The St. Clair Flats Begins!!)

(And All of the Men In The Above Paragraph, Hunted Somewhere on This Map!!)

SUPERB, 124+ YEAR OLD, EXCELLENT CONDITION; c1890 John R. Wells (1861-1953) \"SCRATCH PAINTED\", BLACK DUCK WOOD DUCK DECOY; TORONTO, CANADA (Hunted St. Clair Flats of Michigan & Ontario, Canada -and- Long Point Bay on Lake Erie)

AWESOME, PERFECTLY FORMED DECOY from ONE OF CANADA\'S MOST FAMOUS CARVERS!!
OUTSTANDING ORIGINAL PAINT on the HEAD and AWESOME SCRATCH PAINT to the BODY!!!
PERFECT ANTIQUE, IMPORTED GERMAN BROWN GLASS EYES!!
SUPERB OVERALL CONDITION -and- STRUCTURALLY MINT!!
INCREDIBLE PATINA TO THE 100% ORIGINAL PAINT; See Close Up Photos of This Awesome Head!!

PERFECT BILL AND HEAD LOOK LIKE THEY WERE CAST FROM A REAL DUCK!!!

Easily One of the More Symmetrical and Finely Carved \"JRW\" Decoys and Quite Scarce to Boot!!
In this Condition and this J. R. Wells Form & Style, Makes This a Hard-to-Find & VERY Early Michigan and Ontario \"Flats\" Region Decoy!!!

SHIPPING INCLUDES INSURANCE

This 124+ year old Solid Cedar Black Duck was carved by John R. \"Jack\" Wells (1861-1953), who grew up and lived primarily in Toronto, Canada, but spent a considerable amount of time duck hunting on the St. Clair Flats area of Lake St. Clair between Ontario on the Canadian side and Michigan on the U.S. side. More specifically, John Wells was most frequently found waterfowl hunting at the St. Clair Flats Shooting Company, alongside other noted Toronto hunter/carvers that routinely made the westward trek from Toronto to the Lake St. Clair Flats to hunt ducks and geese. However, when good gunning could be found closer to home, all of the famous Toronto gunners were more than happy to hunt Toronto Harbor, and at least on two separate occasions, J.R. Wells was known to have gunned the Long Point club on Lake Erie.

John Wells was a boat-builder by trade and spent forty years as the foreman for Ackroyd Boat Company in Toronto Harbor. He hunted on Long Point and the St. Clair Flats where he encountered the carving influence of the George (1830-1905) and James (1831-1884) Warin\'s style. Wells carved both hollow and solid decoys with heads attached to a raised neck seat extending from the chest. John Wells\' decoys were well-carved and often finished with flowing wing patterns and comb-painted bodies. Like this decoy up for sale, Well\'s Black ducks received further attention around the head, which Wells either finely detail painted or scratch-painted for a textured effect. John Wells wonderful solid and hollow decoys exhibit personally distinctive traits including extremely fine painted or scratch featheration, yet sometimes simpler paint styles and patterns can be found in examples of his work. In addition to black ducks like this beautiful decoy up for sale, Wells carved other species frequently hunted in the area: scaup, Canada geese, canvasbacks, mallards, pintails, redheads, shovelers and wigeon. Mostly personal use decoys, but also on some of his other decoys, he identified these decoys with a hot branded stamp that either had \"JRW\" or \"JRW Maker\". Because not all of Wells\' decoys were initialed and more decoys attributed to him have surfaced, it is difficult to estimate how many birds Wells produced. A rig of canvasbacks attributed to John Wells was discovered west of Lake Manitoba at the Oak Lake Club. Wells designed the rig to be divided according to the fall and spring seasons. For fall hunting, Wells intended the white-backed drakes to be used and for spring, hens matched with males in juvenile plumage. It is possible that like George Warin, Wells did some carving for royalty as well. In 1919, Edward, Prince of Wales traced his father\'s footsteps to Manitoba for a hunting expedition, and it is believed that he shot over decoys supplied by John Wells.

Overall, John R. Wells was an enthusiastic duck hunter, trap shooter and master craftsman. As previously noted, John or \"Jack\" as he was referred, worked 43 years as a boat builder for Aykroyd Brothers on the Toronto waterfront, where he eventually rose to the title of foreman of operations. John Well\'s decoys show a great and obvious George and James Warin influence, which is not unexpected as George Warin was a good friend and he managed the St. Clair Flats Shooting Company for 4 decades. As a matter of fact, the decoys that George and James Warin made as a sideline to boat building, set a true \"standard of excellence\" in the region, and their beautiful well hollowed would end up being copied by not only John Wells, but legions of men from Toronto and the immediate area all of the way to the St. Clair Flats area between Michigan and Ontario. Much like this John Wells black duck decoy up for sale, these early pioneering decoys were created with an elegance that ranged from somewhat simple to finely detailed, and these ornate exteriors were just the final touch on a superbly formed and crafted decoy. This is wonderfully and clearly evident on this J. R. Wells Black Duck decoy up for sale as it has an uninterrupted and beautiful flow that starts at the bill and after a quick serpentine around the neck it beautifully contours and culminates in a perfectly, understated tail with a slight upturn.

The St. Clair Flats was the gunning home away from home for J. R. Wells, Tom Chambers and other notable Toronto native hunters. Lake Huron funnels into Lake St. Clair and disperses into a 100,000 acre river delta known as the St. Clair Flats. The channels that cut through the islands and marshland that form the delta are from west to east; the North Channel, Middle, South, St. Clair (shipping channel) in the U.S. and the Bassett, Chemotogan, Johnston and Chenal Ecarte in Canada. Some of the islands in between the channels are Strawberry, Dickenson, McDonald\'s, Sear\'s, Harsen\'s in the U.S. and Bassett Island, Squirrel, Walpole and St. Anne\'s of Canada (all of the 4 listed Canadian islands comprise the Walpole Island Ontario Native American Reservation).

Of Michigan origin, the St. Clair Flats was also home to a group of other carvers that included Henry \"Budgeon\" Sampier, Zeke McDonald (1849-1938) of McDonald\'s Island, Fred Unger (1851-1925) of Harsen\'s Island and Chris Smith (1861-1937) of Algonac, Michigan. Smith\'s decoys were in most part dictated by the nature of the arduous way they hunted, but also were most likely influenced by other decoys being gunned over by hunt clubs and others at nearby hunting clubs and individuals. One of these important players in the area from hunting and decoy carving standpoints was Tom Chambers (1860-1948), who was well acquainted with and was an adversary at times of Chris Smith. Tom Chambers hunted the St. Clair Flats simply a mile or two directly across the river from the home of Chris Smith and there were many gun clubs operating nearby in the St. Clair Flats on both the American and Canadian sides and Smith was even documented as having run ins with the St. Clair Shooting Company founder, member and famous carver in his own right, Tom Chambers. On a few occasions Smith and Chambers disputed the boundaries that the shooting club enforced as well as Canadian game law. Smith on at least one occasion threatened to let the process carry through in the Canadian courts to settle the issues. Phineas Reeves, of English immigrant lineage, supplied hollow, bottom-board decoys for Lake Erie’s Long Point Club (established in 1866) and the nearby St. Clair Flats Shooting Company or Canada Club (established in 1874). The Canada Club was just a short distance across the St. Clair River from Harsen’s Island in the central part of the St. Clair Flats. All of these men helped establish the “Flats” style of decoy and although it will never be proved who was the originator, it is more likely that an ongoing transference of style, form and construction between all of these men evolved into what is considered the early and atypical \"Flats\" decoy.

There is a distinctive look to all of J. R. Well\'s decoys and all of his birds are consistent, flowing, smooth, balanced, very well constructed and the overall look is of a beautifully crafted decoy that realistically imitates a live bird in form and appearance. Considering the construction, Well\'s decoys are quite sophisticated as some are fully hollowed and have a large screw holding the head from within. The oval bottom-boards are held in place by as many as 20 modestly sized flathead nails and \"leakers\" are quite Rare. On his raised head decoys, the neck shelf is very highly raised to receive a beautifully carved head with a carefully detailed bill that features exquisitely carved head/bill separation, a tall and narrow bill base, and a V-shaped chin, that wonderfully contours into a well-rounded and somewhat thin bill end that has its nail formed from grooves on the underside of the bill. The glass eyes are first class taxidermy products, likely from Germany and J. R. Wells spared no expense in an effort to create superb decoys that would last for well over the next century. Most of the heads are perfectly intact as these light weight decoys did not severely stretch the limits of these often \"pencil sized\" necks. This is quite the opposite to the upper Chesapeake Bay decoys made around the same time, as those decoys routinely show neck damage as those very heavy decoys put considerable amount of stress on the neck after years of being jerked up out of the water after a day\'s gunning is over. Although this Black Duck up for sale has a paint pattern that is somewhat simple, the paint job is very correct and it was beautifully applied. The brush-strokes on many of his decoys are feathery awhile others show an innovative combing or scratch-style. The decoys that have survived like this Black Duck up for sale is is no doubt due to Well\'s utility, high quality and most-likely careful use. Since a great many of Well\'s decoys do not have shot in them, it indicates a high level of pride in the art form and sportsmanship in hunting over the rig.

All In all this great J. R. Wells Black Duck up for sale has great form and encompasses all of the great characteristics of the earliest and quite possibly most functional and aesthetic decoys to be made for use on the St. Clair Flats and Toronto harbor. J. R. Wells was also known for the awesome consistency of his decoy as well as the outstanding quality and delicate beauty. This decoy up for sale is in excellent 100% Original condition and it is outstanding structural condition as the head is as firmly attached today as it was the day that it was made. This great bird is also as solid as the day it was made and has a great, up-swept and tiny tail and astoundingly detailed head/bill separation and Well\'s Outstanding Head and neck that are carved in beautifully and attached on the top of a very high neck shelf that simply acts as a pedestal to showcase the head. The High Head on this decoy is still as firmly attached as the day it was made with the quality, large screw that was used to hold it on from the bottom of the decoy into a recessed hole that was covered after the screw was glued and tightened and the hole sealed with a pounded in hand made dowel end. It is exemplary the way the neck is perfectly flowing and carved in to the high, raised neck shelf. The decoy is carved and painted perfectly symmetrically as well as the mounting of the vintage German taxidermy brown glass eyes. Along with all of the other \"Flats\" carvers, Wells was one of the flats oldest documented decoy makers and clearly among the best and most visionary men, as well as one of the men that helped hold the bar up high for a St. Clair Flats\' atypical best of decoys. This awesome decoy measures a significant 16-1/4\" long x 6-3/8\" wide x 5-1/2\" tall and weighs a rig-manageable yet sturdy 1-lb. 10-oz. This commanding sized and styled type of John Well\'s decoy enabled it to ride high and be seen from a distance, whether it be Toronto harbor, the St. Clair Flats and/or Long Point Bay on Lake Erie. The outstanding and striking original paint on this decoy\'s head was beautifully applied and detailed wonderfully and this decoy is in wonderful condition, and even the small and scattered shot marks validate its existence and use as one of the most realistic and effective duck decoys in its entire region and era. The patina to this 124 year old oil-based marine paint on the head is truly outstanding with its beautiful burnished feathering to the head and the body. Considering the decoy only has a few hard to see surface check on the front of the breast from age, along with its perfect structural condition, it is clear that Wells not only made a decoy of uncompromising quality, but he and everyone that owned this decoy after him took very good care of it and probably was an excellent wing shot. If you have any questions or would like a close-up of an area feel free to email me. Thank you for looking

The first 18 Photos in the Photo section of this listing are of this Extraordinary J. R. Wells Black Duck Decoy up for sale. The Next Photo is of This Awesome Wells Black Duck Along with a Roger Dolson Canvasback So You Can Make a Good Size Comparison!! The Next 3 Photos are of Another Very Nice Wells Black Duck and The Last 2 Photos are of Other Well\'s Puddle FOLLOWING PHOTOS ARE OF OTHER BEAUTIFUL AND ELEGANTLY FORMED J. R. WELLS DUCK photos are of other Flats decoys from both American side and the Canadian side. Some show the subtleties of the decoys carved on the American side and others with the clear influence of the Toronto School of Carvers that that were made at or imported into the St. Clair Flats. The similarities between the Michigan Flats carvers and the Toronto School carvers Was Clearly No coincidence considering the overlap of the men and their hunting grounds:

Photos Above are of a John Wells Redhead and also a John Wells Canvasback!!

Photo of American Zeke McDonald\'s Canvasback. Carved at roughly the same time as this John Rice Wells Black Duck up for sale!!

Another Photo of Hunter and Carver Tom Chamber\'s Canvasback. Carved at roughly the same time or earlier than this J. R. Wells !Black Duck up for sale!!!

Photo of Tom Chambers Canvasback. Carved at roughly the same time or earlier Than this J.R. Wells Black Duck Up For sale!!