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RARE 17\" AWESOME FORM c1890 JOHN J.R. WELLS Hollow 17-oz TORONTO Wood Duck Decoy a.imagelink {color:#000000;} a:hover.imagelink {color:#000000;} a:visited.imagelink {color:#00A8A8;} a.imagelink img.saleimage { border: 2px solid #000000; } a:visited.imagelink img.saleimage { border: 2px solid #00A8A8; }

JOHNRICE "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 OtherFamous 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, WereHenry Sampier (1856-1938), Along with Harsen’s Island locals, Charles and Fred Unger (1851-1925) andZeke 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 DocumentedSt. Clair FlatsDecoy 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; c1890JohnR. Wells(1861-1953) "EGG-SHELL HOLLOW (17-oz.)"BLACK DUCK WOOD DUCK DECOY;TORONTO, CANADA (Hunted St. Clair Flats of Michigan & Ontario, Canada -and- Long Point Bay on Lake Erie)

• AWESOME, EXTREMELY HOLLOW DECOY from ONE OF CANADA'S MOSTFAMOUS CARVERS!!
• OUTSTANDINGORIGINAL PAINTon the HEAD and a Mix of Original and In-Use Paint to the Body!
• PERFECT ANTIQUE,IMPORTED GERMAN BROWN GLASS EYES!!
• SUPERBOVERALL CONDITION -and- STRUCTURALLY MINT!!
• INCREDIBLE PAINT CRAZING TO THE ORIGINAL PAINT; See Close Up Photos of This Awesome Head!!

RIG MARKED: "LAWRENCE BOYCE" -or "LAWRENCE DOYCE"

• Easily One of the More Symmetrical and Finely Carved"JRW" Decoys You'll See Anytime Soon!
• In this Condition and thisJ. R. Wells Form & Style, Makes This a Hard-to-Find & VERY Early Michigan and Ontario "Flats" Region Decoy!!!

SHIPPING INCLUDES INSURANCE

This130+ yearold"Hollow" CedarBlack Duckwas carvedbyJohnR. "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 betweenOntario 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 havegunned 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 theGeorge (1830-1905) and James (1831-1884) Warin'sstyle. 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, yetsometimes 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 someof 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 wereinitialed and more decoys attributed to him have surfaced, it is difficult to estimate how many birds Wells produced. A rig of canvasbacks attributed toJohn Wellswas 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, JohnR. 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 JamesWarin influence, which is not unexpected asGeorge 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 betweenMichigan and Ontario.Much like this John Wells black duck decoy up for sale,these early pioneering decoys were created withan elegance that ranged from somewhat simple to finely detailed, and these ornate exteriors were just the final touch on a superbly formed decoy that was hollowed out in some cases to a fraction of an inch. This is wonderfully and clearly evident on this J. R. Wells Black Duck decoy up for sale, as it weighs a paltry 17 ounces -or- 1-lb. 1-oz.

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. Clairand 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 islandsin between the channelsare 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 4listed Canadian islandscomprise the Walpole IslandOntario Native American Reservation).

Of Michigan origin, the St. Clair Flats was also home toa group of other carversthat included Henry "Budgeon"Sampier, Zeke McDonald (1849-1938) of McDonald's Island, Fred Unger (1851-1925) of Harsen's Island andChris 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 theseimportant players in the area from hunting and decoycarvingstandpoints was Tom Chambers (1860-1948), who was well acquainted with and was anadversary at times of Chris Smith.Tom Chambershunted 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. Smithon at least one occasion threatened to let theprocess 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 ongoingtransference of style, form and construction between all of these men evolved into what is considered the early and atypical "Flats" decoy.

There is a distinctivelook to all ofJ. R. Well's9;ss decoys and all of hisbirds 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 theyare fully hollowed and have alarge screw holding the head from within. The oval bottom-boards are held in place by as many as20modestly sizedflathead nails and "leakers" arequite 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 andnarrow 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. Wellsspared 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 feather 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's9;sw gunning is over.Although this Black Duck up for salehas a paintpatternthat is somewhatsimple,the paint job isvery correct and it was beautifully applied. The brush-strokes onmany of his decoysare feathery awhile others show an innovative combing.The decoysthat have survived like thisBlack Duckup for sale is is no doubt due toWell's utility, high quality and most-likely careful use.Since a great many of Well's decoysdo nothave 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 greatJ. R. Wells Black Duckup 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. Wellswas also known forthe awesome consistency of his decoy as well as the outstanding quality and delicate beauty. This decoy up for sale is in excellentcondition and the seam where the bottom board was attached is still in excellent, entirelysealed condition that you could hunt over today and it wouldn't miss a beat. Like manyhollow decoy carvers around the country during the same time period, the bottom board was not only nailed and/or screwed on, but the joint was also fortified with a white lead/based, caulk/adhesive.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 thatsimply acts as a pedestal to showcase the head. The High Head on this decoy is stillas firmly attached as the day it was made with the quality, large screw that was used to hold it on from the inside of the decoy before the bottom board was attached. AnotherOntario feature on this decoy which is exemplary is the way the neck is perfectly flowing and carved in to thehigh, raised neck shelf. The decoy is carved and painted perfectly symmetrically as well as the mounting of the vintage German taxidermybrown glass eyes. Along withall of the other "Flats" carvers, Wellswas one ofthe flatsoldest documented decoy makers and clearly among the best and most visionary men, as well as one of themen that helped hold the bar up highfor aSt. Clair Flats hollow, bottom-board decoy. Thisawesome decoy measures asignificant 17" long x6-1/4" wide x 5-1/2" talland weighs arig-manageable, paltryand hollow1-lb. 1-oz. This commanding size and weightfor a hollow decoy enabled John Well's decoys 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 strikingoriginal paint on this decoy's headwas beautifully applied anddetailed wonderfully. The body itself is a mix of the thin original paint and an in-use repaint with rather crude feather detailing. Thepatina to this 130 year old oil-based marine paint on the head is truly outstanding with its beautiful burnished feathering. Considering the decoy only has 2 tiny shot holes and its perfect structural condition, it is clear thatWells not only made a decoy of uncompromising quality, but he and everyone that owned this decoy after him took very good care ofit 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 16 Photos in the Photo section of this listing are of this ExtraordinaryJ. R. Wells Black DuckDecoy up for sale.The Last 9 Photos are of other Awesome and Important Decoys also Carved by Wells!!.

TheFollowing photosare of other Flats decoys from both American side and the Canadian side. Someshow the subtleties of the decoys carvedon the American side and others with the clear influence of theToronto School of Carvers thatthat were made at or imported intothe St. Clair Flats. The similarities between the Michigan Flats carversand the Toronto School carversWas Clearly Nocoincidence considering theoverlap of the men and their hunting grounds:

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

Photo ofAmerican Zeke McDonald's Canvasback.Carved atroughly thesame 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 ThanthisJ.R. WellsBlack Duck Up For sale!!