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RARE SPECIES & RARE SLOPE-BREAST c1897 MASON FACTORY \"MERGANSER\" 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; }

RARE SPECIES and RARE, PRE-20th CENTURY STYLE & FORM!!!   Very Early; c1897 \"MASON FACTORY\" Standard Grade \"Tack Eye\" ;   \"DRAKE American Merganser\"  WOOD DUCK DECOY  Detroit, Michigan

MANY OF THE ORIGINAL MASON BRUSH SWIRLS! 

• EXCELLENT OLD PATINA TO ENTIRE DECOY!!
• MANY OF THE BEAUTIFUL & ORIGINAL BRUSH MARKS & PAINT SWIRLS MAKE THIS A NICE DECOY TO FIND!!
• EXCELLENT 100% ORIGINAL PAINT TO THE HEAD & BILL!!!
• Excellent Decoy To Find; A Very Early Mason Drake American Merganser!!

It\'s Not Often You Come Across Superb 115+ YEAR OLD MASON GUNNING DECOY with IT\'S ORIGINAL RIGGING PERFECTLY INTACT;  THE BILL PAINT is INCREDIBLE & EXCELLENT, PERFECTLY INTACT ORIGINAL TACK EYES!!

SUPERB OLD & ORIGINAL \"EAST COAST STYLE\" LEAD, \"PAD-STYLE\" WEIGHT..HELD ON with 12-ANTIQUE COPPER NAILS!!

• TACK EYE DECOYS in STANDARD GRADE WERE THE MIDDLE GRADE OF THE STANDARD MODELS, and POSSIBLY ONLY ONE of TWO GRADES That Were MADE DURING This TIME PERIOD!!

 

• BEAUTIFUL AND SCARCE, BEFORE THE TURN OF THE CENTURY, EARLY MASON AMERICAN MERGANSER!!

This Decoy Also Has Many of the Great Paint Brush Swirls From The Thick, Original Paint!!!

• AWESOME, SCARCE \"SLOPE-BREASTED\" STYLE and FORM!!

OUTSTANDING ORIGINAL BILL PAINT!!!!

MUCH of the ORIGINAL BRUSH SWIRLING ON THE FRONT OF THE BREAST AND THE SIDES!!!!

SHIPPING INCLUDES INSURANCE

This 117+ year old decoy was made by the Mason Decoy Factory in Detroit, Michigan and is a Very Early, Pre-20th Century, Tack-Eye, Standard Grade Drake American Merganser Duck Decoy.  The Tack-eye model was their Middle Entrant in the company\'s Introductory Model of the Standard Grade wood decoy, one below the paint eye and one above the Painted Eye Model!  Although, on these Pre-20th Century decoys it is unclear how many of each of the 3 models they made and when.  The painted eye was the entry model of wood decoy but this was the version that was made in the fewest numbers.  The painted eye standard grade decoys were the quickest made with the least amount of attention to detail of all of the Mason decoys.  They were quickly painted and carved and normally they were made with no frills or detail and simply made to resemble the species.  This decoy up for sale, however, is a very early and very scarce Tack Eye Model and it is Quite Striking!  These Tack Eye Models, and like this one up for sale, were often afforded many of the feather detail paint that was most and more often reserved for the Glass Eye Model.  The heads were attached to the bodies with scored dowels and the quality control on standard models where the attachment wasn\'t flush was simply hid with a quick swath of putty to fill and then evened flush.  Oddly Enough, this Excellent Decoy up for sale retains its original neck putty and it is nice to see, even with the typical shrink checking to it.  These Early, Slope-Breasted Style Standard decoys were carved solid and hand-made and hand-painted not long before the turn of the century.  Of the several wood decoy factories in Detroit, Mason would outlive them all and have a 30 year existence.  This decoy is structurally in outstanding original condition and as you can see this decoy retains many of the awesome brush marks and paint swirls from the day an artist painted it some 117 years ago; and Even the Areas where the gunning paint was cleanly and clearly touched-up so many years ago, But it actually Looks Great as Well!! 

This decoy displays wonderfully and based on condition, I am sure that this decoy was prominently featured in a collection and it has always been in collections that were Temperature-Controlled settings.  The Beautiful, Original Tack Eyes are nicely carved in and the paint on the orange bill and green head looks awesome, although there is rubbing around the right eye, but if anything it adds to the antique appearance of this 117-Year old hunting decoy.  Many Mason Decoys typically have had some type of loss to the original neck putty, which is quite normal as a great many of the vintage Mason decoys that you see have had some type of restoration or replacement done to their neck putty.  This decoy is as solid as the day it was made with no looseness in the neck whatsoever and the deep and vivid original paint is excellent although it is darkened a bit from age; but I personally think it adds to the look of this antique decoy.  Additionally, this decoy is in outstanding original condition with much of the beautiful and fully intact original paint as you can see in the pictures, and overall it is very dry and nice old and original and areas of gunning repaint with a beautiful and naturally burnished semi-sheen or slightly shiny matte finish to it from being handled over the years.  The outstanding patina on this decoy really is incredible and although it is very hard to capture it in photos, I think a few of the close-up pictures capture the wonderful \"character\" that the surface that this antique and important old gunning decoy has.  This decoy was obviously gunned over a century ago, but it looks awesome for an old gunning bird from over a century ago.  The original paint and even the old, in-use touch-up was done extremely well and as you can see by the many photos, many of the famous Mason Paint Brush Marks are intact and have much all of the bright and vivid original paint perfectly intact, especially to the Bill, Head, Front of the Breast and Sides.  But even more awesome is the covert feather paint and the paint on the Bill is Outstanding, Thick and Swirled from the Original Brush Strokes!!  This decoy is in excellent condition and the Original Lead Pad Weight on the Bottom Looks Awesome and the Original Antique Copper Nails are Rubbed and Polished Shiny!!   This excellent and significant decoy measures 16-1/8\" long x 4-7/8\" wide x 6-3/4\" tall and weighs 2-lb. 6-ozs.  An outstanding decoy that will complement any collection of vintage duck and shorebird decoys from a company that represents as big a part of American Decoy History as any other maker or carver.  Thanks for looking and if you have any additional questions or would like another photo feel free to email me.

The first 10 Photos are of this awesome Mason Drake American Merganser decoy up for sale and the Last 5 photos of other standard grade Mason American Merganser Decoys for your perusal including other Tack Eye Models along with Glass Eyed Models!!

I COMBINE ALL SHIPPING!!