A SET OF FORTY MINIATURE DECOYS

A. ELMER CROWELL (1862-1952), EAST HARWICH, MASSACHUSETTS, SECOND QUARTER 20TH CENTURY

Details

A SET OF FORTY MINIATURE DECOYS
A. Elmer Crowell (1862-1952), East Harwich, Massachusetts, Second Quarter 20th century
Species identified in graphite on the underside of base: Hooded Merganser (male and female), Widgeon (male and female), Golden Eye (male and female), Shelldrake (male and female), Blue Bill (male and female), Goose-Ander, Goose, Piping Plover, Upland Plover, Ring-Neck Plover, Snow Plover, Golden Plover, Blue-winged Teal, Snipe, Robin Snipe, Black Breast, Yellow Leg, Turn Stone, Spotted Sandpiper, Curlew, Avocet, Bottle Head, Mallard (female), Green Teal (female), Sea Duck, Shovler Duck, Wood Duck, Black Duck, Red Head (two), Ring-Neck Pheasant, Golden Pheasant (bears round stamp A.E. Crowell), Scoter (bears round stamp A.E. Crowell), Brant (bears round stamp A.E. Crowell), Merganser (bears rectangular stamp A.E. Crowell/Maker/East Harwich, MASS)
Greatest height: 4 in. (Avocet), Greatest length: 6 in. (Brant) (40)

Lot Essay

"When laws were passed which outlawed market hunting and restricted the hunting of many species of ducks and most all shorebirds, many carvers stopped making hunting decoys and turned to other activities to supplant their livelihood. Ornamental carvings and miniatures found their way into the hands of tourists and collectors, and became the product of choice for many of the early decoy makers."
J. Engers, ed The Great Book of Wildfowl Decoys, San Diego, 1990.

Elmer Crowell (1862-1952) is the most well known and arguably the best decoy-maker of both the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. His decoys made prior to 1915 are not stamped; those with an oval brand are earlier than those marked with his rectangular brand.

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