NEW JERSEY, 1875-1900

Details

UNUSUAL PAIR OF HOLLOW RED-BREASTED MERGANSERS
NEW JERSEY, 1875-1900
with rectangular recessed ballast weights in the manner of Harry Shourds
Mackey Collection stamped on underside
14 in. long (hen); 14 ½ in. long (drake)

Provenance

William J. Mackey, Jr., Belford, New Jersey
Sold, Richard A. Bourne, Hyannis, Massachusetts, 17 July 1973, lot 445 (see Decoy Index for original cataloguing)

Literature

Q. Colio, American Decoys, Ephrata, Pennsylvania, 1972, p. 21.
J. Barnitz et al., The David and Peggy Rockefeller Collection: Art of the Western Hemisphere, New York, 1988, vol. II, p. 296, no. 184 (illustrated in color, p. 297).

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Lot Essay

While the carver of this unique pair of decoys remains a mystery, these mergansers, with their symmetrical crests and geometric painted patterns, are truly a work of art. This pair lived in a place of honor on the Rockefellers' dining room sideboard in their Ringing Point home. Carver, collector and advisor Donal C. O'Brien, Jr. felt that these mergansers were "the best of DR's decoys" (email dated 6 October 2010).

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