GREAT ORIG PAINT 1928 EVANS FACTORY Standard Grade SCAUP Wood Duck Decoy STAMPED For Sale

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AWESOME CONDITION, AWESOME PAINT; c1928"Evans Decoy Factory"; "Standard Grade" HEN BLUEBILL or SCAUP; WOOD DUCK DECOY; (Ladysmith, Wisconsin)

Strong Ink on the Original Factory Evans Rubber Stamp on Bottom!

• AWESOME and Perfectly Intact ORIGINAL PAINT!
• OUTSTANDING PATINA TO THIS OLD 100% ORIGINAL PAINT!!

Very Nice "Almond" Shaped medium Grey Speculums -and- Perfectly Carved In &Mounted Yellow Glass Eyes!!!

SHIPPING INCLUDES INSURANCE

Walter Evans began the Evans Decoy Company in Ladysmith, Wisconsinin 1921. He continued a very vibrant business until his health caused him to cease operations. He offered decoys in three grades....Mammoth, Standard and Competitive. The Competitive model had a rough finish, while the other two versions were sanded smooth and painted with more detail. The bodies were turned on a lathe with the Competitive version not getting any finish sanding. Evans offered both solid and hollow versions on the Mammoth and Standard decoys. The Mammoth bodies were cut in half, hollowed and glued back together. The other method which is often seen on the Standard model, was to drill a 1 1/4" hole through the front of the breast into the body and then plug the hole with a round circle-drilled plug made with a hole saw blade. This was a convenient way to lessen the weight of the decoy at a minimal cost. Many, but not all of the decoys carry a rubber stamp impression of "Evans Decoy" on the bottom. These decoys are very popular and becoming rare to find at garage sales and sales throughout the country.

This 83+ year oldWonderfully-formed, Solid-Bodied, Standard GradeHen Bluebill or ScaupDuck Decoywas made by theEvans Decoy Factory inLadysmith, Wisconsin. Ladysmith is a city and the county seat of Rusk County, Wisconsin and thepopulation was 3,414 at the 2010 census. It is located 100 miles ENE of the Twin Cities, Minneapolis/St. Paul. The city was founded at the intersection of the Minneapolis, St. Paul and Sault Ste. Marie Railroad (SooLine) with the Flambeau River in 1885, as "Flambeau Falls" after the Ojibwa name for the area Gakaabikijiwanan ("of cliffed rapids"). Robert Corbett, a logging and lumbering entrepreneur, held the dominant influence on city in its early years, first renamed as "Corbett", then to "Warner" in 1891, and then to the present name on July1, 1900, after the bride of Charles R. Smith, head of the Menasha Wooden Ware Co.

Although the Evans Decoy Company of Ladysmith, Wisconsin meets four of the five criteria by which Ken Thayer defines a decoy factory in North American Factory Decoys, the business probably resembled a cottage carving operation with lathes. For such a small operation, the Evans Decoy Company produced some of the most highly collectible and beautifully-painted decoys in the history of North American factories. Evans collectors must cringe when they read the way in which their decoys were denigrated by decoy maven William J. Mackey Jr., who expounded that "Evans decoys are bulky and undistinguished in style and conformation. Somehow an Evans reminds one of a Mason decoy that failed to pass inspection." Clearly, Mr. Mackey's knowledge of Evans decoys was limited (andmany wonder whether this remark held down the prices of Evans decoys at sale until relatively recently). Evans decoys are beautiful examples of Wisconsin carvings, and they were made to endure the harsh conditions in areas where they were sold and used. The Evans Decoy Company produced decoys of three general grades (mammoth, standard, and competitive). In both the mammoth and standard grades, hollow (drilled from the front, with the hole replaced by a solid plug) and solid models were available. A 2-3/4 inch drill bit was used to drill out a mammoth-sized decoy from the breast, and a smaller bit (1-1/4inch) was used to hollow smaller birds. These are now called the "front-hollow" decoys.

In addition,some mammoth decoys were cut in half and chiseled out to lessen their weight. These decoys are the very rare "half-hollow" decoys. The lowest grade, the competitive grade, was simply turned on the lathe, not sanded, and then painted. Mammoth decoys have a distinctive notch at the top of the bill (much like a Mason Factory Premier model), a groove outline between the bill and face, a carved bill nail, and nostrils. Their elegant speculums, hand-painted by the neighbor ladies of Ladysmith, set the style for Wisconsin decoys thereafter. Standard decoys are about 3 inches shorter than their mammoth counterparts and do not have any carving on the bill. Walter Evans used every possible sneaky patch he could to prevent his decoys from splitting, and he succeeded! He never wasted a piece of wood when a sneaky patch would do. Dutchman's wedges, corrugated nails, side patches nailed into heads and bodies, and mortise patches were used to take a crack in the wood down to its origin so that a split would not start. The various Evans patches are well-camouflaged by the use superb paint and its application techniques. Each decoy was painted with a basecoat of white lead, followed by application of lead-based, hand-tinted paints. Early hens of each species also had exquisite loop painting on the chest area and comb-paint on the back and tail. The species usually carved were canvasbacks, mallards, bluebills, some coots and some redheads. Pintails, black ducks, blue-winged teal, green-winged teal, goldeneye, and widgeon are very rare (and now, extremely pricey). The Evans Company operated from about 1921 to 1937.

Up for sale is this beautifulsolid-bodied,standard gradeHen BluebillEvans Factory decoy that is in remarkable condition and and has perfect patina to the Extraordinary and 100% Original Paint. The only decoy that Evans made that was better than this decoy up for sale was the Mammoth Grade.ThisHen Bluebillwas carved with a solid body and it was hand-made and hand-paintedaround 1928 and has the completely intact Evans Factory Stamp.This decoy is structurally in perfect condition and hasevenrubbing to the paint on the decoy with no chips orsplits of any kind. This decoy is as solid as the day it was made with no looseness in the neck whatsoever. The bottom has a chip of wood missing from where the line tie was taken off and a dent where the lead ballast weight was removed, but otherwise this decoy is sensational as you can see from the many photos. The beautiful and original yellow glass eyes are perfectly carved in and located like the day it was made.

The decoy is in wonderful original condition and the piece of stock wood that the factory used was perfect and well seasoned so that there was only a need to use their "sneaky patch" wood filler on a round area of the back but it is extremely hard to see and unless you know where it is, it is almost invisible. This outstanding old Evans duck decoy is 14-1/2" long x 4-7/8" wide x a stately 6-1/2" tall and weighs a very rig-manageable 1-lbs. 5-ozs. This is an awesome example of a Evans factory decoy that will undoubtedly complement any collection of vintage duck and shorebird decoysfrom acompanythatrepresents asbig a part of American Decoy Historyas any other makeror carver. If you have any questions or would like an additional photo please feel free to ask. Thanks for looking.

The first20 photos are of this awesome Evans Hen Bluebill decoy up for sale taken from various angles and close-ups. Thelast 4 Photos are of Other Evans Decoys for Reference.

BELOW ARE MORE PICTURES OF VARIOUS MODELS OF EVANS DECOYS AND ARE OF VARIOUS