Chesapeake Decoy Restoration, Original paint, and changed species and sex reversals:
Those who know much about Chesapeake bay, know a few things about Blue crabs. Blue crabs shed their skins frequently so that the body can grow. The crabs while in the semi-soft stage are called peelers. The old ugly and useless skin is shed, so that a new shiny pristine shell can eventually emerge. There are also Chesapeake bay decoys that the same thing has happened to, only helped along my a decoys restorers hand. These decoys have had old over paint that serves no purpose removed, so that the original paint (OP) can appear. These decoys are fairly common around the bay. Many are so expertly done, usually only partially, that it is hard to detect. In fact one decoy dealer has a Chesapeake Canada Goose that has had the over paint removed and it is being sold for over $10,000. It is becoming increasingly realized that other historical material objects around the Chesapeake reflect their past the best when the original design and structure is reveled. This currently is taking place on the Baltimore waterfront and elsewhere around the bay. (see our Skipjack restoration pages)
This form of restoration often makes for a superior decoy that is more attractive than many original paint decoys. This is not to say that a very good condition (OP) decoy is not the ultimate decoy, but these are scarce today, in museums or collections. The vast majority of Susquehann decoys were over-painted. Chesapeake Upper-Chesapeake decoys that have been restored to OP often provide a newer OP surface that has not been degraded by the environment throughout its history. It usually is fresher than old original paint and has a new lease on life when reveled, or at the very least gets down to the original paint layer equal or surpassing the quality of the original paint. Many OP decoys are stained, often from sap run from inside the wood, have the paint flaking off and will only continue to degrade further if they are at least a century old. As the decoy ages this process actually will accelerate and once it gets past the point of no return, not a lot can be done about it.
The problem is that there are literally hundreds of Chesapeake decoys, especially Canvasbacks that would benefit from restoration to the OP surface. Many have one of more hastily applied coats of paint, that often served no useful purpose, except the owners thought it was needed, often a number of times through out the decoys respective history. One carver was amazed that a gun club owner insisted that their decoys be re-painted every year when it was not needed. Thus, the advantage for modern collectors is that sometimes the uncovered OP surface is in much better condition than OP birds that have not been painted over. We don't believe in the words "appealing old gunning paint" or some such nonsense. Gunning over paint is always patently un-authentic compared to the original. No matter how or by what the OP was reveled, by wear or by restoration, the end result is the same, more original paint. The minor amount of Upper- Chesapeake bay decoys that have virtually untouched OP over a century old, are rare to begin with and are in museums or rare collections, not available to average collectors.
The goal of most collector is OP. When reading statements about Upper-Chesapeake bay decoys as to their condition, there is always a self-conscious downplay of gunning over paint. Terms like "old" are applied to give the potential buyer the idea that "old" gives some sort of provenance or perceived value to the bird, to make up for the fact that it is not OP. This can never be the case as over paint is over paint, and is almost always value detracting and lowers the potential ultimate value of the decoy.
Recently a well known decoy auctioneer made the statement that many collectors think they have valuable decoys, but most do not. The major reason for this as concerns Upper-bay decoys is the gunning over paint issue. In fact, usually it is common for a gunning over paint decoy, that has a brand, to be more valued than an OP decoy from the same maker and era. That is why so few brands are currently on the market. Although I own a number of branded decoys, I would much rather have an attractive OP decoy, or the next best thing, a Chesapeake decoy restored to OP, than a ratty, flaking, dry rot branded one, or a decoy that has a newer so called gunning paint job that looks like someone spray painted an old car under the shade tree.
Why settle for a dry flaky prune when you can get a truly wonderful decoy that will beat in appearance many OP decoys, especially the ones currently on the market and not in collections. What is a decoy anyway, but a bit of paint and wood, fashioned into a semblance of a duck. If we are truly out for the sake of art and history lets relish the original intentions of the carver. It isn't every decoy that will benefit from restoration. Only decoys having a certain paint history, and usage will qualify. It does not take a Genius to see that the very high priced decoys at the auction houses are not in the shoddy condition that many Upper-Chesapeake decoys are in. Only by implementation of methods to improve the appearance and historical provenance of Susquehanna decoys can they find positions of value appreciation deserving of their genre.
We like the restored OP decoys better than many other paint challenged decoys. We think they are the supermodels of the Chesapeake bay decoy world. Beautiful, classy and clean having the provenance of original paint. When the old shoddy and sloppy over paint is removed, many defects that are unsightly and non historic disappear. What is often left is much original paint, as much as 90%. Instead of dull lifeless finish of old OP paint or over paint, often a breathtaking sheen is achieved because the old OP was protected by the over paint. This tends to occur with decoys 80 years old or less, whereas decoys over 100 years old are more dry.
Other advantages are that the true form of the decoy is reveled. Old re-paint covers up evidence of hand-chopping which is a valued metric in many decoys. With coats of useless paint removed hand-chopped work becomes obvious on the body and hand-carvings becomes evident on the head. Removal of old over paint in Cecil county decoys also makes the shelf more evident, especially in the rise behind the head that sets the rise of the shelf off from the body. The tail section of some Susquehanna decoys when exposed can also revel aspects of who, what, where, when and how that tend to stymie even seasoned collectors
Very few Upper-Chesapeake bay Canvasback decoys that were repainted followed the pattern of paint of the original painter. Usually the white or black portions were over painted in an arbitrary or devised method that concealed the original portions. Chesapeake decoys that have been relieved of old useless paint coatings reveal the original patterns and correct historical proportions of the original painting schemes. Susquehanna decoys over 100 years old may have been painted literally dozens of times. There can be no significance to these layers of paint because they are hidden except for the last one applied that most likely was the period of declining Canvasback populations, which was the least interesting and least historic timeframe of the decoys respective lifespan.
Changed species and sex reversal
There was an interchange between species, especially heads on some makers decoys. It sounds reasonable that by making body's and head's that could be used for different species, much labor could be saved. There have been a number of Mallard heads painted over as Canvasbacks for instance. Canvasback and Mallard bodies are easily interchanged. A fair number of hen Canvasbacks were made into Drakes by over paint also. Hens were pretty useless for luring waterfowl as they blended in with the water. It was probably thought that they added realism to the spread, but canvasback and other diver ducks are known to key in on white anyway, so why use hens.
Whatever conclusions you form about decoy collecting, make sure it is your very own concern. Don't be swayed by self-styled decoy guru's who don't have your best interests at heart and claim to be high priests of some imaginary secret club that only they belong to. Due to the internet, decoy collecting is increasingly a world wide phenomena.
Original paint is Original paint. As to what percent original paint is in evident in any given decoy does not matter as long there is original paint. This is easily observed and will ring true by observing decoy collections in Museums. Although many are down to bare wood in many places, they are still valued for their display of original intent by the decoy carver. The main problem with Susquehanna decoys is that OP more times than not has been covered with gunning overcoat paint. This is one major reason that Upper-bay decoys are not as higher valued on the decoy value food chain compared to other less-deserving geographical locations. Although there are some valued over paint decoys, we can imagine how much more their value would be increased if they were original paint. When anyone suggests that anything other than original paint is more desirable than OP, no mater how it was achieved, they show themselves as a complete hypocrite and decoy fool. In fact, such clanking and clattering to the contrary only exposes selfish motivations that debases the carvers intent and helps to keep low the potential appreciation of Upper-bay decoys in general. If you were the carver of a decoy, would you want original surface to be defiled by often sloppy and misaligned over paint. Even if the same carver was forced to re-paint his own decoy, I'm sure there must have been a tinge of regret and asking of the question to himself of "Does this seem futile" ? Of course if the carver was making considerable needed money for repainting, he may not have minded or thought this way, but the lions share of the money was made on the original construction of the decoy. Although the repainting was necessary many times because of the harsh market or sport hunting conditions, many were repainted almost every year by gun clubs, just because. My interest after being around Chesapeake decoys for over 40 years is only original paint. Any decoy I have that is gunning over paint would be much less desired than an OP decoy, this is also standard practice in decoy collecting everywhere. I don't care how the decoy got to original paint as long as it is so, an many other collectors feel the same. I'm lucky to own a number of these. I like some Geese decoys like the one sold at auction last year for $10,000 that was beautifully restored to it's original paint surface. My uncle carved the most outstanding Canada goose mini flying decoys I have ever saw. Many are in my sisters collection.
by Mike Robinson