New Jersey Decoys is the first book offered to collectors that exclusively covers the birds made in this state. It is a photographic history that pictures more than 700 different New Jersey ducks, geese, and shorebirds. There are thirty-nine large color plates included. The author has drawn extensively from the major New Jersey collections and a number of old gunning photographs are also included. In addition, there are biographical summaries of many New Jersey makers. The book covers the New Jersey coast on the east from Point Pleasant to Cape May and includes the makers and decoys from the Delaware River as the western boundary.
New Jersey Decoys is the first book offered to collectors that exclusively covers the birds made in this state. It is a photographic history that pictures more than 700 different New Jersey ducks, geese, and shorebirds. There are thirty-nine large color plates included. The author has drawn extensively from the major New Jersey collections and a number of old gunning photographs are also included. In addition, there are biographical summaries of many New Jersey makers. The book covers the New Jersey coast on the east from Point Pleasant to Cape May and includes the makers and decoys from the Delaware River as the western boundary.
Through this well-illustrated presentation of some of the best New Jersey decoys from collections around the country, Classic New Jersey Decoys offers Jim Doherty's observations and conclusions on the carving styles, paint application, and construction techniques that he feels clearly separate and identify the original-condition works of the best Jersey makers: Harry V. Shourds of Tuckerton, Nathan Rowley Horner of West Creek, Lloyd Parker of Parkertown, and Harry Mitchell Shourds of Ocean City.
Detailed instructions and full-size templates for constructing 16 beautiful, marvelously practical decoys according to the time-honored South Jersey method.
The apparent history of the duck decoy may be described in terms of a series of transformations from hunting tool to collectible artifact to commodity. This transformational trajectory may be viewed, moreover, in an economic light: the decoy originally functions to provide ducks for subsistence or profit; it next enters collections which are at first owned by individuals who had some connection to the decoy as hunting tool, and where it begins to acquire associations with (market) price and to become dissociated from social and cultural relations of value; and it finally becomes a more or less "pure" commodity, where price (based on provenance) figures almost exclusively in defining its identity. This dissertation traces these transformations of the duck decoy, but does so by uncovering its dynamic history and displaying this as a part of the mentalite of coastal New Jersey in the last half of the nineteenth century. The argument is grounded in a close reading of three distinct but related bodies of material: (1) nineteenth century published sources such as sportsman's manuals and ornithological literature; (2) nineteenth century primary source materials generated locally along the New Jersey coast, such as newspaper accounts, census records, diaries, business ledgers, and related materials; and (3) interview materials collected ethnographically with twentieth century decoy carvers, hunters, collectors, haymen and local residents of the coastal towns. These materials collectively suggest that the decoy was part of a society and culture that actively resisted the penetration of capitalism and capitalist relations. It is on this ground that the decoy is a highly contested object today.
Use Anthony Hillman's Painting Duck Decoys to get expert advice on how to mix colors, treat the wood, and which brushes to use to paint specific decoy areas. The 24 color plates provide an accurate guide to colors and shading.
Sixty great contemporary decoy carvers from North America are highlighted in this illustrated book discussing artist techniques and inspiration. Full-color photographs throughout.
Step-by-step instructions for carving and painting 17 realistic decoys: brook trout, large-mouth bass, yellow perch, lake sturgeon, muskellunge, coho salmon, more. Profile, top-view and front-view patterns provided. All shown in full-color photographs.
An expert guide to finishing decoys of 9 popular species of duck in authentic detail, among them ruddy duck, surf scoter, oldsquaw, hooded merganser, and cinnamon teal. 32 full-color illustrations.
