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Famous Brands found on Upper Chesapeake Bay Decoys

Richard Kirby Barnes RKB was also a Brother of Perry Barnes who had the famous "PK BARNES" Brand found on many of the classic old decoys.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Notice the Brand NH on the picture below. NH is from the rig of Elk Neck farmer, Nicky Hyland.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Notice the double Brand NH and Seneca on the picture below. NH is from the rig of Elk Neck farm owner, Nicky Hyland. The Seneca Brand is related to a club in Baltimore County Maryland.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

The number 441 Brand on a Scott Jackson Canvasback Drake.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This L. PENNOCK Brand is on the bottom of a Scott Jackson Canvasback Drake. Lou Pennock was the owner of this Brand. He made his home in Cecil County and made his living as a market hunter. He was known to have an extensive decoy rig.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This old unidentified decoy has a few Brands on the bottom. It has the letter D. which is thought to be from the rig of L. Clarke Davis a member of the  Broadwater hunt club on Hog Island in the 1880s/90s. It also has BROADWATER which stands for the Broadwater hunt club. Broadwater was an elite upperscale club located on Hog Island from around the 1880s to the early 1900s. President Grover Cleveland hunted at this club. It was written in an account of Cleveland's visit in the New York times in December of 1892 that Davis and President Cleveland hunted together. This is truly a historic Decoy.

Notice that this decoy also has three circle brands, one on the end of the lead weight and the other two on either side (at the center) of the weight. There are also marks below the Broadwater brand that I have not been able to make out.

A previous owner truly wanted to preserve and restore this decoy for display as he had a head professionally carved, aged and replaced.

 

 

This JH Brand appears on the tail of a pair of Scott Jackson Canvasback decoy rigmates. The JH stands for John Hanson. Hanson was a sportsman who lived in Philidelphia and contracted Jackson to carve his decoys. Scott Jackson also guided Mr. Hanson on his Duck hunts. These are circa: 1900

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Both JH Brand pictures are shown by courtesy of Jeff Pelayo, oldwoodenduckdecoys.com

This J.Coudon brand appears below the 4 nail weight on this wonderful Graham Redhead decoy, circa 1880. The brand belonged to Joseph Coudon (1860-1947). Coudon probably carved or owned more decoys than most on the Upper Bay and is probably one of the least recognized. He came from a wealthy family and  carved decoys at an early age. He was a dedicated hunter and his brand is not only found on  his own decoys, but on decoys of John B. Graham also. He went on to patent the "Chesapeake Folding Decoy" in the early 1900s.

 

 

Famous Brands found on Illinois River Decoys

 

 

This wonderful Stephen Lane decoy has a D.W.V. brand. This is the Daniel W. Voorhees brand. Voorhees was an early member of the Duck Island gun Club in Illinois.

 

 

 

 

 

The CEH is attributed to Clarence Edmond Hemmingway, the father of author, Ernest Hemmingway. Clarence Hemmingway was also an avid outdoorsman. Ernest grew up hunting and fishing with his Father who taught him about the outdoors. Clarence was a Doctor and had a practice in Oak Park Illinois in the later part of the 19th century and early 20th century.

I very rarely will attribute anything to anyone famous unless there is basis for it. My basis for this attribution is that I saw a similar headless decoy several years ago at the St. Charles decoy show with this brand and attribution. I have no way to either prove or disprove this theory. If anyone has any other information to contribute please contact me at just2decoys@yahoo.com