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Inside Decoys from Shelburne Museum

Black Duck by Stephen Verity

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Black Duck, 27.FD4-120 This decoy was made by Stephen Verity, of Islip, NY, about 1890. The body of the decoy is made from two slabs of cork attached to a bottom board in a manner consistent with that described by Joel Barber in Wild Fowl Decoys. Each of the cork slabs measures approximately 2 inches in thickness. A wood shim serves as an interior armature to support the tail carved in cork, but is now exposed due to breakage of the surrounding cork. The head is made of carved wood and has eyes made of metal tacks with enamel coated heads. The paint layer on the head and base board is worn, but in tact. In contrast, most surface treatment undertaken on the cork is no longer extant.

The underside of the decoy is marked with a stamp and in paint to indicate that it was once owned by Theodore Havemeyer (1839-1897).

The manner in which the various elements are attached to one another are evident in the radiographs. The x-ray opaque material between seen between the layers of cork is likely to be an adhesive that contains lead, perhaps what Joel Barber referred to as "cement". Round shot is seen in the head and body, indicating that the decoy had been used in the field. Two slot-headed screws connected by a rectangular metal washer connect the head to the body.

Some adjustment in the lateral view is required to observe the pegs that attach the bottom board to the lower cork layer in the radiograph.

Using a technique called Volume RAD tomography, the tacks that make up the eyes and the hardware within the neck could be observed and measured with greater ease in the anterior-posterior orientation.
Cork Decoys
According to Joel Barber, the practice of fabricating duck decoys from cork originated in the early part of the 20th century on the Great South Bay, a lagoon located between Fire Island and Long Island, NY (Barber 1934, 72-76). He indicates that these decoys were almost always Black Ducks, constructed from two layers of cork re-used from life preservers, each layer approximately 2 inches in thickness, and held together with wood pegs. The bodies, after being shaped and finished were then charred in order to turn the surface black in color while the heads, fashioned of wood, were painted in the usual fashion.
He goes on to indicate that cork bodied decoys made c. 1930, when Wild Fowl Decoys was published, were fabricated in two halves that were cemented and pegged together. At the time, available natural cork varied between 1 to 2 inches in thickness. Cork bodies could also be made from slabs made from ground cork or cork chips held together with an adhesive binder. These composite cork slabs were about 3 inches thick, and did not require a bottom board or keel since the material was stronger and denser than natural cork.
Stephen Verity (1865-1950) Stephen Verity, of Seaford, New York, was born to a family with strong connections to decoy making, gun boat and skiff building, and guiding (Baldwin 2000, 210). His father, Obadiah Verity, is known for the shore birds he carved, three of which are found in the Long Island Museum collection.

According to former Shelburne Museum curator Bob Shaw, Stephen Verity was, at one time, a superintendent on the Bayberry Point, Islip, New York estate of H.O. Havemeyer, the father of Shelburne Museum's founder, Electra Havemeyer Webb.

The cork black duck by Stephen Verity in Shelburne Museum's collection bears the mark of H. O. Havemeyer's brother, Theodore. Three other decoys in Shelburne Museum's collection are attributed to this maker.