Inside Decoys from Shelburne Museum

Black Duck, 27.FD4-120


This decoy was made by Stephen Verity, of Seaford, NY, c. 1895. 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 buckshot 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.

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