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1. 1 2015-03-21T08:45:06-07:00 Nancie Ravenel bc84e2b969fab7c5f039797f42318c7fcfc8159b The glass eyes appear to be mounted within a collar attached to a tapered, threaded shank. Nancie Ravenel 4 plain 2015-03-21T12:43:50-07:00 Nancie Ravenel bc84e2b969fab7c5f039797f42318c7fcfc8159b
2. 1 2015-03-21T08:48:36-07:00 Nancie Ravenel bc84e2b969fab7c5f039797f42318c7fcfc8159b Putty fill in decoy's back Nancie Ravenel 3 plain 2015-03-21T12:16:40-07:00 Nancie Ravenel bc84e2b969fab7c5f039797f42318c7fcfc8159b
3. 1 2015-03-21T12:14:07-07:00 Nancie Ravenel bc84e2b969fab7c5f039797f42318c7fcfc8159b Putty fill in decoy's back Nancie Ravenel 3 plain 2015-03-21T12:16:42-07:00 Nancie Ravenel bc84e2b969fab7c5f039797f42318c7fcfc8159b

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• 1 2015-03-20T17:07:47-07:00 Black Duck, 1952-192.46 19 This decoy by Albert Laing was formerly in Joel Barber's collection. It is thought to have been repainted by Shang Wheeler. image_header 2017-08-07T05:51:45-07:00 This black duck is by Albert Laing, and thought to have been repainted by Charles "Shang" Wheeler. A pencil inscription "Laing" and  labels and inscriptions related to various Shelburne Museum numbering systems are evident on the underside. 
   
  Though the body was made in a manner consistent with what is typically associated with Laing, the fact that the duck's neck is carved into the upper portion of the body rather than being part of the piece of wood that forms the head is unusual. The head is secured to the upper block that makes up the body with a threaded flat headed slotted fastener and a pair of cut nails as well as an adhesive. Given the radio-density of the adhesive, it likely contains lead. Cut nails and the same adhesive secure the joint between the two halves of the body. Four holes, plugged with wood pegs, are seen on the underside, and most likely are a result of the lead weight being moved. A pear-shaped lead weight is attached to the underside on the front half with two flat headed, slotted screws. A leather loop is held at the front of the underside with an oval headed, slotted brass screw.
   
  What appears to be seams or awl marks on each side of the back near the neck may suggest that repairs have been made in these areas. Given that these areas appear dense in the radiographs and CT suggests these areas are filled with a putty perhaps containing a radio-dense material like lead white as a bulking agent. 
   
  In the coronal view CT, one can get a better view of the shape of the hollow within the body. Tool marks visible on the upper and lower surfaces suggest that a center bit was used in a drill to hollow out each side of the body. In looking at the edges of the hollow, it is interesting to note how smooth those sides are in comparison to the edges of the hollow within the Black Duck decoy made by Benjamin Holmes that was imaged with CT for this study.
   
  Glass eyes are embedded on either side of the head. The black glass appears to be mounted within a collar or bezel attached to a tapered, threaded shank. These are similar to those seen on the c. 1890 black duck decoy made by Benjamin Holmes, 1952.192-57.

   

   
• 1 2015-09-13T15:42:39-07:00 Black Duck 1952-192.57 18 This hollow decoy was made by Benjamin Holmes. image_header 2017-08-04T11:25:36-07:00 1952-192.57 Shelburne Museum This hollow decoy has a two part body with a flat bottom board, measuring about 2 cm in thickness. Two lead weights are attached to the underside. The front weight is tear drop-shaped and the rear one is rounder, but oval in shape. Each is attached with two screws. The head is carved from a single piece of wood and is held with nails to the body. The eyes are glass. No maker's mark is evident.
  
  Both the bottom board and the head are attached to the body with cut nails. These are spaced more closely than the nails in the decoys made by Albert Laing, most likely because the nails in the body joint in Holmes' decoy would be underwater and a tighter seal would be required. The body joint in most decoys made by Laing would be above the water line during use. Similar to the decoys made by Laing, the adhesive is x-ray opaque, suggesting that a heavy metal such as lead white has been added and a metal collar supports the glass. By adjusting the contrast in the posterior-anterior view, we get a better view of the glass headed eyes and the fasteners within the neck. The shanks on the eyes are threaded, much like the ones on the Black Duck by Albert Laing, 1952-192.46.
  
  The lateral view shows that the hollow inside the body is quite even and squared. This is even more evident in the coronal view computed tomography slices. CT also reveals that the body is made of a softwood, most likely white pine, and that the grain of the wood is continuous from the upper part of the body to the baseboard. This suggests that Holmes carved the body as one piece, sliced off the bottom board, hollowed the top half, and then glued and nailed the bottom board back into place. Chitwood suggests that Holmes used this technique early in his career when he was imitating decoys made by Albert Laing (Chitwood 1987, 34).
  
  Looking at the CT slices in 2D orthogonal multiplanar reformatting (MPR) format, one can glean some information about the tools used by Holmes to hollow out the upper section of the body. In the sagittal and coronal views, the tool used to cut away wood leaves behind a sharp point, while in the axial view, the tool clears a 1 inch diameter circle, with one side of the outer edge digging in deeper than the rest of the circumference. This suggests use of a center bit to bore the hollow.