Left side of Swan decoy by Samuel Barnes, 1952-192.4
1 2015-10-05T23:46:14-07:00 Nancie Ravenel bc84e2b969fab7c5f039797f42318c7fcfc8159b 4136 2 A solid decoy made about 1890. Formerly in Joel Barber's collection. plain 2015-10-05T23:47:33-07:00 1952-192.4 Shelburne Museum Nancie Ravenel bc84e2b969fab7c5f039797f42318c7fcfc8159bThis page has tags:
- 1 2015-02-01T12:15:14-08:00 Nancie Ravenel bc84e2b969fab7c5f039797f42318c7fcfc8159b Decoys included in this project Nancie Ravenel 52 The rationale behind which decoys were included in the project. gallery 118948 2017-08-07T05:28:30-07:00 Nancie Ravenel bc84e2b969fab7c5f039797f42318c7fcfc8159b
- 1 2015-10-06T00:07:13-07:00 Nancie Ravenel bc84e2b969fab7c5f039797f42318c7fcfc8159b Swan, 1952-192.4 Nancie Ravenel 18 A solid confidence decoy made c. 1890 by Samuel Barnes.. It was formerly owned by Joel Barber. plain 2017-07-09T05:06:24-07:00 Nancie Ravenel bc84e2b969fab7c5f039797f42318c7fcfc8159b
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Swan, 1952-192.4
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A solid confidence decoy made c. 1890 by Samuel Barnes.. It was formerly owned by Joel Barber.
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Collector and author Joel Barber recounted the story of how he acquired the swan made c. 1890 by Havre-de-Grace MD carver Samuel Barnes (1857-1926) in his book Wildfowl Decoys, the first work to consider decoys as works of art. [Barber 1934] Despite Barber’s account, in the 1980s, two decoy scholars questioned the attribution of the swan to Barnes, suggesting that it could be the work of another Havre-de-Grace carver, James Holly (1855-1935). A swan decoy unquestionably attributed to Samuel Barnes and minimally repaired features a neck attached to the body with a dowel so that the head could be removed, and an incised mark, the Roman numeral “II” on the neck shelf [Johnsgard 1976]. The scholars wanted to know if Shelburne’s decoy had a similar mark.
Like the the coot decoy by Barnes the swan is of solid construction, but made of 3 pieces rather than two: the head, the neck, and the body. The lateral radiographic image of the join between neck and body shows that the neck and body were connected with a wood dowel.
Because of numerous metal fasteners added as repairs to securing the joint between the neck and head and in the joint between neck and body, taken from above the neck shelf was fairly inconclusive as far as identifying a mark.
The swan was too large to fit in the medical CT scanner at the UVM Medical Center Hospital, and so VolumeRAD tomosynthesis was used to determine whether or not a maker’s mark was present on the neck shelf, the joint surface between the neck and body. -
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Samuel Barnes (1857-1926)
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Havre de Grace, MD
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39.539891, -76.086805
Samuel Barnes carved solid body decoys in Havre de Grace, Maryland. Perhaps best known for the swans he made, including one in Shelburne Museum's collection, Barnes also produced canvas back ducks, red-heads, black ducks, and coots (Engers, 2000, p.139). Another swan decoy made by Barnes is in the collection of the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in St. Michaels, Maryland (Sullivan, 2003. p. 146).