Right side of Whistler hen decoy by Benjamin Holmes, head attributed to Shang Wheeler
1 2015-03-15T05:33:44-07:00 Nancie Ravenel bc84e2b969fab7c5f039797f42318c7fcfc8159b 4136 3 plain 2017-08-06T07:15:23-07:00 1952-192.216 Shelburne Museum Nancie Ravenel bc84e2b969fab7c5f039797f42318c7fcfc8159bThis page is referenced by:
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Benjamin Holmes (1843-1912)
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Stratford, CT
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Holmes was a Stratford, Connecticut carpenter who learned to carve decoys from Albert Laing (1811-1886), considered to be the originator of what has come to be known as the Houstatonic school of decoy carving (Engers 2000, p. 81). Unlike Laing, Holmes was not a hunter (Chitwood 1987, 34), and he supplemented his income as a carpenter and skiff builder by making decoys (Knapp 2002, 238).
Like Laing, Holmes made hollow decoys fashioned from three pieces of wood. According to Chitwood, Holmes' earlier decoys were similar in construction to those made by Laing, but eventually Holmes modified the technique, employing patterns for efficiency (Chitwood 1987, 34). The body was made of a hollowed block and a base board, measuring approximately 5/8 inches thick. The head was carved separately and attached with metal fasteners to the body. The nails holding the two sections of the body together are more closely spaced in Holmes' bodies than in Laing's. Chitwood opines that Laing's early decoys constructed with bottom boards leaked, and Holmes overcame that problem by using a lead-based adhesive in the joint and spacing his nails more closely (Chitwood 1987, 21).
Benjamin Holmes participated in what is considered to be the first recorded public exhibition of decoys which occurred at the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exposition where he showed a a rig of 12 bluebills (Levison and Headley 1991, 125). Joel Barber acquired one of these and included a watercolor rendering of it in his book, however that decoy is now considered lost (Shaw 2011).After Holmes' death, his widow sold uncompleted blocks of wood to another area decoy maker. Other makers made use of Holmes' patterns (Engers 2000, 82).
The Shelburne Museum owns 13 decoys made by or attributed to Benjamin Holmes. Eleven were formerly part of Joel Barber's collection, including the bluebill drake decoy and one of the black duck decoys included in this study. The other two were previously owned by decoy collector Richard T. Moeller. The Whistler hen and drake decoys in this study, though attributed to Holmes, are suspected to have had their heads replaced by the third notable maker in the Stratford area, Charles “Shang” Wheeler (1872-1949). Similarly, one of the black ducks by Albert Laing in this study is thought to have been re-headed by Holmes.
