Swan, 1952-192.4
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.
By choosing appropriate starting and stopping points within the scan, an image of an incised mark was located. The technologist undertook a sweep of 24 projections around the joint between the neck and body in the plane parallel to the neck shelf. Within the sweep, one projection provided a good view of the mark, a Roman numeral “III” on the neck shelf and a view of the top of the dowel that originally secured the neck to the body. This is far more visible than it was in the 2D image, seen above. The projection provides an image of the metal pin, which appears to be a headless rod that stops short of either side of the neck, that secures the neck through the dowel. Because the fastener is in plane with the source, there is no ripple or other distortion in the image.
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This page references:
- Posterior-anterior view volume rad image of the mark in within the joint between the neck and body on the Barnes Swan.
- Posterior-anterior view radiograph of neck joint on Swan by Samuel Barnes, 1952-192.4
- Lateral view of the joint between the body and head of the Barnes swan, c. 1890. 1952-192.4
- Right side of Swan decoy by Samuel Barnes, 1952-192.4
