This solid wood mallard drake decoy was produced using a duplicating lathe that gives it its characteristic grooved appearance. The majority of wood decoys sold commercially in the 1930’s-1940’s were made by “factory” decoy makers. This decoy retains the original yellow paint on its beak, the green paint on its head and both inset glass eyes.
The duck's fixed head is very slightly loose, with a long bill that has a few tooth marks from the dog that retrieved it. That same retriever gnawed the tail as well. The dark brown body has areas of paint loss and a divot on one side. On the bottom, there's a rectangular lead weight and a swivel snap hook, quite rusty, for attaching the decoy to a rig.
The decoy measures 17 inches from beak to tail, 6 inches in height to the top of its head and 5 1/2 inches across its breast. It weighs 1 pound, 7 ounces and given that it was hunted over, it's in pretty darn good shape.
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PYH 5490
