Ward Brothers Blue-winged Teal Pair

The Ward Brothers Lemuel T. (1896-1984) and Stephen (1895-1976) Crisfield, MD, c. 1947

Exceedingly rare pair of standing blue-winged teal, one of only three or four such pairs known to exist. A similar pair is held by the Ward Museum of Wildfowl Art, Salisbury University located in Salisbury, Maryland. alsa bodies with carved “peach basket” raised wings, glass eyes, feet and legs mounted on half-round walnut bases. Each signed on the back of the base “By L.T. Ward.”

Literature: Barry Berkey, Pioneer Decoy Carvers: A Biography of Lemuel and Stephen Ward, Cambridge, MD, 1977, plate 10, p. 55. Henry A. Fleckenstein, Jr., Decoys of the Mid-Atlantic Region, Exton, PA, 1979, p. 72.