Elkanah B. Cobb Dowitcher

Capt. Elkanah B. Cobb (1852-1943) Cobb Island, VA, c. 1880 A two-piece shorebird decoy with the signature Cobb V-cut wing tips and a large serified "E" carved under tail.

Mackey gave his friend Harold Haertel the choice of any decoy from an August 1964 article in "The Magazine Antiques" as a gift; Haertel picked this decoy. Traces of paint mostly worn to the wood with heavy gunning wear, numerous shot scars, spots of filler at neck, and bill is a replacement.

Provenance: William J. Mackey, Jr. Collection Harold Haertel Collection, received as a gift from the above John Levinson Collection Private Collection, Florida

Literature: John M. Levinson and Somers G. Headley, "Shorebirds: The Birds, The Hunters, The Decoys," Centreville, MD, 1991, p. 106 and 134, x-ray and exact decoy illustrated. William J. Mackey, Jr., "The Magazine Antiques," August 1964, exact bird illustrated.

Provenance

William J. Mackey, Jr. Collection Harold Haertel Collection, received as a gift from the above John Levinson Collection Private Collection, Florida