Charles Birch The Bull-purnell Birch Brant

Charles Birch (1867-1956) Willis Wharf, VA, c. 1920 17 3/4 in. long

One would be hard-pressed to find a better Charles Birch brant example than this Virginia classic. This hollow brant has not only great form and surface, but also outstanding provenance. The underside is cold-stamped "SGH" for the Somers Headley Collection, ink stamped for the Harold Hartell Collection, branded "WHPjr" for the William H. Purnell Jr. Collection, and it retains a paper label for Purnell's early collecting partner, M.B. "Blink" Ewell.

A nearly identical decoy, also from the Roy Bull Collection, was chosen for the dust-jacket cover of "Southern Decoys" by Henry Fleckenstein Jr. The lines of this graceful brant are amongst the best seen from the maker's works of the species. Original paint with even gunning wear, age lines in end of tail, crack in neck.

Provenance: A Smith Island Rig Roy Bull Collection M. B. Ewell Collection William H. Purnell Jr. Collection Somers G. Headley Collection Harold Hartel Collection Private Collection, Maryland

Literature: Henry A. Fleckenstein Jr., "Southern Decoys of Virginia and The Carolinas," Exton, PA, 1983, front dust-jacket cover and p. 137, Bull Collection rigmate illustrated.

Provenance

A Smith Island Rig Roy Bull Collection M. B. Ewell Collection William H. Purnell Jr. Collection Somers G. Headley Collection Harold Hartel Collection Private Collection, Maryland