Dave Umbrella Watson Canada Goose

Dave "Umbrella" Watson (1851-1938) Chincoteague, VA, c. 1928 Goose decoys by this maker are extremely rare. A bold, hollow carving with pronounced eye grooves, glass eyes, and V-carved raised primaries.

This decoy was part of a rig of geese and black ducks ordered from Watson by a Hampton Bay, Long Island bayman in 1928. His rig brand "ACP" is impressed twice in the bottom. A hole in the bottom reveals that it was also used as a field decoy. Mostly original paint with touch-up to areas of filled nails and some overpaint professionally removed. Gunning wear including a neck crack and seam separation.

Literature: Henry A Fleckenstein, Jr., "Southern Decoys of Virginia and the Carolinas," Exton, PA, 1983, pp. 77-78, plate 98, exact decoy illustrated.