Antique Self-Bailing Scoter Decoy by Joseph Lincoln (Hingham, MA: 1859 – 1938), made circa 1910
Antique Self-Bailing Scoter Decoy by Joseph Lincoln (Hingham, MA: 1859 – 1938), made circa 1910
$3,800.00
Antique Self-Bailing Scoter Decoy by Joseph Lincoln (Hingham, MA: 1859 – 1938), made circa 1910, a hand carved hollow decoy with open back for “self bailing,” in old paint with some working touch-ups. Structurally sound and strong. A large decoy for use in rough open seas. A prized style by Lincoln and in an unusual colorful version (most often one sees black scoters or white winged scoters).
In stock
Antique Self-Bailing Scoter Decoy by Joseph Lincoln (Hingham, MA: 1859 – 1938), made circa 1910, a hand carved hollow decoy with open back for “self bailing,” in old paint with some working touch-ups. Structurally sound and strong. A large decoy for use in rough open seas. A prized style by Lincoln and in an unusual colorful version (most often one sees black scoters or white winged scoters).
Measures: 8 in H x 16 in L x 7-3/4 in W
Joseph Whiting Lincoln was born in 1859 in Hingham, Mass., and lived across from the Accord Pond. He probably had a relationship to Abraham Lincoln. He started carving just for fun, then as a teenager he sold his first decoy to a sportsman and he was off pn his life-long career. He chopped the bodies by hand from cedar or pine and then smoothed them with a drawknife. He refused to use power tools because he thought power tools too blunt for decoy carving. The New York Times called Joe Lincoln “a talented Yankee tinkerer and craftsman who could make everything from a camera to a pair of shoes.”
He carved a number of different kinds of species, including brants, buffleheads, canvasbacks, goldeneyes, mallards, mergansers, old squaws, pintails, redheads, ruddy ducks, scoters, scaups, teals, whistlers, wigeons and wood ducks. He also produced a handful of other species for special orders. His decoys portray several postures: some swim, some preen and some have their bills nestled under a wing. His birds are noted for their attitude. He typically painted symmetrical lines on his decoys, and he simplified plumage patterns, making a highly stylized image.
Joe Lincoln is acknowledged as having gotten his good friend Elmer Crowell started on carving his miniatures.
He died in 1938 after spending his life carving decoys from a 10’ by 12’ shed in his yard. Collectors prize his work. In 1986, a wood duck drake by Joe Lincoln sold at auction for $205,000. (Biographical information adapted from the New England Historical Society).
