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TW,
Flying vegetable portrayals weren�t the sole province of gun engravers. Here�s a decoy version of a sweet potato shaped shorebird decoy owned by Theodore Rogers, 1824-1903. Theodore Rogers was a prominent banker in NYC, president of the Bank of the Metropolitis and an avid shotgunner with memberships in all the right gun clubs on Long Island. He had a huge spread of shorebird decoys that he used in hunting the Jamaica Bay flats on the western end of Long Island. It is unknown who the carver was of these whimsical birds which rise to the level of Impressionistic folk art. Below is a dowitcher with the Rogers brand in the bottom. Rasp marks are also visible which were left by the carver. It is one of my favorite decoys. Jamaica Bay National Wildlife Refuge now occupies where Theo hunted and JFK International Airport is on the western side of the bay, built upon old wetlands.