A rare, rigmate pair of canvasbacks by Richard “Fresh Air Dick” Janson (Sonoma, CA) ca. 1920-30. Excellent and all original paint. Both are branded E.J.A. These exact decoys are featured on pages 132-135 of Richard “Fresh Air Dick” Janson by Wallace Lourdeaux. The drake is hollow carved with a chest plug and the hen is solid carved. The drake has 3 carved primary feathers and the hen has 4. The hen has a repaired neck crack with overpaint visible under black light. The hen has a small amount of paint strengthening visible under black light on the very bottom at both sides of the ballast weight. Additional photos of this pair are shown on pages 108 and 118-120 of the Lourdeaux reference. The drake is also pictured on page 119 of Wildfowl Decoys of California by Michael Miller. One would be hard pressed to find a better and well documented pair of canvasbacks by this most collectable of the early west coast makers.
A rare, rigmate pair of canvasbacks by Richard “Fresh Air Dick” Janson (Sonoma, CA) ca. 1920-30. Excellent and all original paint. Both are branded E.J.A. These exact decoys are featured on pages 132-135 of Richard “Fresh Air Dick” Janson by Wallace Lourdeaux. The drake is hollow carved with a chest plug and the hen is solid carved. The drake has 3 carved primary feathers and the hen has 4. The hen has a repaired neck crack with overpaint visible under black light. The hen has a small amount of paint strengthening visible under black light on the very bottom at both sides of the ballast weight. Additional photos of this pair are shown on pages 108 and 118-120 of the Lourdeaux reference. The drake is also pictured on page 119 of Wildfowl Decoys of California by Michael Miller. One would be hard pressed to find a better and well documented pair of canvasbacks by this most collectable of the early west coast makers.
