Chris:
I have a vague memory of a red model of yours, complete with added rooster, being offered for sale in the late 1990's at the Adirondack Antique Show, when it was still being held at the Museum grounds in Blue Mountain Lake, NY. In fact, I believe that dealer had two of your models, one green, one red. It wasn't our mutual friend, the late Bob Gerrard; it was someone else - possibly Sam Stuart. I remember the moment well, as I was still on the hunt at the time for one of your pieces at a price I could then afford. They have always sold well and, even back then, would bring what you are asking for them now, ten years later. If it wasn't this exact model, it was a twin. Of course, Bob always had one or two at many decoy sales and antique shows he and Wilma travelled to, and I often watched longingly as several of them changed hands over the years.
It was another 3 or 4 years after that when I acquired your model #43, a white Racine Navajo, through Robert Ross, at the Antique Boat Show, in Clayton, NY. You had an opportunity to see it again as part of the "Canoe in Miniature" exhibit at the Canadian Canoe Museum, in Peterborough, which showing was first unveiled during the visit of the WCHA's Annual Gathering, last summer. By the way, for anyone interested, that exhibit has been extended until approximately mid-March '09, when it will be dismounted to make room for another display. Until then, visitors have a chance to view a cross-section of model canoes from around the world, including a dozen or so very rare 'salesman's samples' from companies such as Carleton, Old Town, Kennebec, Peterborough, Walter Dean, Rice Lake, J.S. Stephenson, Lakefield, etc., along with miniature paddles made by some of these firms. The Museum's bookstore also has a small booklet available with thumbnail photos and brief descriptions of the pieces on display. These items run the gamut from 160-year old antiques to current-day makes, and made from birch bark, cedar/alder dugouts to wood strip and cedar/canvas. There are even native pieces made of ivory and walrus tusk to ebony and argillite. Having said this much, I suppose I should try to post a few pics ...
