Ocracoke, North Carolina, circa 1910, carved and painted wood.

Length 19.5 in.

Blue Ribbon Award for Best Ocracoke Decoy at the Core Sound Decoy Festival.
Exhibited at Core Sound Waterfowl Museum.
Published in Decoy Magazine.
Exhibited at Duke University Hospital 2023.

George Washington O'Neal is reputed to have been Ocracoke's most prolific and also artistic decoy maker. He made some professionally for the Gooseville Gun Club. Most of the wood for the bodies was juniper cut on the mainland but quite a few were made from old telegraph poles. He made more brant than geese. This goose has a curved neck, carved eyes, dramatic raised rear which presents in a swimming posture.

Original paint worn to bare wood in places, multiple age checks in the body, a carpenter bee hole on the right side, head slightly lifted.