Narrows Island Club Swan, The White Family

Poplar Branch, North Carolina, before 1900, carved and painted wood, iron horseshoe ballast weight.

Length 27.75 in.

From the Personal Collection of Mr. Kroghie Andresen Charlotte, North Carolina

Former collection of Joe French.

The provenance of this decoy was first recorded in his book Wild Fowl Decoys first published in 1934 by Joel Barber. His reference to these swan decoys was as follows, "In a National Geographic Magazine article published in 1932 by Mr. George Shiras, he referenced a picture where a young swan was approaching four crude swan decoys. The location was Currituck Sound, North Carolina. Mr. Shiras joined the Narrows Island Club just out from Poplar Branch, NC in 1923 for the purpose of photographing waterfowl. His writing was as follows, "Before this time, 1923, and down to the present, swans have been given continuous protection and moreover this handsome bird was seldom shot by members of various clubs and so swan decoys were seldom seen. The ones you refer to were borrowed from an old market hunter from Poplar Branch, for many natives had a liking for young swans."
Tilford Wade attributed these roothead swan decoys as being made by Clarence B. White, Sr. He was the son of John T. White, long time superintendent of the Narrows Island Club.

Old gunning paint with moderate wear, the bill a professional replacement by Cameron McIntyre.