A brief history of The Stevens Decoy

Two Periods, Two Models, Two Brothers

 

With the intent of making things easy to start off, I offer you an outline of “Twos”. Stevens Decoys were made during two time periods.  First, the tackeye decoy made between 1865 and about 1890 and then the improved glasseye decoy made thereafter until George retired in 1904. 

 

The Stevens brothers made two models, the standard "paddletail" decoy and the sleeper “humpback” decoy.  Within this framework we can look at the evolution of the form within the categories over time. 

 

​Harvey had several brothers that helped out at the shop, but George was the only one that would carve and paint decoys under his own label. 

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