READ 1890's Walter Humphries bluebill decoy decoys

Description

This decoy was originally purchased at a Guyette & Schmidt decoy auction which featured the collection of Bernard "Barney" Crandell.  This is the exact decoy pictured on the top of Pg. 117 of Mr. Crandell's authored book, "Decoying St. Clair To The St. Lawrence" (1988).  Listed as an "unknown" carver during the time of Mr. Crandell's writing, this decoy and others like it were later identified as being the work of Walter Humphries or Humphrey from Toronto, Ontario, Canada (ca. 1890's).
This bluebill drake measures approximately (15-1/4" long x 6" wide x 5-1/4" high).  It is very thinly hollowed with a round lead ballast and leather line tie.  Also, notice the bill carving.
On Aug-05-24 at 16:52:09 PDT, seller added the following information:
Responding to many that have asked this question, "Is it in original paint"?  This decoy does have some repaint which you can see on the pics that I supplied.  Looking closely at the book photo, you will notice that the paint matches the present pics.