Flat bottom #72 herters blk. Duck Decoy question

[roy brewington]

Was recently gifted 11 Herters Blk. duck decoys by a friend whose father hunted our bays in the 60,s to maybe early 70.s Also quite a few Victor d9,s in various diver & puddler configurations and a few fiberdomes. My question on the herters flat bottoms is do they have an internal weight similar to the bulb keeled ones from latter dates. They spent their life on the salt but dont see any signs of spliting out on the flat bottom denoting an internal steel/iron weight hidden by foam. They also are old enough to have the small brass eyebolt secureing heads to body. All the ones i,ve owned were the newer model that had a plated steel eyebolt and ofd course would usually split head spud after a period of salt use.

 

[Carl]

Can't offer any advice but sure would like to see photos of all those old decoys!

 

[roy brewington]

These are the ones that are salvageable, no split keels or bodys on victors and actually other than the lot being filthy they're not in very bad shape. Several going in trash from other d9,s and fiberdome geese that neck/head joint had a god awful looking adhesive job done on. Herters i,ll probably end up restle coating and repaint like I need more 72,s. lolView attachment Gifted decoys.jpgView attachment gifted decoys 3.jpgView attachment gifted decoy 2.jpg

 

[Steve Sanford]

Roy~


Yes - all of the earlier (flat-bottomed, solid brass screw eyes for heads) Model 72s and 63s had internal ballast in the form of a bar of cast iron. My Dad bought his first 72s in the mid-50s; I bought my first ones (Model 72 Mallards) circa 1968.


My Dad first discovered the iron ballast when some errant outboard gas dissolved the entire foam body on a Model 72 Bluebill (Broadbill) - leaving the head, hardware, anchor line and anchor.



You can probably see some small holes down the mid-line of the bottom that I believe were used to support the keel during the molding process. Plenty of our Broadbill - always used almost every day during the late season on salty Great South Bay back in the day - show rust bleeding from the keels. The later extruded keels, though, seem to "exfoliate" their ballast more readily.


This is one of my original Model 72s - but with my second paint job on it. I re-painted them when I first got them - when I was 14 - because I've always been a bit of a fussbudget.....





View attachment Herters 72 Mallard Drake.jpg



In recent years I have become enamored of the smaller Model 63s. I prefer the older flat-bottomed birds if I can find them. I use them on small waters so oversize is not critical.


https://stevenjaysanford.com/pintail-rehabbing-herters-smaller-decoys/


Enjoy!


SJS

 

[roy brewington]

Thanks Steve. Noticed those little pin holes you mentioned hence leading to the internal weight question. So far no rust bleeding on these. Guessing maybe these were the ol fellas last decoys he purchased before giving it up and maybe weren,t used much. Quite a few of the victors keels were bleeding thru badly and several had expanded and cracked plastic retainer so they must have had quite a bit of use. Had to trash about 8 of those for that reason & body cracking. I,ll probably never float any of them but they are neat to keep around.