Miniature Canvasback decoy pair on stands by the Elliott Brothers, Easton, Maryland. Clean, dry original paint. Great pair of rare minis from the eastern shore.
 
“Chank” (1904–?) and Bill (1904–1971), twin brothers, were among the last commercial makers of wooden and cork shooting decoys in Talbot County. Like Ed Parsons (1856–1937) before them, they produced thousands of decoys to supply the many hunters who traveled to the region. From the 1860s well into the twentieth century, the miles of creeks and coves bordering the rivers and islands of the Chesapeake Bay offered some of the finest duck-hunting grounds on Maryland’s Eastern Shore.

Decoys produced by the Elliott brothers vary in both style and quality. When time permitted, they were fully capable of turning out birds of notably high quality. Their work is readily identifiable by a distinctive “Elliott look”: flat-bottomed forms with deep cuts separating the bill from a characteristically narrow head. The eyes are painted and set high on the head.

Elliott Brothers decoys are appreciated as honest working Chesapeake Bay birds from the closing chapter of the region’s commercial decoy-making tradition.