Miles Traveled...

Here is an interview with Robert V. Bryan, carver of the Pacific Brant decoy above. I did this interview at his home in Walnut Creek in 2007 after speaking to Mr. Bryan a couple of times on the phone. He was born in Arcata, California in 1920; his grandparents were among the town's first inhabitants. His decoy found its way to my collection after traveling across the U.S. at least twice. According to Mr. Bryan, the brant was one of about two dozen that he carved prior to leaving for military service in Korea around 1946. While he was abroad, the rig was used by a close friend Lewis "Lewey" Raice. Lewey Raice was the nephew of Lyle Lancaster of Arcata, whose decoys can be seen Here.  Mr. Bryan used Lyle's decoys to fashion his own rig, and the similarities are evident. After Mr. Bryan returned from the War, he and Lewey used the rig while stake blind gunning in South Humbolt Bay until sometime in the 1950's when Mr. Bryan  lost track of the decoys after relinquishing possession to Lewey. The decoy pictured above surfaced sometime there after in the collection of August Sebastiani, son of  Samuele Sebastiani, founder of Sebastiani Winery in Sonoma, California, where it stayed until the mid-1980's when August's collection went to auction. From there, it found its way across the United States to the Guyette & Schmidt auction house in Maryland, where it was again purchased and sent to my collection where it currently resides. It isn't the prettiest decoy in the collection and it is one of the simplest, but in its simplicity it has a practical beauty.