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15 TheSouthShoreMagazine.com "impressionistic"- more suggestive of a bird in action, while the Burr style is "busy"- an active, alive carving, with deep feather and wing detail. Mosher said when he began carving for himself, "I thought everybody made decoys like Lincoln and the Burrs." He has since carved with "most of the best carvers on the East Coast, and I learn from everybody." He describes his style as "more impressionistic like Joe Lincoln vs. the detailed style of [the iconic East Harwich Master Carver] A. Elmer Crowell." An avid collector, Mosher began selling decoys to feed his "habit". "There was a point when I was collecting that I realized you can sell these things. I carved to sell so I could buy more for my collection." Although he began collecting different artists, he is now focused on the Hingham carvers – the Burrs and Lincoln. "I want to bring them back to Hingham." Indeed, Mosher himself is considered a carver of renown. He has won ribbons six times at the World Wildfowl Championship at Maryland's Ward Museum of Wildfowl Art, and has served as a judge there as well. He also won Best of Show at the Chesapeake Challenge. He said he went to take his shorebird home after the challenge, only to find it was going to be on exhibit at the Ward Museum for six months. "I hadn't won Best of Show there before, and I didn't realize I couldn't just take it home with me!" Mosher has also taught his craft at the Hingham Historical Society under a Ward Museum program funded by a National Endowment of the Arts grant. He was chosen for the grant three years in a row, from 2009-2011. His work has also appeared at the Peabody Essex Museum, where he has also given carving demonstrations. His son also carves, and his granddaughter is showing an interest in the painting aspect of decoy art. Bill Sarni, another Hingham carver making a name for himself, is also dedicated to preserving the craft through teaching. He said he tries to keep to what he calls the "traditional Hingham style" he saw all around as a boy growing up on Accord Pond in the 1950's. He knew Joe Lincoln's widow, Mary, and learned about Joe's work from her and others. He also spent time watching Russ Burr carve his miniatures as a teenager. would sell ducks and birds to the train conductors going through town, who in turn would sell to middlemen for restaurants and milliners in Boston. In those days, market gunners were well- paid, making as much money as a stevedore. Lincoln's decoys were purely tools of the trade back then, designed to look relaxed and well-fed, according to research in a book written by Duxbury collector Cap Vinal. Lincoln's decoys, although not signed, are distinctive in their simplicity. Peter Clarke, who, along with his wife Diane, is a well-known collector and dealer through their website, The Sportsman's Eye, explains: "Joe Lincoln's decoys were valued by hunters because of the form, craftsmanship, and the paint. In 1936 the shooting of migratory birds was regulated mightily. One of the aspects was the hunters were no longer allowed to shoot over live birds; therefore decoys became more in demand and more valuable. The numbers of decoys in large rigs also added to the demand. Joe Lincoln and other carvers were carving a wider variety of decoys, mixing Black Ducks and Mallards; Blue Bills with Canvasbacks, etc." Clarke added, "Decoys never stopped evolving. The handmade line soon became finely made with cedar, pine, and pressed cork. The pressed cork available washed up on shore from life boats and life jackets from World War II. One pressed cork in our collection was carved by Russ Burr from Hingham." Lincoln used mostly white cedar, Clarke said. Lincoln's decoys sold for around $3 each new. Some of his decoys have, in the recent past, fetched prices in the six figures at auction. Russ Burr and his family were also well-known decoy artists of the day, and like Lincoln, highly sought after by collectors today. Burr is renowned for his miniatures, while his father Elisha was also a well-known duck and shorebird decoy carver. Alston "Shorty" Burr continued the family tradition, carving miniatures using his Uncle Russ' patterns. According to Bob Mosher, there is little difference in style between the three, and with the exception of the miniatures, one has to look at the signature of the decoy to find the artist. He adds that "Shorty" Burr's miniatures are considered cruder than his uncle's. The difference between the Lincoln birds and the Burr carvings, though, is like night and day. Mosher calls the Lincoln style Bill Sarni Mosher with two Bluebill decoys - on the left is one carved by Russ Burr, on the right is the more simple style of Joe Lincoln.