Virginia Club Brands will be listed here.. A-Z order

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PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION OF BRAND:

G.C.C. is a burned brand in block letters, all CAPS, with a period after each letter.  The brand measures 3/4″ high x 3 3/8″ wide.

BACKGROUND:

G.C.C. is the brand of the Gunston Cove Club on the Potomac River near Lorton VA. Gunston Cove is an inlet of the Potomac River, at the confluence of Accotink Creek and Pohick Creek in Northern Virginia. The Cove forms the northern boundary of Mason Neck, once home to revolutionary hero George Mason and now site of several regional parks and the Mason Neck National Wildlife Refuge.
Most of the decoys bearing this brand were by well-known makers from Havre de Grace MD, but many of them differed from decoys used on the Susquehanna Flats in that they were fitted with wooden keels with screw-on lead weights, which one must assume aided in their effective use in the swift-moving waters of the Potomac River in that area.

THIS BRAND HAS BEEN IDENTIFIED ON THE FOLLOWING DECOYS:

REFERENCES/SOURCES:

Wikipedia

Discussions with members of the Potomac Decoy Collectors Association

INITIAL CONTRIBUTOR:

Steven Brown

ADDITIONAL CONTRIBUTORS:

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PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION OF BRAND:

GRA on a James Currier blackduck hen; all CAPS, block letters, no periods; brand is 2 1/4″ long by 11/16″ high

BACKGROUND:

GRA is the brand of Green Run Association (later known as Green Run Lodge), a hunting club on Assateague Island VA. Green Run Inlet was first hunted from floating shantyboats about 1924 before they were pulled up on land in 1946 to form the first hunting lodge.

THIS BRAND HAS BEEN IDENTIFIED ON THE FOLLOWING DECOYS:

REFERENCES/SOURCES:

“Historic Context Study of Waterfowl Hunting Camps and Related Properties within Assateague Island National Seashore, Maryland and Virginia”
by Ralph E. Eshelman, Ph.D. and Patricia A. Russell, Eshelman & Associates July 21, 2004

INITIAL CONTRIBUTOR:

Steven Brown

ADDITIONAL CONTRIBUTORS:

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PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION OF BRAND:

SARDINE is a burned brand in block letters, all CAPS, no periods. Brand measures 3/8″ high x 2 1/2″ wide.

BACKGROUND:

SARDINE was a 40′ schooner built in 1870 in Norfolk County VA and homeported in Norfolk. According to an article in the 10 September 1899 issue of the Virginia- Pilot, SARDINE’s captain Myers Early once received a fine of $20 for having engaged in “oyster roughing”.  Little else is known about her ownership or use, other than she almost certainly was used for duck hunting in the Norfolk VA area and is the only logical source of the branding iron used on the circa 1870’s-1880’s John Graham decoy shown. The brand shown was discovered by present owner of the decoy only a couple years ago, and is the only example yet seen.

THIS BRAND HAS BEEN IDENTIFIED ON THE FOLLOWING DECOYS:

REFERENCES/SOURCES:

List of Merchant Vessels of the United States 1887, U.S. Bureau of Inspection & Navigation, Government Printing Office 1888

INITIAL CONTRIBUTOR:

Patricia Bowers

ADDITIONAL CONTRIBUTORS:

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PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION OF BRAND:

SYCAMORE LANDING is a burned brand on the the bottom of the decoy in all capital letters.  Sycamore is stacked above Landing.

BACKGROUND:

Sycamore Point was a private hunting lodge and gunning shore in Lorton, Virginia on the Potomac River’s Mason Neck. It was located at the southernmost part of Fairfax County, on Sycamore Point, fronting the Potomac about half-way between the High Point Club and the Hallowing Point Club. The property was owned by Norma Bowler Lewis (1887-1978), later known as Lady Willmott Lewis, a wealthy Washington heiress and socialite. Lewis herself was an accomplished duck hunter and she and her three sons, Charles and Ludlow King and their half-brother, John Bowler Hull, frequently hosted Washington, D.C.’s high society, business elites, political and military leaders, as well as national and international beau monde for a weekend of shooting and socializing. At least one of Lewis’ sons, Charles Bowler “Chick” King (1906-1944) is known to have made a few decoys to supplement the family’s rig, which consisted mainly of Upper Chesapeake Bay and factory birds.

THIS BRAND HAS BEEN IDENTIFIED ON THE FOLLOWING DECOYS:

REFERENCES/SOURCES:

INITIAL CONTRIBUTOR:

Chad Tragakis

ADDITIONAL CONTRIBUTORS: