Charles Bunn and Newbold Edgar and Friends

               
                                                        The Bunn-Edgar Connection
                                                            (Connecting The Dots)
           
    A group of hollow floating stool with the name EDGAR branded on the bottom of the decoys have repeatedly been sold to collectors for decades.  In 1966, they would begin to be credited to Bill Bowman by Newbold L. Herrick. and Harold E. Herrick.  The typical description for the decoys when sold can be found in Oliver's auction March 2, 1996 catalog:
 
  "An outstanding Brant Decoy by Bill Bowman of Long Island, circa 1890-1900. Very fine,  untouched original paint.  Some chipping and a slight wear from many years of gunning use.  A tight old crack in the neck. Branded with a deep "EDGAR"in the bottom".
         
                                    This description leaves many unanswered  questions.
                                             
                                                  What was Edgar's first name?
                                                     Where did Edgar live?
                                                     Where did Edgar hunt?
                                                     Who did Edgar hunt with?
                                                  Where did the rig come from?
                                                 
 As far as I know no one ever tried to discover who the person was behind the "EDGAR" brand.
                                         
 In my first article in Decoy Magazine on the decoys and folk art made by William Henry Bennett (1867-1954) which had wrongly been attributed to Eugene Cuffee (1866-1941) around 1981
       (see Decoy Magazine, "Solving the Mystery of the Chief Cuffee Decoys" Nov. / Dec. 2003).  On page 13 of my first article, I introduced decoy collectors to the work of Charles Sumner Bunn (1865-1952) which had wrongly been attributed to "Bill Bowman" in the past.  In the article I also presented the identity of the heretofore mystery person behind the EDGAR brand.
                                         
                                             Newbold Leroy Edgar (1863-1924)
                                                       Attorney at Law
                                                    Firm: Bull & Edgar

There is also a photo on page 13 of the article of the brant decoy with the Edgar brand from the Richard Oliver Auctions Fall 1994 credited  to "Bill Bowman".  On November 12th, 2014 Guyette & Deeter sold the same Brant, lot 16,still listed as made by "Bill Bowman" even though the auction house has been given ample evidence to the contrary.

   
 Also in Joe Jannsen's article, "Charles Sumner Bunn and the rigs of Southampton" page 25, we see the decoy's weight along with the Edgar brand on the bottom of the decoy.  Also see the weight on page 31 the Bunn Redhead with Bunn carved in the bottom.  These types of weights are found on the decoys that Bunn personally rigged.  The lead weights are attached with a large brass screw.  Bunn left a hump on the inside bottom half of the decoys in order to have enough meat to be able to securely hold the screw in place.
 
 On page 12 of my first article is the now famous 1906 photo of Bunn and his floating stool at Madison Square Garden's Annual Sportsman's Show wrongly cited as 1920.  That date was taken from John Strong's book titled, The Algonqikan People Of Long Island  From Earliest Time To 1700
This photo was later proven that the real date was 1906.  The title for the book is also misleading since it does not stop at 1700 as stated.  It continues into the 21st century.  Most of John Strong's work is extremely flawed.

 The decoys seen in the 1906 photograph on Bunn's table are the same type of decoys that were later said to be made by Bill Bowman in 1966 (this was based solely on a fabrication by brothers Newbold and Herald Herrick with the assistance of Bill Mackey).
 
 Also on page 13 I wrote, "David Bennett stopped by my shop the next day with more information.  He had found a book that told of Charles Bunn being the exclusive guide for a wealthy patrician sportsmen named Newbold Leroy Edgar.  The book Dave was talking about was titled, "Discovering the Past" by East Hampton native Jennette Edward Rattry (1893-1974) and editor of the East Hampton Star newspaper.
   
 In her book she wrote, "The Standard Oil barons and railroad magnates fell in love with Montauk in the 1890's  Newbold Edgar, one of the most active members and still remembered here as a King among men, would come on all winter, bringing his Shinnecock Indian guide Charles Bunn"
(Decoy Magazine Jan / Feb 2004, J. Reason).

Newbold Edgar was born in Newport, Rhode Island  and is known to have had residences in New York City, Tuxedo N.Y., and Miami.  He also built his "Summer Cottage"(Mansion) in Southampton, three miles away from Bunn's house (see Decoy Magazine Nov/Dec 2014 Jannsen).

                                     The East Hampton Star October 24, 1935
                       An article about the gunning season on the east end in the past.
 
   "They (the hunters) would arrive the day the Law was off and have great sport shooting geese ducks, foxes, and rabbits.  Newbold Edgar who almost lived at Montauk, winters would always have his guide Charles Bunn a well educated Shinnecock."

                                         The Brooklyn Daily Eagle Dec. 1, 1909, page 13.

"Nov. 30th Newbold Edgar the wealthy sportsmen of New York and Southampton arrived here yesterday bringing with a retinue of attendants and dogs.  He will hunt fox for several days.  He went at once to the Montauk Inn, where he will have his headquarters during his stay."

                List of members and committees of the exclusive The Tuxedo Club
            Newbold Edgar is listed as being on the Pigeon Shooting Committee.

                                     Newbold Leroy Edgar, Celebrity

Where he went and what he did was newsworthy.  Newbold Edgar was old money he was a direct decadent of Daniel Webster.  He was an avid early balloonist and made frequent trips to Europe throughout his life.  He spent part of his winters in Florida attending social events and trophy fishing.  He and his wife attended society functions through out the seasons.  Mr. and Mrs. Newbold Edgar are listed in Society columns from New York to Florida.

Shortly after my first article was printed in Decoy Magazine on Bennett and Bunn and their work, collector, writer, author  Dick Cowan conducted an interview with Orson Munn Jr. on Jan. 23, 2004. Dick reviewed Orson Munn Sr.'s gunning diary which contained pertinent hunting dates and some of the people who Orson Sr. hunted with.  The diary directly links together Newbold Edgar, Orson Munn Sr., Newbold Herrick and Charles Bunn.

Cowan sat on this information for years as the battle raged on to prevent the acceptance of my research.  Dick was afraid to take a stand openly on Bunn.  I can only assume it was because he didn't want to be attacked for telling the truth as I had been after printing the truth. 

But it was good of Dick to have shared his notes with Joe Jannsen shortly before his death.  At an L.I.D.C.A. meeting Dick had pointed out that 4 of the known Charles Bunn rigs come from Long Island's East End, not from the West End (Lawrence, L.I.) as the Herrick's had claimed.  Some of the excerpts from the diary were printed in Joe Jannsen's article in Decoy Magazine Nov./ Dec. 2014 the cover article was titled, "Charles Sumner Bunn and the rigs of Southampton", page 25.

This article clearly shows that Newbold Herrick and Harold Herrick knew Bunn and that Newbold Herrick undoubtedly bought decoys directly from Bunn.  The proof is the black duck stool that N.L. Herrrick donated to the Museums at Stony Brook.  These two Bunn Black ducks are branded NLH  on the bottom.  The brand also proves that he lied about Bill Bowman making the decoys.  He would have gotten these decoys directly from Bunn.
                                                       
                                                                 The Munn Diary

    "Charles Bunn & I went to the island and struck a small flight of plovers (Sept 7,1907)"

   "Mr, Edgar took me down ( down refers to Long Island east end) to his Club shooting. I had a very nice time.  I distinguish my self as a rotten shot.  I did much better along on Sunday Bunn was a little worse. (Oct 17,1907)"

   "11/8 to 11/13/1914) w/Newbold Herrick battery 25 broadbill sears pond for blacks 22"

  "10/2 w Herrick in a hole in the meadow at Flanders  29 black & teal 1 sprig 1 woodcock."
                      (Flanders refers to the exclusive Flanders Sportsmen's Club)

 "10/17- Herrick Sears pond 17 blacks. 2 more days, with Herrick, 1 with Bert Low, Judge Cornell".

"8/18/ 17 Ensign Herrick and I went snipe shooting and killed 8 little yellowlegs & 1 yelper quite a few more days."

The April 10, 1938 Brooklyn Daily Eagle article about N.L. Herrick and Orson Munn Sr. were facing charges for baiting ducks at the Flanders Club where they were were members.  They were found not guilty.  However both men resigned from the club in less that a year.  The club obviously didn't like a spotlight on there activities and some one had to walk the plank.

 The day and nights of the summer season in Southampton were packed social activities; luncheons, parties, polo, golf, riding, sailing, summer gunning and fishing.  The newspapers were filled with information on the social events of wealthy the elite in Southampton.

The Sun newspaper N.Y., N.Y. 05/1914 (Southampton), "Orson D.Munn and Newbold Edgar have rented cottages.  H. Don Ives who is at the Art Village will sail for England soon."  All three men mentioned are Bunn clients and are the owners of 3 of the 4 rigs mentioned from Southampton pointed out by Dick Cowan .
 
                                                       Connecting the dots.

                                       Bunn made decoys for Newbold L.Edgar

                                       Bunn made decoys for Orson D,Munn Sr.

                                        Bunn made decoys for Orson Munn Jr.

                                       Bunn made decoys for Newbold L. Herrick

                                        Bunn made decoys for H. Davis Ives
                         
                                        Orson Munn Sr. hunted with with N.L. Herrick
             
                                        Orson Munn Sr. hunted with Newbold Edgar.

                                 
 Harold Herrick, Newbold Herrick and Newbold Edgar were all members of the N.Y. Linnaean
Society; 1894-1899, 1896-1897.

 Newbold Edgar and David Abercrombie took Charles Bunn Big Game Hunting in Canada.

 This shows not the well known "six degrees of separation". This shows zero degrees of separation.

                                                      The players age's in 1906

                                                             Charles Bunn, 41
                                                             Harold Herrick, 53
                                                            N. L. Edgar, 43
                                                            A.H. Carman, 48
                                                             O. Munn Sr., 22
                                                             N.L. Herrick, 21
                                                             H.E. Herrick, 16
                                             
                 

                                               The Annual Sportsman's Show at Madison  Square Garden

      In both the Martinez transcripts and in the 1952 article on Bunn in the News Review, a Riverhead newspaper, six months before his death tells of Bunn attending  and display at "the National Sportsmen's Shows for many years".  The 1906 photo shows Bunn exhibiting as part of the "All Long Island Exhibit".  This exhibit was part of the annual shows for many years.
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   I have recently discovered a second photos of Charles Bunn and his duck stool at his booth at the 1906 Sportsman's show. (Harpers Weekly March 10,1906 ) One more Dot for Bunn.

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      The "All Long Island Exhibit"was coordinated by the extremely well known Capt.Will Graham,  the owner "Ye Anchorage Inn"in Bluepoint, L.I.  It was Will Graham who is credited with printing "The Setting Sun" a small booklet on Bunn, his life and his work as a guide and decoy maker. It sold for 25 cents. Graham also advertised the Ye Anchorage Inn in the booklet.  The admission to the Sportsman's show in 1906 was 50 cents for adults and 25 cents for children.  The show ran from Feb.20 - March 8th and was open daily from 10:00 am -11:00 pm (17 days 14 hours a days adds up to 238 viewing hours for the show).
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                        The Nassau - Suffolk section The Sunday News April 6, 1952

   "For many years Bunn decoys were annually on display at the New York Sportsmen's Shows and no real hunter would ever pass up a chance to add Bunn decoys to his hunting equipment."
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    It would stretch the imagination to the breaking point to believe that young wealthy gunners like the Herrick brothers would not have attended the annual Sportsman's Shows in Manhattan where they would have seen and met Bunn at his booth.  We know Newbold L. Herrick was at the show in 1912 because he tied for second place trap shooting competition, representing the Crescent Athletic Club, and also in 1913 he was "top amateur gun killing 47 out of 50 birds" (see Brooklyn Daily Eagle March 10,1912 and Feb. 28, 1913).
                                 
     The  original 1906 original which came from the David Bunn Martine collection shows in the back ground a large banner for the Abercrombie & Fitch display on the second floor.  A&F display would have been a destination for the Herrick Brothers.  Their wealth and documented gunning activities would indicate they would have personally known David Abercrombie.  One more dot.

 David Abercrombie is documented as being a friend of Charles Bunn. David Abercrombie is also documented as being at the 1906 annual Sportsman's Show (see Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Feb. 25, 2006 page14).  One more dot.

Though I have never been able to document that A & F sold Bunn's decoys, however considering the documented relationship between David Abercrombie and Bunn, it would be logical to assume that A& F would have promoted and sold Bunn decoys.

                                             

                                                        The Newbold Edgar Shorebird
                                                                 One More Dot
                                                                Or The Final Dot?

A few years back Joe Jannsen discovered that a Long Island decoy collector had a Snipe decoy with EDGAR brand on it.This snipe decoy has been referred to by some as, "the most important Bunn shorebird decoy ever".  This is not because of its great condition.  The decoy is said to be a Black bellied plover.  In my opinion, the paint loss is so extensive that you can not determine what the actual species. It also has numerous shot holes. A bird in this condition might normally sell for $5,000 to $7,000.  On a scale 1-10.with 10 being excellent, in my opinion this decoy would be a 4 condition-wise.

What makes this decoy so important is its historical value. The EDGAR brand found on it's underside accounts for the importance and value.  Joe Jannsen tried to acquire the bird, but the owner wanted far more than it was really worth on the market.  I am fairly certain the owner of the decoy had no idea of its importance and I doubt if the owner even knew who Edgar was or his relationship to Charles Bunn.

According to a source, the owner believed the decoy was valuable because Timmy Seiger had told him that it was the only know black bellied plover by "Bill Bowman" and believe it or not, the owner actually believed Timmy!  This is a the classic case of the incredibly blind leading the incredibly blind.

When Mackey and the Herrick brothers hatched the Bill Bowman fabrication both the floating stool and the shorebird decoys were all assigned to "Bill Bowman".  When I first announced my discovery that Charles Bunn to be the real maker of the"Bowman" decoys, one faction of the Bowman supporters said even if I could prove Bunn made the floating stool,  I had no proof for the shorebird stool.  This was predicated on the 1906 photo of Bunn with his duck stool at Madison Square Garden.  It is impossible to dismiss this photo, though some have tried, sometimes comically like charlatan Ronnie McGrath.  But there are no shorebird decoys seen in the photograph. In their opinion, if you didn't have a photo of the shorebird decoys with Bunn, then you couldn't say Bunn made them.
                         ------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                   Mind you, there are no photographs of "Bowman".        
                                  And there is no photos of "Bowman" with decoys!              
                             Because Bowman the decoy maker is a fabrication!!!
                     -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
   
     
 When Joe Jannsen first saw the Edgar brand on the shorebird he knew immediately what an important decoy it was and received permission of owner to photograph the decoy, even if he couldn't acquire this incredibly important decoy.  For years Joe and I had been looking and hoping to find a Bunn shorebird with the Edgar brand.

Another interesting thing about this decoy is that it appeared in the Timmy Seiger L.I.D.C.A. primarily worthless decoy picture book titled, "The Decoys of Long Island".  On page 40 listed as a "William Bowman" we find the Edgar branded decoy, but there is mention of the EDGAR brand.  In fact there is no information other than the species and their supposed maker.  On page 42, we find Alan Haid's Bunn Redhead and a Black Duck with Newbold L. Herrick's brand which is also not mentioned.  On page 39, there is a decoy made on the same pattern as the Edgar branded decoy.  This one is listed as a Willet.  What is left of the paint on the Edgar decoy's belly appears to be the same as the Willet.

This Edgar snipe decoy was the genesis for this post which I began to write months ago but held off posting it in hopes that Joe could eventually acquire this very important bird.  This week I received an email from Joe who wanted to know if I would be around on Friday.   I said yes.  When he came over what a great surprise awaited me.  He brought over the Edgar snipe decoy that he had finally been able to buy from its former owner.

Even though we have produced more than enough supporting documented evidence for Charles Bunn as the maker of the decoys and that there is no way to deny the link between Bunn and Edgar and after all the research we have compiled on Bunn, Newbold Herrick, Harold Herrick, Orson Munn Senior and Jr. and Newbold Edgar, there are still those that deny Bunn his place in American history
                                     
                                          No Documentation for "Bowman"
                                                 (The Only Bowman Dot)

The only dot to be unsuccessfully connected to "Bowman is found in Gunners Paradise, page 25.  Three sentences in the gunning diary of Harold Herrick Sr. (1853-1930).

Gunners Paradise: Two entries confirm that a Bill Bowman gunned the Islands marches near Lawrence but it doesn't confirm that he ever made a decoy in his life.
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    "August 21 1890: old Bill  Bowman who gave me the place had killed four before I arrived;"
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     "August 31 1891: A flock of a dozen yellowlegs coming to decoys was frightened by Bowman"
        "Bowman has been in tent [?] for a month has not got over six a day."
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    This is the only non-evidence that the Bill Bowman faction cling too as their primary source for Bill Bowman, decoy maker.  No where in the two entries in the Herrick gunning diaries does it indicate he carved decoys.  No dealer, collector, museum etc., should ever refer to the Bunn decoys as Bill Bowman decoys.
                                                 



   
 

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