Edward Phillips

Ed Phillips started his waterfowling career at an early age on Tar Bay, but it was not until 1920 that he started carving decoys (Fleckenstein, Decoys 247). Phillips made only the decoys that he needed for his own hunting purposes and therefore maintained a low production. The black ducks, Canada geese, pintails, redheads, scaup and wigeon Phillips carved feature straight necks, rounded bottoms and lead ballasts. These characteristics are typical of the area, but Phillips exerted a lot of effort to paint each decoy with care. Phillips’ miniatures portray a variety of species and maintain the apparent’ skills of a carpenter that are evident in his working decoys. His high quality lures have withstood years of abuse and are renowned as Dorchester County’s best decoys.