{"id":4148,"date":"2024-10-07T20:09:59","date_gmt":"2024-10-08T01:09:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/atomiccoffee.com\/WWA\/?p=4148"},"modified":"2024-10-09T19:32:14","modified_gmt":"2024-10-10T00:32:14","slug":"george-j-hartmann-another-wisconsin-original","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/atomiccoffee.com\/WWA\/george-j-hartmann-another-wisconsin-original\/","title":{"rendered":"George J. Hartmann"},"content":{"rendered":"

Another Wisconsin Original<\/h4>\n

\"George<\/a>George J. Hartmann was \u00a0born in 1913 and lived most of his life in the Milwaukee, WI area. During the 1930\u2019s, in the wake of the \u201cGreat Depression\u201d, George decided to make decoys for his own use. George was an avid waterfowler and routinely hunted the Lake Poygan area. This was the beginning of a decoy carving career for George.<\/p>\n

George\u2019s first rig of decoys were made of cork, with cedar bottom boards and pine heads. A sportshop in Milwaukee (Earl Dewey\u2019s Sporting Goods) saw his decoys and immediately ordered several dozen to sell in the shop.<\/p>\n

As they say, the rest is history, and the Hartmann Decoy Co. of Milwaukee was launched in 1933. This was a part time job for George, but over 42 dozen of his decoys were turned out over the next 5 years. According to archived sales flyers, his decoys sold for $12 a dozen, not too bad for a depression era business. Hartmann\u2019s early decoys were cork with wood heads and bottom boards, and were usually stamped on the bottom with \u201cHartmann Decoy Co. Milwaukee, WI\u201d, and \u00a0dated. He produced mallard, bluebill and canvasback decoys, as well as a number of goose decoys. It is estimated that his total decoy output was 1000 decoys or less.<\/p>\n

In the early 1940\u2019s, a company in Milwaukee (Carry-Lite Decoy Co.- see my previous decoy corner article<\/a>) began to produce a moulded paper mache decoy that was lighter than cork or wood, and cheaper.<\/p>\n

\"George<\/a>George entered the service in 1942 and had a number of carved decoys that were never completed or painted. When George returned from his military service, he produced his last batch of 12 dozen mallard decoys. The price competition with moulded decoys did not justify him continuing his business.<\/p>\n

In 1947, George moved to Tomah, WI and worked for the Veterans Administration hospital as a rehab therapist teaching woodworking.<\/p>\n

In the 1980\u2019s, at the age of 70, George began to carve and paint wood decoys with much more detail than his early years. He entered numerous carving shows and was quite successful, winning many awards; however, he was only producing 3 or 4 decoys per year.<\/p>\n

George\u2019s wood decoys were made from \u00a0native white pine cut from his own property in Northern Wisconsin.<\/p>\n

According to the Tomah Journal<\/em> newspaper, George passed away on March 12, 2015 at the age of 102. He was a Purple Heart recipient from World War 2, an avid waterfowler and an award winning decoy carver. George also served as a Representative of the Wisconsin Conservation Congress for 22 years. George was listed as a \u201cMaster Carver\u201d by Decoy Magazine in 1998.<\/p>\n

Some of George\u2019s early decoys have sold at auction for $100 or less in the past few years. His decoys in excellent condition are in high demand by collectors and can exceed $400 in value, particularly his later decorative wood decoys. The value of Hartmann decoys will only increase, considering that his total production was less than 1000 pieces! As always, consult with a reputable decoy collector or dealer before purchasing any antique decoy to determine authenticity and value.<\/p>\n

George Hartmann is another Wisconsin Original Decoy Carver and Conservationist and would be a great addition to any Wisconsin Decoy Collection.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Another Wisconsin Original George J. Hartmann was \u00a0born in 1913 and lived most of his life in the Milwaukee, WI area. During the 1930\u2019s, in the wake of the \u201cGreat Depression\u201d, George decided to make decoys for his own use. George was an avid waterfowler and routinely hunted the Lake Poygan area. This was the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4149,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4148","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-decoy-corner"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/atomiccoffee.com\/WWA\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4148","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/atomiccoffee.com\/WWA\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/atomiccoffee.com\/WWA\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atomiccoffee.com\/WWA\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atomiccoffee.com\/WWA\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4148"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/atomiccoffee.com\/WWA\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4148\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4349,"href":"https:\/\/atomiccoffee.com\/WWA\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4148\/revisions\/4349"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atomiccoffee.com\/WWA\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4149"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/atomiccoffee.com\/WWA\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atomiccoffee.com\/WWA\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atomiccoffee.com\/WWA\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}