The task of identifying decoys by even the best known makers, many of whom didn't bother to sign or initial their handiwork, is seldom easy...but when twin brothers, born more than a century ago, in a semiliterate backwoods community, in which very few records were kept, it is quite a task.

Both men carved decoys in the same woodshed shop and signed them, if at all, with initials they both shared: L.D. Lem & Lee Dudley were born near Knotts Island on the outer banks of North Carolina and grew up to be market gunners specializing in Canvasback, Redhead and other diving ducks. Most of the decoys they carved were for their own use, but a handful of Ruddy, Widgeon and Pintail decoys are known to have been either sold or given away before they died. Collector Bill Mackey wrote that the heads carved by the Dudleys are "the most beautifully conceived and splendidly carved" he has ever seen. Of course, it's possible that one of the brothers concentrated on whittling the heads, while the other took care of the body. All in all you have one of the finest decoys for anyone's collection.