Introducing The Draftsman

By Arturo DelFavero RM552, Marc Banks RM538, Don Wolfe RM981

Some time ago I had the pleasure of purchasing a beautiful carving of a hobo in a safari hat (1), or at least this is how I viewed it. Shortly after the usual show and tell Marc Banks contacted me and told me that he owned two (2 & 3) by the same artist. He also stated that Don Wolfe owned a fourth example (4) of which he promptly sent a photo. To my surprise none of the others had anything close to the same type hats, although they did possess a band adornment that set far to the backside. We kicked around a couple of names but none seem to fit the bill. Marc had noticed that all the carvings did display features as if an engineer had lain out and executed a design, such as a draftsman would do. So at this point Marc, Don, and I present to you the nicknamed carver "The Draftsman."

The carving characteristics for "The Draftsman" are as follows:

1. Lines and angles used to make up the design.
2. Hat band adornment set left of center of the addition.
3. Pointed end hat brims.
4. Head and facial hair created by using a beading tool or circular punch.
5. Added ears (though different) sit low on head.
6. Flying V collars.
7. Similar jacket collars with button holes (on three specimens).
8. Loose cross hatch design over shoulder area (on three specimens).
9. Dates obliterated on all.
10. No or very minor profile alteration.
11. Field behind head very similarly finished.
12. Full to partial LIBERTY left intact on three examples. LIBERTY completely removed on one example.