Gilnockie Coquette was born in 1938.
And she was an anomaly.
Even in those days, she was a bit plain looking.
And she had no interest in hunting or doing any sort of retriever work.
But by three different sires, she produced four bench champions, two field champions, and two dual champion, one of which will be featured in another post.
She is a very good example of how apparently talentless dogs can provide needed genes in any bloodline.
She was one of Ralph Boalt’s dogs. Boalt’s dog were situated in Winona, Minnesota, although the Gilnockie line was located in Englewood, Colorado.
Boalt would have a major influence on the breed, campaigning them hard in the Midwest as working retrievers. Even today, the main region for performance-bred goldens is in the Upper Midwest. These working retrievers were also shown, and they did fairly well. There were no such distinctions as working and show types. They were just goldens.
Coquette may be a bit plain looking, but I like her expression. She looks very much like a modern field-line dog, and many of the field-line dogs living in the US today descend from her through her more prodigious progeny.
I see that look in a lot of goldens, it’s the look that won the breed.
The eye shape is changing now a bit, away from the rounded shape seen here, to a more oval shape.
There’s a bit of white in the chest, too.
Gilnockie Coquette’s sire, Eng. Am. Ch. Bingo of Yelme, was imported by John Wallace (Whitebridge kennels, St. Louis area). Bingo had field trial placements in the UK, and also some in the US in the Amateur stake, which at that time did not carry championship points. But he was a true dual-purpose dog, and became a strong influence on US Goldens through the 1940s-50s.
Gilnockie was originally the kennel name of Bart Armstrong, Winnipeg (Canada) a good friend of Sam Magoffin. On Armstrong’s death, the kennel name was transferred to Magoffin, and the kennel in Colorado maintained by John Rogers Magoffin, Sam’s brother.
I don’t find her plain-looking at all. I see a beautiful dog with an intelligent and willing-to-please expression and a gorgeous dark coat.
To be honest with you, I find her gorgeous.