Where have you heard controversy about them? Did you see something online? If so, please pass along the link as I would love to see the opinions of others that have studied their development. To me, I simply don't get the fuss I often see about duck breeds in general. At the end of the day, they are ALL selectively bred Mallards (Mallard breeds, not Muscovy). Most of the popular breeds (Mallard derived) are simply mixes of the original few domestic varieties that were developed by selective breeding.
I have also come to realize that there is a lot of "horse trading" in the duck world, LOL. I am not going to go into much more detail on that, but I do believe this applies to Anconas as well. It should be obvious to anyone that has studied the breeds and the development of the duck colors that Anconas are mismarked Magpies. I even have found an old reference (from one of the major duck breeders of the last century) to Magpies that hatch in a broken pattern and how breeders should come up with a different name for them so people don't think it is acceptable for Magpies to look like that.
Now, I can think of *plenty* of reasons why someone would say they are *not* Magpies, not the least of which is how irrational people get about terms like "pure", "true", "purebred", etc.... all terms that, to me, mean almost nothing when applied to domestic ducks (just my opinion). The development of breeds is something that anymore I am reluctant to even engage in conversation about because people go irate and think you are saying something you are not. Just realize though that new breeds typically do not materialize out of thin air. They are developed by a number of methods including mixing other older breeds (how *most* domestic ducks were developed) or selective breeding from variations of existing breeds. The Ancona is no exception.
