North Western-Style Carved TOTEM Pole

Vintage abstract tribal figure depicting a snake descending a torso

Vintage carved figure of a male dancer with cross hatched ear design

A very nice hand carved and painted wood totem pole, circa 1970s. The totem stands and 26" H with a 16.5" wingspan and is in excellent condition for its age...

Makah TOTEM by Young Doctor (1851-1934). Neah Bay, Washington. This monumental pole is a significant piece of Northwest Coast art and Seattle history that was previously owned by Joseph Edward “Daddy” Standley, the founder of the iconic Ye Olde Curiosity Shop in Seattle, Washington. The pole was displayed for years on the grounds of Standley’s “TOTEM Place” estate in West Seattle, across the bay from his iconic ethnographic art and curio shop on the Seattle Waterfront. So popular amongst tourists was the TOTEM Place estate grounds, that the Southwest Seattle Historical Society has stated that “for decades... it was a place where tour buses stopped, and flashbulbs popped. It probably was the most gawked-at, talked-about residence in West Seattle.” This pole was even featured in situ at Standley’s West Seattle home on a postcard that was sold to visitors through Ye Olde Curiosity Shop. While there are multitudes of model poles and other artifacts available to collectors that were sold as souvenirs from Ye Olde Curiosity Shop, objects that were actually owned by Standley are virtually unknown in the art market. The vast majority of objects that Standley esteemed and considered his private collection have remained with his family and descendants and are on permanent display in the store. Among the objects owned by Standley to make their way into the Smithsonian was a Spirit Canoe sculpture by Makah master carver Young Doctor (1851-1934), the likely carver of this pole. It would appear that Standley and Young Doctor had a good working relationship as a number of pieces, including this TOTEM, an elaborate transformation mask, the aforementioned Spirit Canoe model at NMAI, and a full model set of a Makah whaling crew and canoe were made for Standley by the artist. This large-scale TOTEM pole is an exceptional example of turn-of-the-20th-century Northwest Coast carving...