Featured Totem Pole Info

Old weathered cedar wood turns grey.....
& unless it's 160 years old...it doesn't rot that fast..
I don't like the brown wings reverse being so clean but the front....well it looks like it's been dragged across the parking lot...
I'm now starting to sour on this 7 foot pole...wood wise & design wise....

 

Yeah I don't know one wood from another generally, but maybe not cedar then? The front of the wings vs the back, isn't that just the paint weathered and peeling off? When you say your starting to sour, are you suspecting it's not authentic?

 

Where are you from @bweems41 , or maybe I should say "where is your totem pole from ( as you received it ?) . When I was a kid 60's 70's there were totem poles all over California ..in my own backyard there is Harvey West park, Santa Cruz, they had carved Indians and totem poles, and then there was frontier village amusement park in San Jose , which has been gone since the early 80's I believe. I just remember they were all over the place , so that could be one from a long gone park / amusement park.... Hopefully you find a totem pole expert .


https://www.google.com/search?q=fro...jiYS4Ag&bih=663&biw=1366#imgrc=CEMyPS1i1drDxM

https://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/wm5KHQ_Harvey_West_Park_Totem_Pole_Santa_Cruz_California

 

Weathering, of the paint and the wood.....should be consistent on a pole out of doors....
to me...upon close inspection, yours is looking forced .
I'm also paying attention to the NWC formline design....which I'm finding problems with as well as the color scheme.....which is inconsistent with this type of pole.
Unless it was a much taller pole ....which I find to be unlikely....the V shape with a bears head at the bottom........ is nothing I've seen before.
The Bear is an honored ancestor ....it's head is never on the base.
The triangles on the legs of the middle figure.....do not exist in NWC design, and the feet on both creatures too small, and not well made to represent what they are...or should be.

In short....I'm finding too many problems with your pole to say...from what I can see....that it was done by a 1st Nations Northwest Coast carver...

 

I am a totem pole expert........& there's a little one on the left...sitting in my office.
I have a 7 1/2 foot one in the next room.
I've bought and sold them since 1989...

 

Nice office

 

I've never seen corrugated fasteners ..
used to hold wood together on a totem pole.......or any other NWC wood carving..

 

@all_fakes ...........what do you see going on here?

 

have u seen the new pics...........

 

Thanks so much for looking at this so closely! Maybe it's not the authentic piece I was hoping for, but will still look good in my back yard I suppose.

 

The totem pole has been in Orange County, California for some time. Yes I'm starting to think this wasn't carved by any First Nations carver. Maybe you're onto something with the amusement parks!

 

The later photos are not opening for me at the moment, but I'm having some other network issues, so who knows. I was not at all suggesting Simon Charlie, and would not think this was his; the guess about Duncan BC was based on the fact that in earlier years there were a number of carvers there working in eclectic, and rather non-authentic appearing styles.
Just as an example; in that region younger members have studied with mentors such as Hunt family members, and are doing nice and authentic work; but in the 1960s and earlier, driven by the tourist trade, they did things that were pretty much self-taught, and frankly not very good.
Again not pointing to them as a source for this item; just saying that there have been at times native carvers who did work that wasn't very good or authentic.
Most of those carvers can be ID'd by other characteristics however, and this totem doesn't sing out to me as being anyone I know of.
I agree with earlier comments about problematic details.
I'd also note these things: 1) the ovoids in the wings are too square, not anything that would be considered correct in native styles; 2) the divided u-forms in the wings are not correct for native work. 3) the wings in general look an awful lot like earlier Indonesian imports. 4) the eagle's face has a rather Indonesian look.
All told, I'd venture a guess that this is an early Indonesian import, maybe late 1960s, early 1970s or even later, that has been left outside for a number of years and has weathered. But could also be any number of non-native origins also; or even native that happens to look like this. I'd be about 70/30% on those two guesses. Sort of saying I'd think it is about twice as likely to be non-native as native.
As for totem-pole experts....Komokwa is such an expert, though he is rather modest (at times); and some folks might say the same about me...I haven't bought or sold anything like the number of totempoles that Komo has, but have contributed to a museum exhibit and related book on model totem-poles; my core specialties are totem carvers from Metlakatla Alaska, 1900-1950; and the Blunden Harbor/Smith Inlet areas of the Kwakwaka'wakw, 1920-1970. I loaned items from both those areas to the museum, and they took some nice photos.
I think both Komo and I would say that this item shows a number of features that suggest a non-native origin, and few that point to a native source.
I still wish I could see what is on the chest.....but my network is almost crashed at the moment.

 

I'm still certain that the pole in question is loosely based on photo's of the W.Seaweed grave pole at the Namgis site at Alert bay.

The bears head at the bottom...should never be there ...and would not be if a 1st Nations carver made the pole...


"and some folks might say the same about me."
Yes, Steve !!!....I would !!!

"I think both Komo and I would say that this item shows a number of features that suggest a non-native origin, and few that point to a native source."

& that's where @all_fakes expertise complements mine, to arrive at the same conclusions..!