Featured Souvenir Totem - Patrick Seale - Alaska Black Diamond

Does anyone know the story about these totem pole carvings signed "Patrick Seale"? I see tons of them on the internet, and asking prices are all over the map. I picked up this one in a box of miscellaneous at a recent auction. 8 1/2" tall.

Thanks.

@komokwa, @all_fakes

 

can't say he's native though....

https://www.alaskabestshopping.com/pages/alaska-black-diamond

 

https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/1591418860/vintage-patrick-seale-signed-the-legend

I think that price is why we don't trust sellers who don't know the market 4 what they have.......

 

search

 

Ah, yes - this is their 16" version of "Fogwoman", now out of stock but originally $271.

https://www.alaskabestshopping.com/...n-totem-pole-16-inches?variant=34602674618536

Patrick Seale seems to have specialized in this particular design.

 

and he banged them out .........

 

Yes; the Black Diamond company has several carvers, who produce thousands of identical totem poles, apparently hand-carved from yellow cedar. It is not clear whether any of the carvers are actually native. Much like the cast-totem companies (such as BOMA/Panabo Sales) they are standardized designs, so that one will find any number of identical copies of the same totem. Most souvenir shops in Alaska and the Northwest US will have some of the Black Diamond totems.
Reading between the lines of the link above, I suspect the phrase "dedicated to their cultural heritage" without further details means that none of the carvers are actually native; and as said, they are banging out the various standard designs in an almost factory-like way.
Just speaking for myself, I don't find their products particularly interesting or of value to me personally, because of that standardization, their mass-marketing, and the lack of details about the actual makers.

 

And for comparison or search purposes, other signatures commonly found on the Black Diamond totems are Vic Yeoda or Ray Moore.