Featured NW Coast wood totem

I found this carving at a dingy estate sale that had nothing else like it, and my first thought was that it was a fairly quickly-made tourist carving, perhaps made from a commercial board, perhaps from the 1950's-60's.

But after having it sit around the house for a while, I'm feeling like it has more 'presence' than I first thought, and shows skill and proportion. Please share your thoughts about it.

It's 10" tall, 3.5" across the back, and 4.25" at its widest (from the back to the tip of the snout). I think it's cedar, and don't know if it was stained or if it's just darkened over time.

Thank you!

 

@komokwa , @all_fakes .

 

nice classic Haida style wolf
old growth red cedar wood
nice attention paid to the head....quickly done body....
likely was glued to a base with the artists siggy on it..
i'd venture circa 1980....after that old growth got harder to get...for smaller carvings.
have u cleaned it......?

 

I have not cleaned it. What do you recommend?

 

lightly damp soft cloth.....

but my question was more concerned with the lack of build up in the cut lines and crevasses ......
that wood is hard to get but not impossible .....making the carving newer ....unless it was in a showcase for a long time.....

it's a soft wood so chips to the ears and scuffs to the nose can and do happen in a move or with rough handling......as evidence of the loss of the base....
as opposed to speaking to it's age....

although.....signing the base.....and not the pole itself.......more of a pre 80's thing... ( with exceptions of course !!).......

R U good and confused now ?
,,,

 

Thanks for the ID. There is some dust in the creases: here's a better picture.



And here's a better pic of the base. Would it have been glued? As I don't see any nail holes.

 

junior carvers studying at K'san would make poles like this....there were no bases

& now with your new pics no basis to think one was here.....although the bottoms of glued poles were roughed up to accept the glue....but your residue looks like a store label....

Yours does have a residue mark on the upper back which may have held a siggy !! ???

The dust you show....the atmospheric pollution, the wood and carving still speak to me of late 70's early 80's...

 

Love your detective work! Thank you.

 

It's a passion................

 

I agree with everything Komo said. Nice cedar, pretty well-carved. One would expect a signature for a carving of that vintage; but there could be a number of reasons for that lack.