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Friday, January 5, 2007

Totally Toklas

posted by on January 5 at 9:15 AM

One of the coolest e-mails I received about my story on Seattle’s Jewish Problem came from Gary Clark, a retired city worker and avid “metal detectorist.”

A couple years ago, Gary, a member of the Cascade Treasure Club, was out hunting for treasure with his metal detector, waving it around a construction site on East Denny Way, between Broadway and Harvard, on Capitol Hill. Off went the metal detector and in the dirt Gary found this:

Toklas.jpg

He knew he had something cool. It appeared to be a watch fob, it had a picture of George Washington on it, and it was inscribed: “Compliments of Toklas Simgerman & Co * Seattle, W.T.”

The date stamped on the fob was 1888.

Wondering what exactly he had, and how much it was worth, Gary sent a query and a picture of his find to Western & Eastern Treasures, which describes itself as “the world’s leading magazine for metal detectorists since 1966.” In the September issue he received his answer:

ToklasFob.jpg

Gary thought that was cool. He had a remnant from a Seattle clothing store that came into existence when Washington was still a territory. And it was potentially worth a whopping $200 (way better than the dropped pennies one assumes are constantly setting off his metal detector).

Then Gary read my story and learned that Ferdinand Toklas, the “Toklas” in Toklas Singerman & Co., was one of Seattle’s early Jewish merchants, and also the father of Alice B. Toklas, the writer and partner of Gertrude Stein. He thought that was even cooler. Yesterday Gary brought the fob by The Stranger offices and my ace intern Sage Van Wing snapped the above photograph. I held the fob for a moment. It was light and nice to look at, and I couldn’t imagine why anyone would have ever dropped it in the dirt.

RSS icon Comments

1

Maybe Mr. Toklas dropped it in the dirt out of shock upon hearing that his daughter was a lesbian.

Posted by Gabriel | January 5, 2007 9:23 AM
2

>>East Denny Way, between Broadway and Republican

This doesn't seem right to me. Are you sure that the streets above intersect?

Posted by address check | January 5, 2007 9:33 AM
3

Oops! Thanks, "Address Check." I used to live near Broadway and Republican so it was on the brain. But the correct street is Harvard, not Republican, you're right.

By the way, the construction site in question, I believe, is the one that emerged when they were re-doing the old Pantages house.

Posted by Eli Sanders | January 5, 2007 9:41 AM
4

Someday someone will find a plastic pen that says "Safeco" or something, and wonder the same thing.

Posted by Noink | January 5, 2007 10:45 AM
5

Hey Eli --

Cool connection between queer, Jewish Seattle and queer, Jewish Baltimore.

Gertrude lived in Baltimore a few blocks from my house in Baltimore and Gertrude's girlfriend, EttaCone (beat that for a Jewish dyke name!) before she was involved with Toklas lived close-by too. She and here sister, Claibel, one of the first women physicians in the US, lived in a huge apartment in Bolton Hill, the historically Jewish neighborhood of Baltimore.

Gertrude apparently helped turn them on to Cezanne, Picasso and Matisse. The Cone sisters' collection (one of the best collections of works by Matisse in the world) is at the Baltimore Museum of Art.

http://knittingcircle.org.uk/ettacone.html
http://www.artbma.org/collection/cone/cone_html.html



Posted by Jonathan | January 5, 2007 10:58 AM
6

The blurb refers to "Front Street" in Seattle. IS this the old name for a current street in Seattle? Alaskan Way perhaps?

Posted by Will | January 5, 2007 11:04 AM
7

Eli-
Thanks for correcting the location.

@6
Front Street is what First Avenue is now.

Posted by address check | January 5, 2007 11:11 AM
8

was Alice B. Toklas from Seattle, then? I've never read her bio or anything.

Posted by Ari Spool | January 5, 2007 11:20 AM
9

man, i love little stories like this.

Posted by kerri harrop | January 5, 2007 11:56 AM
10

"Sage Van Wing" is the coolest name ever.

Posted by SeattleExile | January 5, 2007 12:44 PM
11

Coincidentally, I just saw that Sellers movie, I Love You Alice B. Toklas. Sellers is a lawyer who turns into a hippie. Pot brownies play a major role.

Posted by dzienkowski | January 5, 2007 5:06 PM
12

Thanks for the comments and additional info on the Baltimore connection. Any suggestions for a local future public home for this?

Posted by Gary | January 5, 2007 10:42 PM
13

Please call our office of Washington State Jewish Historical Societ at 206-774-2277 and leave your number and email and the Executive Director will contact you. We hope you will consider donating this to a future Jewish Museum in Seattle.

Posted by Lisa | January 11, 2007 3:38 PM

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