This inkwell is a Seattle souvenir from the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition (AYPE) of 1909. The AYPE publicized the development of the Pacific Northwest and positioned Seattle as a gateway to Alaska and the Pacific Rim. The silver top of this inkwell shows the Totem Pole in Pioneer Square which was a major tourist attraction at the time. The totem was carved around 1870 to honor a high-ranking tribal woman named Aanséet. The pole was named Naas-shagee-yéil and it was placed in Aanséet's village on Tongass Island on the Alaska coast. In 1899, a group of leading Seattle businessmen on a goodwill tour of southeastern Alaska stole the totem and brought it back to Pioneer Square. The businessmen were indicted for the theft, but the case was later dismissed. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, which sponsored the tour, eventually paid a $500 fine to the Tlingit Tribe. After rot and fire damaged the original pole in 1938, Tlingit craftsmen, including several descendants of the carvers of the original pole, carved a replica and donated it to Seattle to replace the original, which was returned to Tlingit lands and laid to rest.