Vtg Frederick&Nelson Seattle WA Cast Iron Man Door Stop

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Frederick & Nelson's in Seattle Washington had a World Famous Doorman named William Stien who became an Icon with the now closed Department Store As you can see below, He was dearly loved and I have what I believe to be one of the few remaining Cast Iron Doorstops fashioned after him It appears to have been painted over with a glossy black spray paint Perhaps with the proper skills the black paint might be removed thus exposing the underlying paint returning " William " to his former glory That little project will be up to the buyer He stands 14" tall by 12 & 3/4' wide and weighs in at a hefty 15.14 pounds before packing him up and shipping him to his new home The Delicious Bottle of Stout seen in this listing was used as a reference to his size and for Medicinal Purposes - It is not included This is a little something that I found about William Stien : William Stine , 81, who worked as doorman at the downtown Seattle Frederick & Nelson department store from the mid-1980s until the store closed in 1992, died Sept. 18, 2005 in Seattle after a lengthy battle with Parkinson's disease. Link to Frederick & Nelsons : /html/localnews/2002506739_doormanobit20m.html With a pocket full of Frangos and a tip of his green cap, William "The Doorman" Stine greeted celebrities and transients alike at the doors of the downtown Seattle Frederick & Nelson.His smile, and a flawless memory for customers' names, became an icon for Seattle's homegrown retailer. And when Frederick & Nelson closed for good in 1992, it was Mr. Stine who locked the doors for the last time.But just as the closure left a hole in Seattle's downtown scene, it left a void in Mr. Stine's life. His green gabardine doorman suit still hangs in his closet, and until a year ago, he talked about finding a new job working with people.Mr. Stine died at home in Seattle on Sunday night, after an extended battle with Parkinson's disease. He was 81.For Mr. Stine, no other job could have been as satisfying as the years he spent as William the Doorman, said his daughter, Carol Stine, of Seattle.He came to Frederick & Nelson in the mid-1980s, after retiring from a long career selling business forms. As a young man, he had turned down baseball and basketball scholarships from the University of Washington to enlist in the Army, and he survived D-Day and the Battle of the Bulge during World War II.Mr. Stine, born March 1, 1924, married his wife, Donna, in 1947, and they raised two children in the Wedgwood neighborhood of Seattle, w he used his athletic abilities to lead neighborhood baseball games. He filled in a backyard fire pit with concrete so he could host half-court basketball games, much to his wife's chagrin.Retirement left him restless, so he went looking for a job as the Frederick & Nelson Santa Claus. The store offered him the doorman job instead.He quickly took to the job, befriending customers and a blind accordion player who worked the corner of 5th Avenue and Pine Street. He opened the store's doors for luminaries including Bob Hope, a Miss America and Sonics legend "Downtown" Fred Brown."He just loved it down t," his daughter said. "He loved the funny ladies who came in to shop."Frederick & Nelson eventually used Mr. Stine's smiling face and tipped cap in its newspaper and TV ads to cultivate its image of superior customer service. It even sold a souvenir doorstop crafted in his likeness."He knew hundreds and hundreds of the customers by name. It was always Mr. or Mrs.," said Bill Doell, of Seattle, who worked at the downtown store for 30 years. "He was the perfect person for the job."After the store closed, Mr. Stine worked a series of unsatisfying jobs as a grocery-store demonstrator and selling pet food, said his daughter. Then Nordstrom bought and remodeled the Frederick Nelson building and invited Mr. Stine to return to the doorman'... read more

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