Viking Magazine - August 2013 - 13

Antique sølje (upper left)
from Telemark, courtesy
of Country Gallery Antiques.
All other items are
from Vesterheim's online
collection at collections.
vesterheim.org/items/
ESPECIALLY ONLINE,
BUYER BEWARE
People are curious about
the value of the objects
they've found or inherited,
but even more curious about
the stories those objects represent,
Gilbertson says. " Unfortunately,
that's often the
fi rst thing that goes. We may
never know who brought
the object [from Norway], or
whether two or three generations
back somebody bought
it at a farm sale. " It's a good
lesson for all of us, she adds,
to record the stories of the
objects that are meaningful in
our families.
When people do the
work of learning what they
can-the age of a piece, or
the place in Norway where
it was made-their relationship
to it changes, Gilbertson
has noticed. They become " a
little more strategic " about
how to care for it and how to
pass it on through the family.
Stories, it turns out, are
not only a way to fi nd Norwegian
antiques. But stories
are the best way to move
people to preserve them, as
Kramer can attest.
One of her most prized
pieces is known in her family
as " Ole's horse. " Kramer
grew up around her parents'
antique store in a Scandinavian
neighborhood in 1950s
Minneapolis. Ole used to
come into the shop just for
company, a bachelor in his
80s who'd left Norway as a
boy. He knew that Kramer's
half-Norwegian mother
loved sharing stories about
all things Norwegian.
He came one day with
something wrapped in a
towel and clutched to his
chest, Kramer remembers.
" Mrs. Jameson, " he said to
her mother, his thick accent
turning the j into a y, " I have
something for you. " Then
through tears, he unwrapped
a wooden horse that he had
carved and painted soon
after he came to America. Its
tail and mane were hair he'd
clipped from a beloved horse
he had to leave behind.
Mrs. Jameson kept her
promise never to sell Ole's
horse. It's now in Kramer's
personal collection-along
with Ole's story, which he
feared at the end of his life
might be forgotten.
" It will go to my family,
my daughters, with that
story as part of it, " Kramer
says. The horse " is beautiful
in its way, but its story is
even more beautiful. "
eBay, craigslist, and countless
auction websites have made it
easier to fi nd and buy Norwegian
antique and vintage items. A more
transparent market has made
it possible for collectors with a
variety of budgets to fi nd antiques.
Vesterheim Chief Curator Laurann
Gilbertson knows a woman in
Illinois who's built a beautiful collection
of søljer, silver brooches, by
buying online.
But just as the Internet has
made life easier for antiquers, it's
made it easier for unscrupulous
sellers, too.
" I've had some bad experiences
on eBay, " says Scandinavian
antiques expert Suzanne Kramer. A
wooden object that was promised
to her with export permission
from Norway turned out not to be
an antique at all. It was new and
made of molded plastic resin.
Online, " the pictures looked
THREE GREAT REFERENCE BOOKS
FOR NORWEGIAN ANTIQUERS
The Folk Arts of
Norway
by Janice Stewart
Norwegian Folk
Art: The Migration
of a Tradition
edited by
Marion Nelson
A Treasury of
Norwegian Folk
Art in America
by Donald Gilbertson
and James Richards
absolutely right, " she says.
Camera angles and lighting can
be deceptive.
Kramer urges caution when
buying online, and whether online
or in person, recommends dealing
with known and respected dealers.
Those who belong to state and
national antique dealers' groups
" usually have to go through a
process to get accepted in that
association, so you can have a little
bit more confi dence " in them.
-D.L.
PHOTOGRAPHY OF SØLJES BY TOM THULEN
http://www.vesterheim.org/items/
Viking Magazine - August 2013

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