My friend Carol Johnson loves spending time online, ferreting out special deals and spectacular Scandinavian textiles, usually from Sweden. For example, see my earlier article, “Tapestry Treasures that leave Sweden and Norway.” (Feb. 26, 2019) Or put “Carol Johnson” in the search box on my blog–there are several more articles about exhibits we have mounted of her wonderful finds.
I don’t do that, spend time online looking for textiles. But one found me as I casually perused a local estate sale website. Randomly (not in a collection of textiles, nor of Scandinavian items), a skillbragd wall hanging was listed in an online auction, for $5. With 11 days left to go in the sale, I made a bold move and listed a top price I would pay. $10. I don’t really need more weavings. But I GOT it, for the grand price of $7.
But $7 might not be quite right. You had to pick it up. I drove 34 miles round trip, about ⅓ of it in stop-and-go freeway traffic. And then to reward my husband for riding along, I bought dinner at the Tea House restaurant. We LOVE that Chinese restaurant. So… $7 plus $53 plus gas money to the other sides of the Twin Cities. It was still inexpensive for the weaving, which is in perfect condition.
When I reached the suburban house in the boondocks of St. Paul to pick up the weaving, in which there was no furniture other than a kitchen table, I found a woman waiting for a few decorative items to be picked up. She found my treasure, and said, “There’s a word on the back. Maybe it’s some sort of Scandinavian thing?”
Well, Scandinavian-looking, yes. But a bit confusing. What is the o with a dot above it? Could this be a løper (table runner) from the area of Voss in Norway? This spelling doesn’t turn anything up. Perhaps someone reading this recognizes the skillbragd pattern, or has a better idea what the word is supposed to mean.