When it comes to antique skis, these are about as good as it gets. Christiana,sometimes Kristiana, was the name for Oslo, capital of Norway until 1924, so they are earlier than that, possibly by 20 or 30 years.The non-laminated, single piece of wood construction confirms that. The style and simple decoration of these particular skis indicates they are what the Norwegians term a telemark ski. Norwegian, Fritz Huitfeldt(1851-1938)had created his revolutionary binding in 1894, improving it in 1897. It was the first binding to be made of metal and being attached via a slot through the actual ski it gave skiers a much more positive attachment to the ski, enabling new turns to be effected with ease.The leather straps holding the toe of the boot in position were also new, replacing various inferior designs. In 1904 Huitfeldt added the Hoyer Ellefsen toggle which is the basis of a modern ski boot buckle which tensions or releases the pressure. The Huitfeldt binding was pretty universal into the 1930’s until G Reuge took the best bits of the Huitfeldt, juggled them around a bit, added his own ideas and called his new binding the Kandahar. The holes in the tips of these(or any other skis) often indicate a military origin as ski troops would remove their skis and tow them behind on string when crawling into battle. Sadly we don’t know who owned these skis, though we are delighted to have them.