It seems like a man called Alfred Hovde started making skis at a place called Vikersund in Norway around 1897. It was a time when skiing was becoming a recreational sport rather than just a method of getting around in the snow and lots of joiners and woodworkers decided to start making skis. Alfred didn’t have much success in the early days, though by 1912 he had a small factory with machine production rather than his handmade versions. Each made from a single piece of wood, as all skis were back then, this pair are of the classic Norwegian style fitted with an unknown brand of binding in a very bad state of repair. They need some serious TLC, unfortunately we have dozens of a similar ilk and only so many hours in the day.

E Bergsland Sport Co Oslo (stamped on the skis) would have been the retailer of the Hovde skis, and almost certainly relates to Einer Bergsland, a famous Norwegian cross country skier from the same era. Like many famous sportsmen and women, he opened up a sports shop in Oslo in the 1920s and our skis date from around the same time. As for Hovde skis, unfortunately they ceased to exist when their factory burnt down in the 1960s.