Nov 10, 2008 - Sale 2161

Sale 2161 - Lot 23

Price Realized: $ 1,560
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 1,000 - $ 1,500
JOHS BERGGREN (DATES UNKNOWN) NORWAY BY AIRWAY. Circa 1936.
37x24 1/8 inches, 94x61 1/2 cm.
Condtion B+: restored losses in margins and corners; repaired tears and restoration in margins and image.
Norway's first airline was called DNL (Det Norske Luftfartselskap). The company was financed by two shipping lines, Fred. Olsen and Bergenske A/S, whose names also appeared as part of the full company's name. The company acquired the pictured Sikorsky S.43 in 1936. This "baby clipper" was intended to be used in conjunction with Pan American on flights between Norway and the United States (via Reykjavik), but a contract dispute dissolved that possibility before the first flight. Subsequently the plane was used on the Oslo-Stockholm route. The image, of a man riding a reindeer and the accompanying quote from Ibsen's Peer Gynt combines traditional imagery, with Norway's cultural and literary heritage. SAS p. 29.