Curators are busy sorting, packing and cataloging items for shipment this week to the Rolfsrud Relic Repository in Tucson, Arizona. Items include this set of hand-carved, hand-painted wooden plates, purported to tell the tale of a battle of the sexes on a remote farm in Norway. The farm wife challenges the grumpy farmer to a role reversal and the result is a sit-com whose variant is retold to this day. Researchers have yet to establish any direct link to the neo-feminist movement, but the basic premise, "Women are from Venus, Men are Stupid," rings familiar chimes, if only in the music of modern mythology. The undated plates reveal notations on their backs made in a schoolteacher's cursive scrawl, and are known to have traversed from Norway to North Dakota, Minnesota, California and now to Arizona, where climate-controlled measures will hopefully extend the life of the ancient wood, along with the story it tells.
Also of uncertain provenance is this object presented by Solveig Shearer to her brother on an occasion whose purpose is now lost. The one-pound object was apparently discovered during her exploration of the mountains and valleys in the San Francisco Bay area where Sosie, or one of her party, spotted "just the perfect thing." Labeled "The Golfing Troll," this item will be displayed in the Golf Annex to the Rolfsrud Relic Repository, along with such treasures as "Big Shorty's 3-iron."
Meanwhile, the pottery section will be dominated by a hand-made, kiln-fired mug, imprinted with the king's insignia and the phrase "Renaissance Festival XIII," which was procured and presented sometime during that same year by artisan Rebecca Jerdee. It will join a distinctive trove of collectables, which include Erling's Mallard Duck.
This last example of mid-century wildlife art, also with an uncertain origin, is a colorful, hand-painted web-footed fowl, smirking as though it has just escaped the hunter's blast . . . or an auction on E-Bay. Still nameless, the object will survive on an Arizona glass shelf, lovingly maintained with museum-quality dust rags.We invite your input on the provenance of any of these items. If you spot something familiar or have anything to add, please email your information to us. We want to make the Rolfsrud Relic Repository, with your help, as complete and correct as possible.
Inquiries taken 24-hours a day at trailboss@swpub.com
