In an old newspaper clip from Dagens Nyheter on July 24, 1989, you can read the following:
“A love carving from 1881 in a pine tree outside Mora now enjoys protection from the forest management board. It was the mechanic Halvar Anders Eriksson and Stenis Anna Persdotter who stopped at Eldris during a walk to the summer cottage in Garberg. During the break, they decided on an engagement. Eriksson peeled the pine bark and engraved his trademark and the initials “AES”. There under Stenis Anna’s trademark and her initials “APD”. As the crown of the work the year 1881.
Even today, the love engraving is still preserved and the forest management board promises to spare it in the event of felling in the area. The two newly engaged moved home to the Mora village Långlet from Stockholm where they had worked. They got married, had five boys and three girls.
Eriksson opened his own workshop in 1910. He manufactured, among other things, water wheels, washing machines, knives and clockworks. The fine mechanic Eriksson was well known for his skill. One day around the 1920s, Bud Jannes Andersson from Öna next to Mora came home from Hollywood where he was a masseur for the movie stars. Bud Jannes brought with him a difficult assignment for Eriksson: make a new moving mechanical hand for the movie star Harold Lloyd, see here is the drawing of Lloyd’s hand.
Eriksson really managed to put together a miracle for the comedian. Bud Jannes took his new hand across the Atlantic and Harold Lloyd was able to start waving his injured hand again.
Mäkärn Eriksson continued to do great good at home in Mora. Among other things, he sharpened surgical knives and tweezers for Mora Hospital.”
(Reporter Matts Dahlström)
So it was this “Mäkärn” who also made the dozen Zorn knives that I mentioned earlier. The pine with the engraving is still in the same forest today.
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