c1900 Andenmatten Crampons - Sports Antique of the Week Sept. 27

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Sept. 27th - Oct. 3rd 2015

THIS WEEKS FEATURE

Cast Iron

EARLY MOUNTAINEERING CRAMPONS
Made by F. Andenmatten, Sierre Switzerland
(Likely Franz-Josef Andenmatten 1823-1883)

Bought at Nov. 2012 Sacramento Antiques Fair - Sold to London Dealer

c1880 Swiss Mountain Climbers

picked up these crampons back in November 2012 at the Sacramento Antiques Fair in Sacramento California. The dealer was firm on $25.00 and after some attempted haggling I ended up paying his price. Shortly thereafter I sent photos of them to an antiques dealer in London. I hated to part with them but he made me an offer I couldn’t refuse. I felt certain the London dealer knew something I didn't, and I suspected it had to do with the Andenmatten makers mark.

The seller said he’d gotten them in the Placerville California area. Placerville is in the lower western Sierra Nevada Mountain range of California, near Lake Tahoe…I had never bought any mountaineering items before and hardly even knew what they were…I just sensed something about them and liked the way they looked…and hoped they weren’t for climbing telephone poles! I remember it was a cold day and I went and sat at a picnic tables by a food vendor to look them over. I got out my magnifying glass…I could make out the name F. Andenmatten with the word Siders underneath…Wonder of technology, I used my smart phone and googled it…

It didn’t take long and I learned a Franz-Josef Andenmatten 1823-1883 had been a mountaineering guide in Switzerland…and not just any mountaineering guide…but one from early on…from the time mountaineering began to capture the imagination of the public from newspaper and magazine accounts in the 1850’s. Moreover I learned Franz-Josef Andenmatten was the first to assend the top of at least four peaks in the Swiss Alps…Namely the Strahlhorn, Lagginhorn, Allalinhorn, and Nadelhorn.

PEAKS OF THE SWISS ALPS FIRST ASSENDED BY

Franz-Josef Andenmatten

STRAHLHORN

Assended August 15th 1854

TEAM: Edmund J. Grenville, Christopher Smyth, Franz-Josef Andenmatten

LAGGINHORN

Assended July 26th 1856 - TEAM: Edward L. Ames, Johann Josef Imerseng, Franz-Josef Andenmatten

ALLALINHORN

Assended August 28th 1856 - TEAM: Edward L. Ames, Johann Josef Imerseng, Franz-Josef Andenmatten

NADELHORN

Assended Sept. 16th 1858

TEAM: Baptiste Epiney, Aloys Supersaxo, Franz-Josef Andenmatten

As I researched them further I found a sales record of a c1900 postcard of a street in the village of Zermatt in the Swiss Alps. A shop can be seen in the photo with a sign reading: “F. ANDENMATTEN – CORDONNIER”. Cordonnier is French for shoemaker.

C1900 ZERMATT SWITZERLAND PHOTO POSTCARD

STREET SCENE SHOWING F. ANDENMATTEN SHOE MAKER SHOP

I continued my research and contacted a mountaineering collector who wasn’t impressed and said they looked like ones used by the military in one of the world wars. He sent me a short company history of the G. Andenmatten company in Sierre Switzerland who made fasters and metal products. The history was in broken English, obviously translated, probably from German

G. Andenmatten, fasters and metal products, Sierre Switzerland

Company History translated from German
1945 came Andenmatten Gustave (1921-1989) as an art and blacksmith of
Saas Almagell to Sierre, where he took over the company from his father and started his one-man company. His hard use made his reward and, after 5 years of new products into production program as wrought iron lamps, umbrella stands, mirror, ice ax, crampons, which were appreciated by the climbers world record.

Mid-60s, he expanded his program and produced the famous snow stopper, which earned him a great success.

Always on the lookout for new ideas, he invested in the fastening industry, products for body shops and plumbers.

In 1980 he gave the wing his 4 sons, thanks to the iron will the pioneer could build a production facility of a total of 1500 m2.

At this point, I speculate all the above are connected somehow. The distance between the F. Andenmatten shoemaker shop in Zermatt and the G. Andenmatten shop in Sierre (or Siders in German), is about 36 ½ miles (58.7 KM). I emailed the G. Andenmatten company the following, and included the German translation under the English. Unfortunately I did not hear back.

9/14/15
HI,
Carlton Hendricks here with SportsAntiques.com...say, I’m researching a pair of vintage crampons that are stamped “F. Andenmatten – Siders”....Would you know who made them? I would be glad to email you a photo of them and the marking.

Would you be related to Franz-Josef Andenmatten 1823-1883....the early mountaineering guide from Zermatt in the 1850’s?....Any information you would have on my crampons would be much appreciated,
Kindly –Carlton
www.SportsAntiques.com

HALLO,
Carlton Hendricks hier mit SportsAntiques.com ... sagen , ich bin in einer Recherche zu einem Paar Vintage Steigeisen , die gestempelt werden " F. Andenmatten - Siders ".... Möchten Sie wissen, wer sie gemacht ? Ich würde mich freuen , Sie per E-Mail ein Foto von ihnen und der Kennzeichnung.

Möchten Sie Franz-Josef Andenmatten 1823-1883 .... frühen Bergführer aus Zermatt in den 1850er Jahren zusammenhängen? .... Alle Informationen, die Sie auf meinem Steigeisen hätte würde sehr geschätzt werden ,
kindly -Carlton

So to wrap this up…it appears these crampons may be connected to the very beginnings of the sport of Mountaineering. However without further research I cannot be certain and it’s still just wishful thinking. I’ve exhausted the time allowed for a weekly feature but perhaps this examination will inspire someone to carry the research further; then I could post an addenda. One thing for sure...no matter who made these crampons I sure learned a lot about a sport I had no knowledge of...There's lots written about early mountaineering.

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