FIG. 1 (above left):
German newspaper
clipping, noted by H.
Nevermann “Dezbr. 1930.”
The caption reads:
A king of the South Island
as a farmer in Sweden. The
Swedish sailor Karl Oeberg,
who for many years ruled
as king of a South Sea
island, has returned to
his homeland, where he
bought a farm in Dalarna.
Collection Loed van Bussel.
Photo © Bart van Bussel.
94
The story related in this article was
sparked by two old newspaper clippings that
emerged some time ago as Amsterdam-based
collector and dealer Loed van Bussel was reviewing
his papers. The clippings had originally been
retained by Hans Nevermann, former curator at
the Museum für Völkerkunde in Berlin, probably
when they were fi rst published in the 1930s, and
were subsequently given to and later rediscovered
and recognized by van Bussel as being of
interest and importance to Oceanic art history.
The newspaper clippings are in German and
are illustrated with photographs showing an elderly
man standing in front of three New Ireland
By Thomas Otte Stensager
Conceived by Loed van Bussel
wood carvings and reading a book (fi gs. 1 and
2). One clipping is an obituary to the man depicted,
who is identifi ed as Carl Wilhelm Öberg,
and the other notes the year 1930, while both
reference a remote location in Sweden.
Van Bussel excitedly told me about his unusual
discovery, saying we had to fi nd out more about
these mysterious clippings. Neither of us had
any idea of why these clippings had been saved,
not to mention who the man might be, although
the obvious reference to the “South Seas” was
intriguing. If our curiosity was great, our surprise
was perhaps even greater as it gradually
was revealed what lay behind them. But fi rst a
FEATURE
Carl Wilhelm Öberg
A South Seas King Rediscovered