Snobbar som jobbar : Bergsmän klädda i sammet

This theses will try to explain how the miners (bergsmän) were dressed in Ovansjö parish in Gästrikland in the beginning of the 19th century in contrast to the farmers in the same parish. This is done by comparising ten estate inventories each for the two groups. Also by looking into other sources such as what has been written in litterature regarding textiles and miners and dialogue with experts within the fiels of textile and ethnology. Some information is found in old photographs and paintings from the period. The welvet costume at Ovansjö Homestead was available for an object analysis. The conclusion is that during the period around 1840 the miners in Ovansjö parish did use their dresses of velvet as a mean of conspicious consumption. This was a way for the miners to differ themselves in the society and try to show themselves as more sophisticated and wealthier than the o rdinary farmers in the parish.