The Dutch Skate
A pair of wooden Friese doorlopers stamped in Zwolle around 1900 still sells today on Marktplaats. The steel has gone dark. The wood has turned honey-coloured. Someone will pay real money for them. That is what a good skate does. It holds its value for a century.
The object
The Dutch skate is a long steel blade on a wooden or leather foot. The modern version is the leather Noren. Its blade is hardened spring steel on an aluminium or wooden frame. You sharpen it each winter for a few euro. The leather boot takes the shape of your foot and re-soles when it wears. There is no plastic shell to crack and no foam liner to collapse. A quality Noren from Viking or Zandstra costs around €180 new. It outlives the skater.
Next to it sits the plastic combinoren at about €50. The boot is a stiff synthetic shell. The steel is soft and the edge goes after a few frosts. Children grow out of it in a season. Adults skate on it once and find it cold and clumsy. It ends up in the shed. The €50 is simply gone.
The money
Both pairs cut the same ice. The difference is what is left afterwards. A quality leather Noren holds its value on the second-hand market. Viking skates in good condition sell for €150 to €400, years after purchase. The plastic pair returns close to nothing.
| Leather Noren | Plastic combinoren | |
|---|---|---|
| New price | ~€180 | ~€50 |
| Lifespan | decades, resharpen ~€7,50 a winter | a few winters, then outgrown or binned |
| Second-hand value | €150–€400 for a quality Viking pair | almost nothing |
| After ten years | an asset you can sell | a sunk cost |
The expensive skate is the cheaper one over time. You own an asset you can resell. The money you never spent on replacements stays with you.
Ownership
A skate is one of the few things that improves as it ages. The blade wears thin and true. The wood darkens to honey and the leather keeps the shape of one foot. The doorlopers in the photograph are older than anyone now living. They still cut ice. Cheap goods depreciate. Good steel compounds. That is the patina dividend on a frozen ditch.
The verdict: buy the leather Noren once. It holds its money for a lifetime.