Ásgeirsverslun () was a major merchant and fishing company located in
Ísafjörður
Ísafjörður (pronounced , meaning ''ice fjord'', literally ''fjord of ices'') is a town in the northwest of Iceland.
The oldest part of Ísafjörður with the town centre is located on a spit of sand, or ''eyri'', in Skutulsfjörður, a fjord ...
in Iceland. The company was the largest trading company in Iceland at the time, operating several large fishing vessels and branches for trade and fish reception in many parts of
Westfjords
The Westfjords or West Fjords ( is, Vestfirðir , ISO 3166-2:IS: IS-4) is a large peninsula in northwestern Iceland and an administrative district, the least populous administrative district. It lies on the Denmark Strait, facing the east coast ...
. The company is named after a father and son, both named Ásgeir. Árni Jónsson factor was the manager from 1877 to 1910.
History
In 1889, the company had the first telephone line laid in Iceland, and it reached from the Faktorshús in Neðstikaupstaður up to their store located at Aðalstræti 15 in Ísafjörður.
Three years later, another telephone line was laid between the towns of Ísafjörður and
Hnífsdalur
Hnífsdalur () is a small village in the municipality of Ísafjarðarbær, located between Bolungarvík and Ísafjörður. The literal meaning of the name is "Knife's Valley". Some guess that the thin or sharp line of the mountain range resembles t ...
.
In 1894, Ásgeirverslun bought the first transatlantic ship owned by Icelanders
and named it ''Ásgeir Ásgeirsson''. The ship sailed between Ísafjörður and Europe. It exported salted fish to
Spain and returned with products from
Copenhagen.
In 1912, Ásgeir Jr. died suddenly in Copenhagen, and in 1915 his mother, Sigríður, died. Despite the company's success, their heirs decided at a meeting in March 1918 to shut down the company and sell all its assets. In the end, the ''Hinar sameinuðu íslensku verslanir'' bought most of the properties and Ásgeirsverslun officially ceased operations on 30 November 1918.
References
{{reflist
Defunct companies of Iceland
Seafood companies of Iceland
Shipping companies of Iceland