Somero People - Meet Veikko Iivonen

On Sunday afternoon there is often an auction in Somero, where I sometimes enjoy spending a couple of hours. There is always a friendly atmosphere and it is fascinating to see the items on display - you never know what you will see up for sale. I also find myself trying to imagine what the person was like who once had those pictures on the wall or sat on the sofa or chairs. Today I thought I would introduce you to the auctioneer himself, Veikko Iivonen.

 Veikko Iivonen

The first thing that you notice about Veikko is that when he smiles his whole face lights up. Before we had even spoken I could tell he had a good sense of humour, and he has. Veikko has been Somero's auctioneer for over ten years, and in the winter months regularly holds auctions in Pitkäjärvi, a village 13 km from here with just 250 inhabitants. When the weather is warmer auctions are often held in people's houses, usually when relatives are selling the property of a deceased family member.  Today Veikko was taking a break from work and the auction was being held by his son, Jyrki, so I had the chance to grab him for a few minutes' chat.

Veikko grew up in Somero but lived in Vantaa for many years. He worked as a youth leader and also doing roofing work. Then one day a friend of his said that he had applied for an auctioneer's licence, but was having trouble getting the necessary permission. Veikko saw this as a challenge, and bet his friend a bottle of cognac that if he applied for a licence he would succeed in getting one. And over this bet his career as an auctioneer was born! He succeeded in getting the necessary licence, (and the bottle of cognac!) and started as an auctioneer in Vantaa in 1980 where he continued in the profession for the next twenty years before coming back to Somero. Veikko's brother, Terho, had worked as the auctioneer in Somero, and when he sadly passed away, Veikko decided to come back and take over from where his brother had left off. He says that even after all these years he still enjoys his job, and that working as an auctioneer suits him. "I always used to collect things when I was a little boy" he says. "I would always empty out the things in people's attics when I had the chance and I had collections of all sorts of things."

The biggest sum of money that was ever bid in one of his auctions was in the 1990s in Järvenpää. "There were four cadillacs on sale" he told me "and one of them went for 250,000 old Finnish marks. That was a lot of money at the time, but things have changed since then.  I don't do this for the money now, just because I enjoy doing it." Amazingly, Veikko will be 70 next year, but still has no plans to retire. "I'll think about it when I am 75..." he smiles "maybe then it will finally be time to do something else." Veikko loves travelling and often goes inter-railing with his wife, Päivi. "It's much better to travel by train because then neither of you has to drive." Last year they took the boat to Stockholm and went by train from there to Hamburg and then to Prague and Copenhagen. The next trip he plans is to Poland later this year, and the couple dream about one day taking the train from Moscow to Paris.

My son Cameron and I bought just one item today, a little copper teapot. It is not in very good condition, and is quite battered and old, but we liked it precisely because of that. This little pot has been used many hundreds of times and would probably have many stories to tell if it could talk!

Just before leaving the auction I asked Veikko what he thought of Somero. "It's a good place to live," he said, smiling. "Just be aware that everyone knows everyone else.... so be careful not to say anything bad about someone, because chances are that you'll be speaking to a member of their family!"