The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1885-12-17
SHEEP AS CHAMOIS.
How the Skin of the Alpine Climber IL
COunterfeited.

How the Skin of the Alpine Climber Ia
Counterfeited.
81 want piece of 'shammy' skin,"i
said reporter to the clerk of a WELL,
known drug house on Chestnut street,
land do not want anything but the
genuine article that has come from the
back of the genuine Alpine climber ~
''Well, my dear fellow" said thel
clerk. ''what we sell here is tho .sham-'
my of commerce, but as we don't get
written guarantee with every skim
that the animal from whose back iti
comes browsed upon the lofty Alpine,
peaks. l would advise you to 90 to al
Wholesale dealer or importer of suchi
goods, and perhaps he may be able to-
satisfy you in that line"
To an importer of chamois skins, oni
Library street, the reporter went.
'Can you let me have piece of real!
'shammy?" the reporter asked.
Perhaps can if you are willing tol
wait for it while telegraph to Cha
mounix and see if can gel one of the;
old chamois hunters to 60 out and hunt
mp chamois. kill him. and have his
hide dressed and sent here for you. ItI
will cost you trifle, though, I dare
an old chamois from some museum,
and get mis- skin for you if you are in a.
hurry for it"
your stock? These are all 'shammy'l
skins, are they not?''
''Wcll, yes, they are-that is, thew
are more 'shammy' than chamois. Of
course, it wouldn't do to have it known
but l don t mind telling you that
among all the skins you see in these
bundles or 'kips,' as we call them.
there is not one real chamois skin.
There has not been a genuine cha-
mois skin imported into Pniladelphia,
through this house, nor through any
other house for the matter of that, for
the last twenty years or more. have
been in the business since 1872, and in
all my business experience have never
seen one. My uncle was in the busi-
ness since 1862, and he never saw one
unless on the back of the animal that
owned it. l saw a chamois once when
l was in Europe. That one was in q
museum in Chamounix.
1t is matter of fact that there has
not been a dozen chamois pelts i'm
ported into this country in as many
years, for the simple reason that the
chamOis have become so scarce that a
successful chamois hunt is of rare oc-
currence. The animal, which inhabits
the Alpine regions of central Europe,
frequents the widest and most mac
cessible peaks and ravines of its noun
tain home. The sport of the chamois
hunt was at one time a very popular
one, and expeditions to the animals
browsing places were, in the past, fire.
quently organized, and the few ami
mails that existed between the snow
line and the glacier line of the Alps
were SO thinned out by these hunting
parties that they are now very rare. /!
In the entire year the total number
of chamois killed by the hunters was
918, and if the trade depended on the
chamois for the commercial ''shammy'
skin, there would not have been enough
skins thrown on the market in that
year to give each importing house in
this country a half-skin. Time was
when the chamois skin of the trade
was genuine, but the scarcity of tho
animal and the rapidly growing de-
mand for the article necessitated a
substitute, and this was found in the
skin of the common sheep, which now
masquerades under the appearance and
name of the original article.
All the chamois skins that are
brought to this country come from
France or from England. Up to with
in few years ago the entire trade in
this country was furnished from En-
gland, the skins coming from the backs
of sheep that were raised and grazed
on English pasture lands. French
chamois was unknown to the American
trade. There is little difference in the
value of the French and English cha
mois, both answering the purpose for
which they are purchased equally well.
The only real diference-and it is a
difference in which the French lose
their claim for the superiority of their
goods over the English goods-is that
on account of the peculiar properties
of a certain fish oil with which they
prepare their skins, the French cha
mois, instead of dying hard and stiff,
it is put in water. The English cha
mois is prepared in oil and lime, aud is
bleached to any desired shade. The
best quality of goods comes from the
backs of the young animals. After the
wool has been removed the skins are
shaved down 10 the required thickness,
which is regulated by the purposes for
which the skin is to be used.
After it has been tanned it is put into
preparation of oil and lime, softened,
and then bieached to the desired shade. /,
1t is then dried aud sorted, according
to the sizes of the skins, and tied up
in bundles called by the trade "kips, ~
and it is ready to be thrown on the
market and sold by the druggists and
the trade generally rs genuine chamois
skin.
There are no imitation chamois skinsi
manufactured in this country. Awell-l
known morocco manufacturer, near
Fourth and Girard avenue, tried itI
once, but the experiment did not pay,i
as the English and French goods could
be imported cheaper than he could.