The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1886-01-07

How the Skin of the Alpine Climber Is
Counterfeited.

w Ill ~ HtNlt VI Auly 1klus
said reporter TO the clerk of we'll
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 the
clerk. ''what we sell here is the sham
my of commerce, but as we don't get
"A written guarantee with every skin
that the animal from whose back il
comes browsed upon the lofty Alpine
peaks, / would advise You 10 90 TO q
wholesale dealer or importer of such
goods. and perhaps he may be able to
satisfy you in that line.
To an importer of chamois skins, on
Library street. the reporter went.
"Can you let ME have u piece of real
'shammyp'" the reporter asked.
Perhaps can If you are willing TO
wait for it while | telegraph to Cha
mounix and SEQ if can get one of the
old chamois hunters to go out and hunt
up chamois Kill him. and have his
hide dressed and sent here for you. 1t
will cost you trifie, though. | dare
say. Perhaps, though, we could buy
an old channels from some museum,
and get his skin for you if you are in
hurry for it. -
But can't YOU give me one out of
your stockP These are all 'shammy'
skins, are they not?"
''Well, yes, they are-that is, they
are more 'shammy' than chamois. OF
course, it wouldn' do to have it known,
but | 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 Philadelphia,
through this house, nor through any
other house for the matter of that, for
the last twenty years or more. L 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. | saw chamois once when
| was in Europe. That one was in a
museum in ChamouniX
1t is a matter of fact that there has
not been dozen channels pelts inn
ported into this country in as many
years, for the simple reason that the
AdNC UCCOluC 81 SCdICt ludL
successful chamois hunt is of rare &C.
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 channels
hunt was at one time a very popular
one, and expeditions to the animals
browsing places were, in the past, fire.
queutly organized, aud the lew AMI
mais tnat eAistcu between inc 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 channels killed by the hunters was
9l8, 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 half-skin. Time was
when the chamois skin OF the trade
was genuine, but the scarcity oil the
animal and the rapidly growing de-
mand for the article necessitated
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 10 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
channels 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 difference-aud it is q
difference in which the French lose
their claim Tor the superiority of their
goods over the English goods-is that
on account of the peculiar properties
of certain fish oil with which they
prepare their skins, the French cha
mois. instead of dying hard and stiff,
like parchment, dries as soft rs before
it is put in water. The English cha
mois is prepared in oil and lime, and is
bleachcd 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 to 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,
aud then bleached to the desired shade.
II is then dried and sorted, according
to the sizes of the skins, and tied up
in bundles called by the trade "kips,"
aud it is ready to be thrown on the
market and sold by the druggists and
the trade generally as genuine chamois
skin.
There are no imitation 0hamois skins
manufactured in this country. a we'll
known morocco manufacturer, near
Fourth and Girard avenue, tried it
once, but the experiment did not pay,
as tho English and French goods could
he imported cheaper than he could
made them, and he gave it up.