Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-09-07
BEAUTIES OF FURS.
The Skins That Warm and Beautify
the Women of the World.
POINTS ABOUT THE sEALSKIN.
Animals That Held Up Their Goats at
the Shrine Of Fashion.
WHAT THE STERNER SEX AFFECTS

CORRESPONDENCE OF THE DrsPArcB.1
LONDON, August 29.-Engllsh skin
dressers and dyers are 50 renowned for their
skill that practically London monopolizes
the fur selling trade of the world. Dyed iur
is poor investment. 1t is better to have
the real skin, from whatever animal it may
come. 1t will last much longer and pre-
serve its smoothness and glossiness to the
last. Dyed furs may be at once detected by
the fact that they are the same color
throughout, whereas real furs have often a
sprinkling of gray hairs in them and are
always much lighter in color at the roots
than at the tips of the fur.
These remarks do not apply to sealskin,
which is always and should be dyed, as the
undressed fur is far from handsome. As the
diamond must be polished. so must the seal
skin be dyed and dressed before it is COW
eted by our modern bellies. Seal has the
widest reputation of any fur worn, but 1t is
the least understood and the most difficult
to select. An impression prevails among
women that India or "camel's hair" shswls
and sealskin jackets are both almost indie
structible, and will stand any amount of
careless usage. Nothing could be further
from the truth. Each OF these costly wrap
pings should be treated tenderly. Of the
two the sealskin is by far the less durable.
BUY SOLID SKINS.
The very choice skins last, of course, bet
ter than the inferior kinds. Some will
stand for 10, Is or even 20 years, and then
have good portions lett, which may be made
into smaller articles. But however rich the
fur the leather must be sound for service.
With seals, as with every other fur, it is
best to select garments made from solid
skins, as these always have a value, while
articles made from pieces, however skilfully
Joined, are generally worthless after short
time. Piece goods are made from small
cuttings of inferior and damaged skins,
cleverly put together, but as they contain SO
many different skins, cannot wear evenly,
and are seldom worth repairing. Better to
buy lower qualities in solid SKINS than rich
looking furs made from pieces.
Although moths keep away from sealskin
some experts say because il is the fur of a
sea animal, others tnat the dye repels these
destructive insects-it is nevertheless un-
wise to keep a sealskin in a warm place,
when not in use. A hot atmosphere renders
all iurs harsh and shabby, and entirely de-
stroys The smooth softness and gloss they
pIeSe0L WQe0 kept III q cool IOOu1.
CARE OF sEALsKIN.
Be careful not to wet sealskin, but if it
should become so accidentally, rub it softly
down with a silk handkerchief, and dry at
a distance from the fire. Re-dying OF seal
by skillful furrler is generally successful
and repays the outlay. Grease spots can be
removed from seal with the old fashioned
bIotting paper and warm iron; and stains Of
sugar often disappear on the application Of
a weak solution of spirits of wine.
Some luxurious houses in the American
large cities have closet built entirely of
cedar wood, in which it is only necessary to
hang furs to preserve them from their ubi quiz
tous enemy, the moth. These ladies who
cannot boast OF this convenience may make
silken bags, and fill them with the follow
ing mixture of arometic shrubs and flowers:
Lavender, thyme, roses, cedar shavings,
powered ssssairas, casala, and lignes, with
a few drops of ottar of roses thrown upon
the whole. These sachets, interspersed
among drawers and shelves, disseminate an
odor delicious to human nostrils, but sends
the moth off flying, upon his devastating
way.
THE .wEASEL'S COAT.
Sable! 'Tis a name to conjure with,
among lovers of fine furs. The small car
nivorous weasel upon whose back the prince
ly sable grows has undoubtedly no concep-
tion OF the money value attached to his warm
and silky coat. Still he probably finds it
useful while he is allowed to retain IL.
There are three varieties of sables, the Rus
sian, the American and the Kolinsky. A
narrow peltrene, with ends, in the Russian
sable, sells for $50 or $40 in London; the
American sable is worth half that price, and
the Kolinsky half that again. A sina qua
non in u sable is the darkness of its color
Sable can be applied to more articles of
dress than any other natural fur, and has
been highly admired on the court robes of
the Duchess of Edinburgh, who wears a su-
perb hounce of sable upon gowns Of light
colored satin, silk or velvet. A unique Pc
culiarity of sable among all the furs is that
it may be stroked without ruff1ing the hairs,
either up or down.
Alaska sable is the euphemistic appela-
ton sometimes bestowed on skunk. This
creature has, next to sable, the finest dark
natural skin known. Skunk is only made
up in bands for trimming. A blue tone of
the under fur is the most valuable, but the
brownish tint is also liked and extensively
bought.
CLEANING WITH BRAN.
Sable and skunk, as well as bear skin
and mink, may be cleaned with heated
bran. Rub it on carefully the right way Of
the fur, using piece of perfectly dry fam
mel, Then shake the fur, and brush 1t in
the same way with a long-haired and very
So brush; all with the utmost gentleness
and care, Bear is unbearably costly as a
tur. the great demand and small supply
keeping prices up. Cubs, with their fine
dark silky hair, yield the best skins. Goat
is dyed to initiate bear, and is better look
ing article than the common bear. The
long thick hair of this beast gets very
matted in the wearing.
Opossum is effective when worn on gar
ments oil artistic colors. That this opinion
is widely shared by feminine buyers is
proved by the fact that within the past six
months in London 5000, 900 of Australian
opossums have been sold. Chinchilla, the
fur of the South American rodent, is COM
ing into fashion again. Beaver is more in
demand than ever, but only a very small
proportion of the goods so called are real
beavers. Nutria-the skins of the coypu
from South America-are sold as beaver,
and are good imitation Of beaver. but not
so serviceable Beaver takes good brown
dye and makes up well, but looks q triAe
heavy. Shoulder capes, collarettes, peler-
ines and muffs are effective in beaver.
FOR RoYALTY's WEAR.
Mineyer is a word derived from two old
French words, menu, small, and vair, a kind
of fur. Ermine and minever are inter-
changable terms when applied to the skin
Of the snowy white weasel whose tail is
.tudded at its tip with rich black tufts,