Gulf Coast breeze. [volume] (Crawfordville, Fla.) 1897-19??, 1898-02-25
WHAT SKINS ARE WORTH
ACTIVE DEMAND FOR THE PELTs OF
FUR.BEARlNc ANIMALS.

A phase Of the fur business that
lealers say promises well for the trade
Is the active market for skins. There =
lot of difference between fur aud
skins. To the uminitiated 1t seems
more of difference Of terms. Gen
orally speaking, one could describe
the skin side of the fur business as
the wholesale end and the fur side rs
the retail end. Strictly speaking,
that would not he true, of course
Most of the houses in New York
that sell furs do buy skins, as II rule,
from the trappers on from the ship
pers," who deal with the trappers.
Several of the best known houses in
the trade go to London for most all Of
their skins even for American skins,
Their reason for this, one of their
representatives told Press reporter
the other day, is that, IA London is
the clearing house of the world for
furs, the pick of skins caught every.
where go TO London for fancy prices.
With the worlds supply at their
command the London skin merchants
can supply thousand skins, or per-
haps ten thousand skins, of any grade
or any shade, Of any animal whose fur
is brought to market.
From the time that the animal il
caught or shot until it's skin appears
on the person Of grand dame it
passes through many hands. The
trapper and hunter Ito not IA rule
ship their products. Most of them
prefer to sell to the collector" an
individual who pays cash and makes n
business Of travelling through the sec
tons where wild animals abound,
picking up all sorts of quantities, from
n half dozen skins to thousand or
even more. He ships direct to the
commission merchant, who is his
agent and who may he doing business
either in New York, Boston or Lon
don.
When the skins reach New York
they are sorted for color and size aud
sold to the manufactures in lots ms
wanted Most skins come here dried,
but some, such ~ racoons and beaver,
come with the fat on. These either
have to he disposed of soon or dried.
The treatment Of the skins to make
them ready for the manufactures is n
business by itself.
The most valuable skin that comes
into the market raw" is the black
fox. The quotation on this skin this
fall ranges from 800 down to $40.
Yet some black fox skins have been
known to bring as much as $500.
There il big drop in prices in other
kinds of fox skins. Those next to the
black ones fetch from - all the way
down to 20 cents. The 81 and 80 kind
are found in Canada aud Labrador.
The New York state and New England
fox skins bring from Sl.30 to Sl,s5,
Marten, mink, muskrat and skunk
are the best sellers. Marten from
Quebec and Labrador fetch $40, So,
"a down To $500. New York and
Canada skins run all the way from
80. so to 81. 40. In the latter class
size determines the price more than
color.
Mink is variously quoted from 81. 20
for Halifax, Labrador and Nova
Scotia skins to Doe. and 30c. for the
inferior qualities caught in New York.
For prime mink in New York and
New England of choice colors the
prices are 81. 80 and sl.75.
There seems to be n big demand for
skunks. The black ones fetch the
best prices; then come the half-striped.
The quotations nre 81 and 90c. for the
black ones, and Doc. and zoe. to Re.
The he ones are the common white
fellows that most Of us fear OH n dark
night in the country.
Racoons, many Of which are caught
in this section, fetch from Zoe. down
to 25c. aud Doe. A trapper must catch
a good many muskrat to earn "a living,
for the best Of these skins. although
there always is demand for them,
fetch only zoe. aud Die. For the
smaller ones only from Dc. TO &C., and
even less, is paid.
When you recall that for the smallest
good fur scarf one has 10 pay from 81
to slj it makes you think that there
must be M enormous profit some
where, or else the process Of making
the skins ready for wear must be ter
ribly expensive.
Bear, beaver and otter come chiefly
from Canada and the Provinces. A
fine, large, dark otter skin is easily
worth 80 to $40. Even the second
and third best fetch from $3.50 and
S6. 80. Beaver, while not much in de.
mand of late years, sells readily at
from 80. 80 TO So for the best and from
81 to 81 for the other grades.
Bear skins have been more active
than usual this year. and one manu-
facturer accounts Tor II by the num-
Der Of men who IRE fitting out for the
Klondike. Fine black bear skins
fetch $40 and SD; medium are quoted
ut sl2 10 sl4.
Fisher are pretty good things TO |