Evening journal., 1899-03-16
THE GRADING OF FURS
Differences Which Lead to a Wide
Range in Prices.
A Denir- Gives Some InterestinR Par
ticI.-s- Of the Business-Mink
Now the Most Popu-
lar Fur.


In fur shop there are on sale scarfs
OF various kinds Of sable at prices rang
ing from five 10 fifty dollars. The deal
er was asked why there should be such
a difference In prices.
In the first place." he replied. "the
Alaska sable, which is the cheapest as
regards price, Is not sable at all. 1t
is simply the fur of the plebeian skunk
made up TO represent the genuine arti-
Gle. The pelt Is eifectually deodorized
In the tanning process. and makes real
~ one Of the best and most serviceable
furs we have. As regards the Others.
the price IS graded according TO the
country from which they come. The
further north the animals are killed
the finer the quality OF the fur and the
greater the price. This stone marten
scarf. for instance, which sells for ten
dollars. Is manufactured from sable
killed In Maine or the Adirondacks. or
some other moderately temperate re-
gion. Sable and marten. as no doubt
you are aware. are only two names for
the same animal. One is the scientific
name and the other the name used by
;rappers. The fuirier borrows from
both, and uses the names with no par
ticular reason TO distinguish his furs
according TO locality After the stone
marten the next most expensive is the
Hudson bay sable. scapfs of which cost
$50 aud upward, The Russian sable
brings the highest prices and cannot be
touched under $50.
"In the case Of the sable, the distinc-
ton in names helps explain to our Gus
toners the range in prices for the
principal grades. but with other furs
Il IS different. Take. for example, the
otter and note how locality affects the
price. Here are two skins of exactly
the same color. The one from north
ern Canada costs sl2, while the other.
which came from Florida. Is dear at
one dollar, II the otter had been taken
in central New York the skin would
be worth ten dollars. while II IL had
been trapped in the HackensaclS
marshes the prices would drop to seven
dollars and for q North Carolina skin
TO three dollars.
'eThis grading of furs as TO locality
only applies in a general way to the
cheaper varieties. A much more i'm
portant grading is based upon the
beauty of the pelt. and here the range
in prices is very much greater. Though
there are exceptions TO the rule, as q
general thing furs increase In value as
their color becomes darker. These tive
l. a. Ir rsuf 10 d
point. Both are 30 inches in length
and the fur is similar in quality. One
Is q shade darker than the other, which
adds preatly TO the rich appearance o.
the fur, and this enables me to pu
price of $3.50 on Il, while the othei
only sells for $3.50. / sold a fine darl
mink cape few days ago for $500. W.
called the grade minlS-sable, becaus
the fur resembled very closely the bes
quality Of sable. In fact II was quite
as handsome as a $4,000 Hudson bal
sable cape, and fewpersons could haS'
told the difference"
The furrier was asked If $4,000 wal
not an exceptional price for a sabl'
. cape. He replied that It was by NJ
means exceptional, and that capes o
this fur frequently ran up 10 5000
IN price. Ermine, he said, was verl
little in demand Just now, and onl,
used in the evening at the opera o.
, some important social function. Tit
price has not, however, been affected
The scarcity Of ermine will Away
. make this fur costly. There seems a
present little chance that beaver viii
3 ever again come into general use.
"The fur" he went on, which ha
recently made the greatest strides il
popularity is mink. This is daily com
% ing more into use, and dark handsom
r skiAs are becoming more rare and in
creasing in price at the rate OF 10 o
20 per cent. each year. The ditferen
:, varieties of sable are also increasing
! in value and are at the present tim
: perhaps the most sought after OF tur'
though black, silver-gray and arcti
> foxes as well as seal, Persian lamb AM
, chinchilla furs are Of course in cor
slant demand. The market for furs
practically limited to those standar
!, varieties and a few others, and IL
rare that a new skin comes into vogue
, A really beautiful fur and one tina
bids fair to become fashionable at n
;. distant day Is that Of the Europea
= fitch.
4 Electric seal, which will no douh
A replace the genuine article some da
- when all the seals are gone, is mani
featured from the skins of the Euro
4 pean cony, a small animal of the raj
.. bit family. completely metamorphose
70 by process of shearing plueling an
dyeing. This is popular and service
,e able fur and will last longer, it is salt
r. than a real sealskin costing two @
. three times as much. To show how III
' preparation of such skins increase
= their value an average sealsldn, whic
d when captured in Alaska costs 81
W otter It has gone through the yario'
processes required TO fit it TO ent'
q into the construction of coat is wort
/" $50. Cony skins are smaller, but bal
AZ OF ~ costs from IS TO Sl6 in the fl
shed state, whereas the trapper WI
in sold the raw skins probably only r
T..