Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1900-04-26
FIXING THE PRICE OF FURS.
London Does 1t for the world at Auc-
tions, Described Below Rare Skins.


The first London fur sale took place at
Garraway's Coffee House Just go years
ago, From that moment until the present
kondon has maintained her position as
the great fur market of the world, and
| the great annual fur sale. or rather series
of fur sales. which have just been taking
place at the College Hill Mart, serve to
remind us anew of her pre-emnenCc.
Beaver may give way to otter, and ermine
yield to the superior claims Of silver fox,
but the fur-bearing animals of the earth.
almost without exception, no matter how
remote the region of their birth may he,
may expire in the assurance that their
pclts will reach the capital of the British
Empire.
| 1t is not at first easy to understand why
London should thus be the fur emporium
of the world. We are not a specially cod
country and we certainly wear fewer furs
than almost any other people. but it is
doubtless connected witS the capitals pre-
eminencc as "A commercial centre and the
nations rank as shipper In chief to the
universe, Whether or not London can al
ways hope to retain its hold upon the fur
trade we will not venture to predict.
About the middle of March the fur deal
ers began to arrive from every corner of
Europe. Paris, St. Petersburg Moscow.
lcipsiC, Frankfort, and Budapest firms
had dispat Chcd their expert buyers. as did
the United states and Canada. to the Lon
uoll lNt mart. Al tne ituuSOn y lSdy COM
pany's warehouse In Lime street, and at
I.amson's were hung up or pigeonholed
for the inspection of these buyers hun
dreds of thousands of the undressed skins
OF bears foxes, seals, offers, sabcs, mar
ten, mink, skunk. and musquash Here,
too, were the hides of lions. loopards
gigantic polar bears, and large numbers
of musk on from the shore of the Arctic
Sea. ready to be sold to the highest bid
der.
II was our privilege to make a tour
through the Hudson's Bay Company's
warehouse with an expert furrier-a Rus
sian, who has been all his long life in the
trade. Before him his father was In the
employ Of the Menikoffs. and he himself
mas hcen a clerk of the great Russian Fur
company, that corporation which sought
to rival the English merchant adventur-
ers, and which once owned Alaska.
On a row, depending from nails, the visi-
tor sees the most precious treasures of
the HudSons Bay Company's collection
what diamonds are to the jeweler these
skins are to the fur trade So rare are
the furs of the silver fox this year that
only 335 have been gathered by the white
and Indian trappers OF the company. The
silver fox may not he the most beautiful
OF furs. personally our guide prefers the
sable, tho marten, and the kilt fox) but
last year the price, which had been yearly
rising. reached the figure at the March
sales, of $50. 1t is marvellous the insight
the expert possesses. He is able by mere
~ handling this or that fur to tell the
country and even the exact district of its
origin. Some times he is obliged to have
recourse to the sense of smell in order to
pronounce an opinion but he is rarely de-
ceived
Scores of buyers are roaming the MAN.
moth warehouses, each attired in the long
white wrapper prescribed by the immemo-
rial custom, and each carrying a bulky
catalogue In his hand. in whose ages he
inscribeS the necessary particulars con-
corning each skin or bundle Of skins
whose acquisition seems to him desirable
Nimble attendants bring him the pelts
placing them on one of the many long
tables for examination. 1T is extremely
diNerting to the visitor to observe the
pride with which certain of the furs are
brought forth by the attendants, and II
becomes clear that the warehouse en-
plOyeS are experts and Connoisseurs too
and that they are equally alive to the
beauties of good fur as any furrier or
Partisan coquette. You hear one man re-
mark
Give me a good soft marten and |
wouldn't swop it for any other pelt going
in the mere matter of beauty. There's a
little chap yonder that ought to be on the
shoulders of a Duchess. And yet / s'pose
nell go for a couple of pounds If he'd
come from Siberia instead of Canada. he'd
be worth more, and even now I'd like to
bet he'll finally be sold as sable"
tut. in the midst of the furriers from
st. Petersburg, Sofia, Stockholm, Ant
Werp, Paris, Berlin Lyons, and Dresden
your eye retina will ever be conscious
that. mingltng with all and ovorlaying
all, is the omnpresent eternal Jew You
Will, here at this great fur sale behold
yellow Tartar faces and pale-haired
ScandinaVians and swarthv Roumaniane
but II Is the Hebrew vro v-hi Of
have forgotten individual lineaments YOU
VIII carry away with you. And when you
nave seen this and noted il, you will per
haps have convinced yourself of one in
duitable fact; that there is money in the
fur trade
This years fur sale commenced with Of
ter skins for which there was more
spirited bidding than last year and prices
ran 20 per cent. higher. Messrs Goad
Rigg Il Co, realized the record price for
both silver fox and sea otter, viz. e5SO
for silver fox and $3.50 for sea otter each
per skin.
But these are by no means all the furs
sold at the worlds fur emporium during
the past week. After the company sales
came that of the free traders. known as
III" iamrson sales, which realize annually
about sl,m0.@Co. With the execution ncr-
haps of such furs as fisher and blue fox
most of the furs advanced in price this
year, especially all varieties of foxes
hut the non SkinS-arc there no more
bogus sportsmen, they who used 10 figure
IN our novels and stage farces they who
ptld cNtraVagant sums for imposing tro-
phies or sport? Because here at the fur
sal les at College I'm numbers of mapnif
cent hides of the king Of beasts went for
mere song-a few paltry pounds Twen-
~ Hon skins for the price of a single sill
Yer fox, It seems incredible
At the great Lamson sale "A most inter
esting spectacle consisted OF a long row OF
furs-silk-lined mandarin robes sent TO
London from China to be sold. They were
sumptuous garments, but they were dis
posed OF for prices almost within the
reach OF bank clerk a moderate
salary. one wondered how 1t was they
came to he sold. and a little Jew trader
from San Francisco told you:
They were intended as a present from
the city of Picking 10 several Northern
mandarins. The mandarins died That is
all"
! And with the sale of the mandarins'
robes the last London fur sale-that for
1D0--is over.