The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-10-06
SEVERN F. SIMO
THE SCARCITY OF FUR.

Winter Wraps Advancing in Price
 From 20 to 30 Per Cent-Costly Skins
 Difficult to Get.
 Those persons who find it necessary to replenish their stock of fur garments this season will find that compared with previous years the price has advanced from twenty to thirty per cent. The fur trade of the country is changing. It has been many years since the buffa- To overcoat of the frontiersman was a common article, and the furs of other large wild animals are following in the path laid out by the bison. There will, however, be no scarcity of furs, for as the wild furs become scarcer the hides of domestic animals are drawn upon to supply the deficiency, and some of these newer furs possess desirable qualities not found in the ones formerly in use When asked what would be the most expensive fur coat the answer of the majority of people would be the seal skin coat but there are at least two coats which are worn to some extent more expensive than the sealskin. The most expensive coat which could be made would be that of the silver fox. !, These animals are natives of North | America, close to the Arctic circle. The skins, as taken from the animals, sell for from fifty to two hundred dol lars, the higher price being more often l paid than the lower, while four hundred dollars has been paid for particularly l good specimen. It would probably re- n11ira Ina SlyinS If airbt +o 1 a coat, so it will be seen that exclusive | of manufacture the coat would cost ap- | prOximately thousand dollars. The | coat which would probably be the most | expensive of these which are worn to greater or less extent is made of the fur | known as broad tail' to the trade. It | is the fur of the unborn Persian lamb, carefully dyed to an intense black A | coat of such material costs about four hundred dollars. There is but one worn | in Omaha so far as the dealers know and the owner of that coat is not looked upon with envy by those who know the value of furs, as it is not durable.
 The sealskin is the standard, in spite of the more expensive furs. There has been a marked advance in the price of sealskins, not due so much to de- creased supply as to an increased de- mand. A sealskin jacket which last year sold for two hundred dollars com- mands two hundred and fifty dollars. While there has been no appreciabe decrease in the supply of sealskins this year, the dealers look forward to the day when the supply is to fail and al- ready they are casting about for sub- stitute. The closest imitation to the skin of the seal and one which is gene
 rally in use under the trade name of
 near seal," is the skin of the hare. This skin is trimmed and pulled, dyed
 and dressed so that to the untrained
 eye at first appearance it would pass for
 sealskin. It sells much lower and is said to be almost as durable.
 The most durable of all the skins, and
 one which really repays the purchase price in utility, is the skin of the otter.
 An otter coat costs one-half the price of
 similar sealskin garment. It is un-
 dyed and for that reason more durable.
 It will, with ordinary usage, last a
 lifetime anr there are cases where par
 ticulary good skins have been handed
 down for several generations, recurring
 but slight renewals to be perfect, for
 with good skins there is little change in
 style.
 If one is looking for the most expen-
 sive fur they would probably think of
 some animal who must be sought in the