Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-02-07

4
SKIN " Grown by an animal that has 70
stand the rig0r OF q subarctio climate: yet
| IT does not turn white. There IL q deep
| longer hairs and darker hairs Of a rich red
| coming through It. The lower fur II orange
| ana orange-red. and the result when ths fur
Of
| these skins used to come annually to Lon
don, only to be shipped to Russia and the
t orient. There was no western demand for
result
Are fox skins precious furs?"
mo; they hardly rise to the secondary
class OF the marten canadian sable), chin
chilla, mink. fisher skunk monkey and
nutrda; but the arctic fox gives a precious
teen hundred of the latter skins were sold
last March In London. and Of these the
nrst 100 were sold singly or in lots ranging
| from two to five. I bought one silver fox
skin that measured over five feet. 1t was
black down to the middle Of the back and
OeioW tnat sprinkled with silver hairs
mucn IKE the skin Of the famous sea otter.
| got dt for $3.50. In 1898 a specially re-
markabie silver fox skin sold in London
What is done with these silver fox
For the Very Rich.
Most Of them go to Russia. Those
purchased I kept for collars and cuffs,
though certain smart lady customers have
| taken 1t into their heads to wear a whole
SKIN wrapped around the neck and Shout
GERS In Russia the silver parts are cut
OUT and the black parts are placed together
INTO those celebrated pelisses known as
black fox" and for which 5000 is not an
unusual price, retail. Well. If thirty such
skins. costing in the salesroom $50 apiece
| are cut up to make such pelisse, the price
cannot be considered dear can it?'
Many Paris autOmObiliStS are using wolf
/ skins for rugs" suggested
:! should say so. The price of the arctic
VOL mas risen 100 per cent in two years
Though not equal to the fur Of the arctic
| fox-as white and soft as swansdown-the
long Moving outer hair Is handsome and
durable. They show every shade from
| white to black. the most priced being sill
yer gray. But my own customers" he
added with pride, ''are using a still more
| beautiful skin that was being unaccount-
| ably neglected in England: that of the
Canadian lynx. They vary In color from
a warm, almost salmon, tinge Of cinnamon
| to grayish-white. but the prettiest has
| unripe peach. They used to be bought up
| at almost rubbish prices for Turkey,
Turkey In Asia and China, but we have
changed all that I have now swell Gus
4 see that an artificial chinchilla fur
| has been manufactured from the skin of
| the Angora rabbit" I observed. 1T is said
| scarcely less soft and delicate in texture
Among the Choicest.
"Chinchilla would rank among the choic-
| est furs If 1t were only more durable" the
| Paris dealer was contented to reply. mo
| other animal fur so resembles the finest
plun1age of downy-feathered birds as the
skin of this little mouse of the Andes.
Yes, it Is costly. Unfortunately. 1t is easily
| spoiled by wet. but for certain forms Of
| indoor wear it is almost perfect. 1 re-
Gently made an opera cloak Of white velvet
| trimmed with chinchilla for the bride of
millionaire American. And monkey skin.
state that the monkeys are almost exter-
minated and that no more are to be relied
on for the market"
THAT is the one fur not monopolized by
the Hudson Bay Company" I said.
"Disabuse your mind Of that idea." re-
piled the Partisan, himself a purchaser
from the wholesalers. THE firm of Sir
poses annually of a greater number of
| furs than does the Hudson Bay Company;
and the furs offered at these sales are
come from northern Asia. North America,
| Chile. Peru (alpaca, chinchilla and puma,
northern Europe and even Australia.
| My friend santos-Dumont has an i'm
mense Brazilian puma skin in his bed
ROOM" I said. "And I know that these
| beautiful soft pale orange colored skins
| are in for bed coverings, divan coverings
| from Australian"
| 'Opossum SKINS" he answered. ''They
come by the hundred thousands"
>a Russian Sables. -
I'm whose hands are the Russian sab,es?''
asked.
''They are sold at the great Leipsig fur
sales. for which London itself is, in many
respects, only feeder. Nevertheless, at an
autumn sale Of the London house already
mentioned saw 2.847 Russian sables Of the
most costly description disposed Of. They
fetched from $25 to $3.50 each.
"And they are such little fellows! --
Each skin is examined separately by the
buyers. They kept in linen bags, and
fastened in bundles by strip of reindeer
| skin passed through the muzzles just as
they left the hand Of the Siberian trader.
cit would be more prudent, then, for me
to order sable collar and cuffs only for my
coat and trust to less expensive fur for
the lining.'' l unused.
The Partisan dealer smiled painfully. 3d.,
"Furs for lining coats and cloaks of a
less costly description than those which
make collars and cuffs make great part
OF these sales" he answered. "A million
and 4 half musquash skins from North
America were recently sold at one sale for
this purpose. Another such skin, sold by
hundreds of thousands is that of the
coypu. 1t is a South American beaver-lke
wa ter-rat, which swarms In the great riv-
ers from Brazil to Argentine. 1t is like
light, less thickly furred beaver or otter,
and Is quite cheap. The job-lot dealers
ought to make fashion of it some day."
(He said this trifie spitefully.)
1--WE have heard of it, said. when
the beaver was almost extinct did not some
ingenious merchant remember that the
coats Of the coypu were used in cod
weather in the Argentine?"
'"The Spanish Americans call 1t 'nutria,
or otter For lining gentlemen's coats it
is really the best skin Of reasonable price;
but my clients
prefer real beaver?'
Certainly. If You want cheap lining
there is also the big field rat Of central
Europe, the gray squirrel from Siberia, and
the specially prepared rabbit skin, known
in certain sections of the trade as electric
sealr "
"And in spite of all this furs are growing
scarcer!" I said.
Growing Scarcer.
"Yes," he answered. "Here, now, Is the
chance Of his life for some enterprising
young American. (The present writer trans
mits the tip to his adventurous fellow coun-
trymen, hoping that he who succeeds in
making millions thereby will be honest
enough to whack up with him when the
time comes.) Let him go to China and
ioor ho Of FIR fires nj