Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-02-07
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es X Ell TIC =
Loot Of Pski1 and Treasures
=. 81 IL
Of LeipsS!..a and i Paris
-- g
.; tnsE LIB
OF FABULOUS PRICE
Soss is
ONE EFFECT OF THE AUTOMOBILE
CRAZE IN PARIS.
Skins That Are Always valuable and
Never Go Out Of Fashion
Growing scarcsr.
fnSE LIB
OF FABULOUS PRICE

PARIS. January 10, 1908.
Nowadays when a great lady passes in
her automobile, mufled up In precious furs.
we hear whispered as she passes, THE loot
of Pekinr'
In the swell retail fur establishments,
when especially expensive garments are ex-
posed. the whisper 70 the same.
Loot from Pelkinfs
1t means. of course. that the great lady
or the great fur retailer bought the treas
ure-trove in honest, open market The loot
stain has disappeared. or remains only to
lend tint Of distinction to 1t.
OF course we believe what we are told;
but the thought forces itself on one that
the Christian armies in Pekin must have
laid hands on an immense amount OF furs
If all this alleged loot, in Paris alone be
loot indeed Some we have seen, however,
to be the real thing, furs made up in the
silk. Some Innings are Of the imperial yell
low, bearing the imperial cipher.
"Old Ii Hung Chang alone, while he lived,
had a stock Of furs worth 25O0O.O00 francs
(s5, OOO, O0O), even If se1a in Pekin," the Paris
dealer told me as be showed them. The
only true sables-' Russian sables'Acome
from Northern Asia and Manchuria Is the
true home OF this rare ANIMAL"
'Whatare American aables? interrupt
.'Marten skins" he answered. Nov, as
you will see Che held one upl. the Chinese
dye their sables and produce q uniform
tint. By this one may know them; for the
western taste is to leave them their natu-
raj color, very dark, very rich, with ashen
lights and lusters."
He held great skin up. as large as that
Of a sheep. Naturally / was astonished.
But the sable is a little fellow. like
weasel" 1 exclaimed. IT have seen the
whole skins at cavanagh's, direct from the
cars own storebouse, with the Russian
I'll 49, -, h1y1n md Ia
They were to line an overcoat for the Grand
Duke Vladimir"
1mprovington Nature.
Certainly he answered, land that is
where the Chinese improve on nature. Look
at the under side Of this one. You see that
choice sable skins haye been cut into tiny
strips, from an inch TO an inch and a half
long and a quarter f an inch wide, sewed
together in parallel liner with infinite skill.
and then dyed. HSdUaeertafnly look like
a single skin. Herd is one that is still more
curious. You see the skins of the sableS
have been set, shoulder and foot, in such
way as to produce the appearance OF
.peacock-eye' in daAAask;. have seen other
skins" continued sths Paris dealer, in
in circles and enriched with little dots OF
lighter fur, so as to give the impression
that they were tha.skiuA Of some new fur
bearing species Three years ago the e Gra tha
Chicago slipper Brought us two such inter
esting freak skins to make up for her
ITO make up for her"-here is the touch
stone OF fur elegance. When you see wo-
man who looks ''wrengs in her fur jacket
1t is for, the selfsame reason that you or
look like misfit pariahs in our ready-made
suits. Fur sewingnis one of the most ex-
elusive ,handicraftss and IT. recruits appren-
ftIees according to All kinds of jealous lirni-
tations. The great fur houses" those who
let loose on the greater public "the" new
models annually, keep their fur sewers
busy through the whole year.
90 For the Next Season. -.
And It is the same with respect to 1.-THE
new models and the alleged fashionable
fur of any season. Early In June the whole
salers who supply the millions choose the
next winters fashionable fur according
to the mass Of job lots they have bought
at Leipsic: then they choose the styles,
and everything is made up by october:
Now II this be true Of valued staples OF
London and Leipsic. how much greater
must be the temptation OF the New YORK
dealers to launch such novelty as sQu1r-
rel. cheap and abundant, and still more so,
pussy cat, baby lamb, muskrat, common
rat and even calfskfn.
Ready made styles and ready-made gar
ments are good, but there are better things.
and this reflection Is a most consoling one
for those of US who,f with no furs at all,
are tempted to envy those VINO valnSlo-
rlOuSly promenade IN udnU-lue-uOWu5
What is the most expensive fur Of all?
Except the sea otter, there Is no natural
skin SO beautiful or valuable as the sable.
Entirely apart from fashion, sables are in
trinsically precious, just like gold and
gems. In Paris, st. Petersburg, Berlin ana
Vienna no lady of position omits to include
a set of them in her trouSseau. when well
cared for by experts. they may be handed
down from one generation to another. This
is how the precious-above-all, the unique
sea otter, still survives to create envy in
the hearts of brides OF millionaires.
The famous sea otter is the one 1ur tnat
cannot be bought. The poor beast has Deen
prosecuted out of existence His range al
ways was a small one. confined to certain
tracts Of sea Off the Aleutian Islands.
though he has been found off the Alaskan
coast and even down as far as California.
Nowadays II a single otter Is seen swim
ming out at sea, whole fleet OF Aleut
boats set out to capture 1t, and the poor
beast is hunted till he can keep under
water no longer and dubbed to death.
In the year 1889 there were $3.50 sea otter
skins sold In London, nearly all OF them al
the March sale of the Hudson Bay House.
In 1894 the number sold was 1,4oO In 1898
the number had fallen to 055, and IN 1SOO
not single sea otter skin was SOLD. AS
far as dealers and the public are concern
ed, the supply has ceased. the rare skins
that come in annually being disposed of
privately, as a matter Of great FAVOR.
The fashionable Paris dealer who told me
all this did not try to conceal from me that
London and not Paris is the western treas
ure house Of furs. 1t seems that nowhere
else can the raw furs be SO well treatedi
and the Hudson Bay Company mas long
arms. e-se-zs