Perth Amboy evening news., 1904-05-20
FORTUNE FOR OVERCOATi
Wealthy New Yorker Pays Forty
Thousand Dollars for a Fur
Lined Garment.

Forty thousand dollars for a mans
fur-lined overcoat is the latest price
quoted by local furriers for the finest ar
ticle that their skill can produce. In
making a single garment of SO great
value, American manufacturers have
taken the record, says the. New York
Times, for~the highest price from the
Canadian makers, who, until a fewyears
ago, held a mono oily on the market.
Ultra-fashionable Americans, when plac-
ing their orders with the northern
firms, were shown various kinds of
iur, the best of which was said to be
Hudson bay sable. Sealskins of the
finest quality were also offered to them
as very good for mems wear. For
several garments made of the former
material prices as high as $25, 900 were
asked, and a Kan possessing a Hudson
bay sable overcoat believed that he had
che finest thing that money could pro-
duce.
During the past two years, however,
the American furriers have so largely
entered the field that they have secured
d strong foothold on the fur market of
Canada, the effect of which has been
to reduce the prices of Canadian furs.
In the meanwhile a better quality of i'm
perial crown Russian sable has been
brought out, and this fur stands to-day
the most costly of all.
1t is of imperial crown Russian sable
that the coat for which the dealers ask
$4,000 is made. A local multi-million-
alre, whose pastime is horse racing, was
the purchaser. and his order for the coat
was placed one year before the garment
was finished for him. 1t was delivered
early in the past winter. The coat com
pleted weighs no more than an ordi-
nary cloth garment, but it Is guaranteed
to last at least during the lifetime of
its owner.
When the ORDER for the garment was
paced, the fur houses of this country
were searched for skins enough to make
a perfect coat. Fol two months ex-
perts went to every city where imperial
crown Russian sable skins were handled,
but nothing fine enough could be found.
In the order it was stipulated that every
skin must match. and that there must
not be a flaw in any one of them. - +
SiXty-five skins were necessary to
make the coat, and that number of per-
fect ones could not be found in the en-
tire country. The manufacturers then
sent their agents abroad to purchase the
pelts, and another six months were spent
In this pursuit. Because the stripes of
all OF the animals that wore the skins
We're not of the same width, extreme
care had to be used, and before any skin
was purchased the width Of its stripes
and the distance between them were
measured, so that when the skins were
put together they would match perfectly.
After more than 20 fur houses in Eu-
rope had been visited, sufficient skins
were obtained and shipped to this coun-
try to complete the coat.
In making the garment, the first
thing done was the putting together of
the skins in the form of a blanket So
sklliiully were they Joined that the
stripes ran from one end to the other
without a break, and where one skin
ended and another began could not be
told except by careful examination
J The tints of the stripes we're exactly
the same throughout, and the hair Of
the FUR was even all through.
} The coat as made up presents from
the outside about the same appearance
as do other fur-lined coats. II is made
of the finest of medium-weight black
broadcloth, with cloth buttons to
match. There are no ~buttonholes. their
place being taken by binding on the
edge, which fits over the buttons and
Keeps the garment together in front.
1t Is made full and loose all the way
around, hanging easily from the. shout
ders. 1t is so inches long, reaching
just below the knees. The only fur to
be seen on the outside is on the col
lar. There, as on the inside, the fur is
perfectly matched. the stripes running
around the neck in even bands. Parts
of seven skins alone were used in maxi
Ing this part of the coat. The collar is
on the shawl style, without a notch in
it, and is made wide enough to cover
the ears when turned up. CUFFS are NOT
on this coat, the fur lining ending at
the bottom of the sleeves.