Monkey fur

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

  • Guereza monkey skin

  • Diana monkey fur

The term monkey pelts in the fur trade, suitable for processing fur, dense hairy skins were monkeys as well as the lemurs summarized. However, they were of no greater importance there, apart from the fur of the Guereza at times and, to a much lesser extent, the fur of individual species of monkey . The long-haired Guereza mane was used in the African countries of origin at festivities for the locals as head, body and leg decoration. In western fashion, it was mainly used for eye-catching trimmings and trimmings on jackets and coats of other types of fur, as well as on textile clothing.

Fur descriptions

The hair of most monkey species is too weak and too coarse, only a few are suitable for processing fur. Almost without exception, they live in Africa. In a division of the fur types into the hair fineness classes silky, fine, medium-fine, coarse and hard, the hair of the ape monkey (white-tailed guereza) is classified as medium-fine.

The skins of chimpanzees and gorillas , along with other skins not treated here , were used earlier as carpet and blanket skins as well as for preparations for showpieces, not for Western clothing.

Guereza

Monkey fur coat with arctic fox trim
(Paris, around 1900)

also coat monkey, bishop monkey, king monkey, silk monkey, tail monkey, monkey fur, as well as other animal names and fur names.

Abyssinian guereza

The home of the Guereza or silky monkey is Central Africa. One of their most beautiful species is the northern or Abyssinian guereza with fine, soft, deep black hair. The back hair reaches a length of 10 centimeters. From the neck on there is a mane of about 20 centimeters long white hair on both sides of the flanks, which converge at about hip height. A forehead band, cheeks and throat as well as a fringe of long hair at the end of the otherwise short-haired tail are also white. Nothing seems to be known about the annual hair change of the Guerezas.

White-tailed Guereza

The fur of the white-tailed Guereza is almost even more impressive . Its white mane is even more pronounced and the tail is reminiscent of a horse's tail. The animals reach a head body length of 50 to 80 centimeters, the tail can be up to 70 centimeters long. The black, silky coat, which is parted from the middle of the coat to both sides, measures about 5 to 10 centimeters.

The smaller black and white colobus monkeys are only 30 to 50 centimeters tall. They live in the forest areas of the west coast of Africa. The black hair is silky smooth, about 7 to 15 centimeters long and along a parting the back line, the trading name of the skins was therefore usually Scheitelaffe , unlike the colobus monkeys, which have been traded under that name or as marmosets. The lower hair is only slightly developed. The dewlap and the inside of the extremities are gray-white, the cheeks and chest patch are partly white, partly gray-white. The tail is about 50 centimeters long and thinly haired.

The coat quality of Guereza pelts coming from mountainous areas is good, their hair is long, silky and thick.

By the end of 1900, over two million guereza skins had been exported from Africa. They were mainly processed colored, mostly black, especially for capes and tapestries. In 1902, protective measures were successfully adopted that prevented extermination. Furs were still on the market until the 1990s, and in the end only in very small quantities.

  • Left blanket made of white-tailed guereza skin. Detail of a house decoration in the fur trade center of Leipziger Brühl (1904)

  • Guerezafell, colored red

  • Guereza fur pieces, remnants of a fur remodeling

  • Guereza jacket (end of the 20th century)

Gelada

Jeladas only inhabit the highlands of Ethiopia. The head body length is 50 to 75 centimeters, the tail is just as long as the body and ends in a tassel. Males are much larger than females, with their tail ending in an impressive tassel. Djeladas have a brown fur that is lighter colored on the underside.

In the past, the males were hunted down to make headdresses from the manes.

Lemurs

Monkey skin pouch. Status symbol of an African healer (1880–1930)
left costume made of "monkey skin" with a white crimmer , fashion show in Casino Travemünde ( Rudolph Karstadt , 1921)

Under the term lemurs summarized lemurs come only on Madagascar before and smaller islands nearby. They differ significantly in size (rat to cat size), in body structure, in hair, in color and in tail length. They are usually dense and hairy, sometimes very silky. They are divided into makis ( lemurs , dwarf mouse lemurs ; half lemurs , brown lemurs , white-headed lemurs and others), indri-like lemurs and finger animals . Only a few skins came on the market. On the one hand, some species had already been greatly reduced, and on the other hand, they were difficult to capture as nocturnal animals. They are also revered by the inhabitants and were therefore rarely hunted.

Towards the end of the 19th century, however, maki furs seem to have been traded in a variety of ways; the different valuations can be measured on the basis of the trading prices published in 1883. Of the Makis, today divided into 100 types, the following are mentioned:

The skins of the Great Maki from Madagascar were highly valued; 30 to 50 marks were paid for them.
Skins from the lazy Maki or Kougang from Bengal and the island of Ceylon fetched 3 to 5 marks.
The pelts of the short-haired Maki or Loris , also from Bengal and Ceylon, had a value of 1 to 2 marks.
The lamb-like skins of the woolly Maki or Mongus from Madagascar yielded 2 to 3 marks.
The curly-tailed Maki or Mokokko , also from Madagascar and the neighboring islands, were in great demand because of their beautiful tail, the skins cost between 10 and 15 marks.
Maki hides with a beard collar or Bari , Madagascar and neighboring islands, had a value of 6 to 10 marks.

Monkeys

From the family of sea felines larger amounts were sometimes delivered, even nuns monkeys Perlaffen and other names, with their many subspecies, in the fur trade the skins never played anyway probably a serious role. Vervet monkeys are primarily found in western Africa, but also in the forest areas of East Africa. The hair is often silky and not very dense; it differs greatly between species in terms of color and pattern. The mostly black and white ringed hair with a light tip create a pearl gray impression, so that the skins were often referred to as "pearl monkeys". These were above all the skins of the Diana cat and the monkey cat . In a Russian customs tariff from 1857, the fur of the Diana monkey is strangely referred to as "fur seal".

  • The length of the body of the head of the Diana cat is 40 to 53 centimeters (up to 70!), The length of the tail 48 to 65 centimeters (more in larger animals). The browband, hip stripe, chest, upper arm and beard are made of white hair. The basic color is gray speckled, the lower back is red-brown, the limbs and the tail are black. The inner sides of the thighs are bright rust-red, whitish or yellow in the Roloway monkey . The awning and guide hairs are strong, they form a smooth fur surface. The infant's dress is light and differs noticeably from the fur of older young animals, at the age of 4 months it changes into the youthful fur, which is similar to that of the old. The hair of the Diana cat is highly moisture repellent. Nothing seems to be known about the hair change.
The coat quality is lower than that of the Guerezas, due to the lower hair density

The native men of the Moka district on Bioko Island used to wear only a loincloth. Usually it was made of bast or later made of fabric, but on special holidays it was an apron made of lambskin or monkey fur, which was considered a "better suit".

Satan monkeys and howler monkeys

For South America, the Satan monkeys and the red howler monkeys are worth mentioning in connection with the history of the fur trade , from which, however, fur was rarely delivered.

The long beard and head of hair are characteristic of the Satan monkeys from northeastern Brazil. The fur is short and very dark, it is mostly black, it can only be dark brown on the shoulders and back. The tail is long and very bushy.

The howler monkeys from Central and South America are among the largest New World monkeys after the spider monkeys. The red howler monkeys live in northwestern South America. The coat color varies from red to orange, the sexes are colored the same, the males are slightly larger. The length of the head body varies between 46 and 57 centimeters, the tail is around 65 centimeters long. The face is hairless except for a beard.

History, trade

Since monkey skins were mainly used regionally, the quantities delivered were subject to large fluctuations. In Abyssinia they were processed into bed pads and blankets, Abyssinian warriors adorned among other things, that their shields . In addition, the demand was particularly different depending on the respective fashion. Around 10,000 skins were exported from there annually, almost exclusively to the USA and France. The agents of the tobacco companies usually did not buy them on the Abyssinian markets, since a delivery was organized in Djibouti, East Africa . The Abyssinian collection point and the main market were in Addis Ababa .

Just like the African inhabitants, the Indians of Mexico used the native monkey skins with which they adorned their clothing.

According to Philipp Manes, the tobacco merchant Max Feiler († 1926), Leipzig, previously Berlin, introduced the “completely new item for Germany - monkeys”. Around 1900, guereza skins left in their natural color were very popular for fur capes, sleeves (especially in Germany), also for wide trimmings and tapestries; The coat is too thinly haired for neckwear and smaller collars, and the appearance is also not very effective. The most beautiful skins were put together to make "magnificent" blankets (especially in demand in England), and occasionally they were even made into jackets and coats. In 1902, the first protective measures were taken to prevent the animals from becoming completely extinct.

Guereza skins came into fashion again via Paris in the 1920s, the time of the Charleston dresses , creations that were mostly provided with several layers of fringes. Long-haired monkey skins, cut into narrow strips, served the same purpose, even the old sleeves were taken out again and cut up for them. 1928 is mentioned as the most common and most suitable use of the monkey skin : "for collars and cuffs on jackets and coats made of Persian , astrakhan , broad-tailed and occasionally also for ermine and broad-tailed foals ". Black-dyed guereza skins were "used as an imitation of the crested monkey, although a coat costs almost $ 5" (1930). The American actress Irene Dunne helped the Guerezafell to some popularity again when she appeared in the film Theodora Goes Wild "dressed from head to toe in monkey". The pearl monkey skins were more suitable for double-skinned, so-called "stranglers" ( fur necklaces ), single-skin fur scarves in the shape of an animal with a head and a tail.

In 1988, a tobacco manual said:

“Overall, the skins of all monkeys - apart from the Guerezas - are not favored by fashion. As far as corresponding quantities of any kind - now only legally captured animals - come to the markets, they are hardly offered under their zoological name. "

- Franke / Kroll

In the meantime, monkey and half-monkey skins are hardly traded on world markets. In fashion, long-haired goat skins are now used instead of guereza skins . As so-called "monkey goats" they already served as an inexpensive substitute for the sometimes expensive monkey fur. They look very similar after processing, but their hair is less durable.

  • Guereza bonnet of Kigeri IV , Kingdom of Rwanda
    (reign 1853 to 1895)

  • Young Dassanetch woman , Ethiopia, with guerezafell as a breast ornament (undated)

  • Cape made of guereza and baboon fur, guereza hood. Krieger dance of Luo (1968)

  • Thomas Marealle II (1915–2007), Chagga chief in Tanzania , with guereza head and shoulder jewelry

processing

Cut to size for a muff and a collar made of monkey fur (1895)

Before 1900, gueraza skins were often dyed in a dye bath before processing to prevent the leather from showing through, especially on the sides of the skin. With the means available to the fur finishing department at the time, however, the hair and also the leather suffered, "only with small varieties it is excused". After the aniline dyes had been developed, the leather could easily be dyed dark by the furrier. The otherwise ugly breaking edges of the fancy dress parts made of monkey fur were edged with other, more densely hairy types of fur, for example with black-colored raccoon fur . Due to the lack of underhair, it was not advisable to put the skins next to or on top of each other, as the connecting seams are too visible. The crest of the monkey skins caused by the clashing of the hairs between the skins is avoided by dividing the skins in the middle, the grunt , and sewing the middle of the skin on the side of the skin ("shifting half- skins ").

While the fur residues from the manufacture of almost all types of fur are also used, the scraps of monkey skins were considered worthless. For larger pieces, as far as the fashion demanded, the use for trim strips was recommended, while smaller pieces could still be considered for use in fur mosaics .

The durability coefficient for pelts made from monkey and monkey fur ("king monkey and silky monkey ") is given as 20 to 30 percent, for monkey fur with 30 to 40 percent.

In 1965, the fur consumption for a fur board sufficient for a monkey fur coat, from species of pearl monkeys, red howler monkeys ("Aluate"), satan monkeys ("Kuxio"), crested monkeys ("Colobus, Guereza, king monkey") and black howler monkeys with 18 to 20 skins specified (so-called coat “body” ). It was noted that, except for their skins, the monkeys had long had little on the market. It was based on a board with a length of 112 centimeters and an average width of 150 centimeters and an additional sleeve section. This corresponds roughly to a fur material for a slightly exhibited coat of clothing size 46 from 2014. The maximum and minimum fur numbers can result from the different sizes of the sexes of the animals, the age groups and their origin. Depending on the type of fur, the three factors have different effects.

Numbers and facts

  • Black, prepared monkey skins in the warehouse book of the Leipzig fur trader Naoum Dedo in 1883
  • Stock book of Naoum Dedo from Leipzig, 1883-1884-16 (monkey skins) .jpg
  • In 1891, monkeys cost 20 to 35 marks per fur in wholesalers, and they were sold in bundles of ten. Smaller varieties that had to be colored black yielded around 5 marks. Diana monkey skins cost 3 to 4 marks.
  • In 1893 the Leipzig company Mey & Edlich offered muff made from apes ("Monkey"):
Dyed, with atlas lining and fur tassels, medium-sized 4 marks, large 4.50 marks in stock.
Natural (Monkey), with satin lining and fur tassels. Very elegant muff, quality A, 13.50 marks.
  • In 1925 Emil Brass wrote : “30 years ago 100,000 pieces [Guerezafelle] were exported annually, then it subsided and only a few came in the last 20 years. But since shortly before the war the supplies increased again; 20-40,000 pieces are now exported annually. During the high fashion period up to 20 Mk. A piece was paid, then the price gradually fell to 5 shillings, in 1910 the price was 1 / 6-3 / shillings, in 1923 it went to 20 / -30 shillings and is currently about 8 / . ”According to Fritz Schmidt , there were a total of more than two million skins that were exported from Africa by 1900.
The price of white-bearded colobus monkey skins was around 10 English shillings each. A smaller Guereza species ("colobus occidentalis"), native to Cameroon and the Niger and Congo regions , paid 20 marks per fur in 1924 . Hussar monkey skins had no market value yet; Brass estimated them at 8 to 10 marks a piece. The pelts of the bearded monkey came into the trade only occasionally , as the animals were "actually not killed at all" in their homeland [although they now belong to the endangered species].
  • Before 1937 , the normal price for Abyssinian guerezas was 1 to 2 thalers per piece during favorable export times.

See also

Commons : Monkey Skins  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
Commons : Monkey Skin Apparel  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

annotation

  1. ↑ The specified comparative values ​​( coefficients ) are the result of comparative tests by furriers and tobacco shops with regard to the degree of apparent wear and tear. The figures are not unambiguous; in addition to the subjective observations of durability in practice, there are also influences from fur dressing and fur finishing as well as numerous other factors in each individual case . More precise information could only be determined on a scientific basis. The division was made in steps of ten percent each. The most durable types of fur according to practical experience were set to 100 percent.
  2. ↑ The information for a body was only given to make it easier to compare the types of fur. In fact, bodies were only made for small (up to about muskrat size ) and common types of fur, and also for pieces of fur . The following dimensions for a coat body were taken as a basis: body = height 112 cm, width below 160 cm, width above 140 cm, sleeves = 60 × 140 cm.

supporting documents

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i Fritz Schmidt : The book of the fur animals and fur . Verlag FC Mayer, Munich 1970, p.  324-327 .
  2. ↑ Paul Schöps, Kurt Häse: The fineness of the hair - the fineness classes . In: The fur trade . Volume VI / New Series. No. 2 . Hermelin-Verlag Dr. Paul Schöps, Leipzig / Berlin / Frankfurt am Main 1955, p. 39–40 (Note: fine (partly silky); medium-fine (partly fine); coarser (medium-fine to coarse)).
  3. ↑ a b c Heinrich Dathe , Paul Schöps, with the collaboration of 11 specialist scientists: Pelztieratlas . VEB Gustav Fischer Verlag, Jena 1986, p.  85-88 .
  4. ↑ a b c d e f Emil Brass : From the realm of fur . 2nd improved edition. Publishing house of the "Neue Pelzwaren-Zeitung and Kürschner-Zeitung", Berlin 1925, p.  459-462 .
  5. ↑ a b c d e f Christian Franke / Johanna Kroll: Jury Fränkel ´s Rauchwaren-Handbuch 1988/89 . 10th revised and supplemented new edition. Rifra-Verlag, Murrhardt 1988, p. 333-334 .
  6. ↑ Simon Greger: The furrier art . In: New arena for the arts and crafts . Volume 130. 4th edition. Bernhard Friedrich Voigt, Weimar 1883, p. 43-45 .
  7. ^ Günter Tessmann: The Bubi on Fernando Poo . Folkwang-Verlag, Hagen / Darmstadt 1923.
  8. ↑ a b c Banco di Roma: Ethiopia and its fur production . In: The tobacco market . Leipzig August 6, 1937, p. 2 .
  9. ^ A b Paul Larisch , Josef Schmid: Das Kürschner-Handwerk . III. Part. Self-published, Paris November 1902, p.  60 .
  10. ^ H. Werner: The furrier art . Publishing house Bernh. Friedr. Voigt, Leipzig 1914, p. 66 .
  11. ^ Philipp Manes : The German fur industry and its associations 1900-1940, attempt at a story . Berlin 1941 Volume 4. Copy of the original manuscript, p. 95 ( → table of contents ).
  12. ↑ a b c d Heinrich Hanicke: Handbook for furriers . Published by Alexander Duncker , Leipzig 1895, p. 10–12, 90 , plate 4 .
  13. ↑ a b Alexander Tuma jun .: The furrier's practice . Julius Springer, Vienna 1928, p. 235, 352-356 .
  14. ^ Hermann Deutsch: The modern skinning. Manual for the furrier, dyer, bleacher, cutter and garment maker . A. Hartleben`s Verlag, Vienna / Leipzig 1930, p. 23-26 .
  15. ↑ https://news.google.com:/ MB: "Theodora Goes Wild" Amusing . In The Spokesman Review Washington, December 30, 1936. Accessed March 22, 2016.
  16. ^ Heinrich Schirmer: The technique of the skinning . Verlag Arthur Heber & Co., Leipzig 1928, p. 7-9 .
  17. ↑ Paul Schöps; H. Brauckhoff, Stuttgart; K. Häse, Leipzig; Richard König , Frankfurt / Main; W. Straube-Daiber, Stuttgart: The durability coefficients of fur skins . In: The fur trade . Volume XV / New Series. No. 2 . Hermelin Verlag Dr. Paul Schöps, Berlin / Frankfurt / Main / Leipzig / Vienna 1964, p. 56-58 .
  18. ↑ Paul Schöps u. a .: The material requirements for fur clothing . In: The fur trade . Volume XVI / New Series. No. 1 . Hermelin-Verlag Dr. Paul Schöps, Berlin a. a. 1965, p. 7-12 .
  19. ↑ Paul Cubaeus: The whole of Skinning . Thorough textbook with everything you need to know about merchandise, finishing, dyeing and processing of fur skins. 1st edition. Verlag A. Hartleben's, Vienna / Pest / Leipzig 1891, p. 18-20 .
  20. ^ Advertisement from Mey & Edlich, Fur Department, Leipzig-Plagwitz , 1893.