Noble fur

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Noble and semi-precious hides and tablets of skin .
( Gouache , 1920?)

The term noble fur , noble fur , general and precious commodity called, comes from the tobacco products - and the fur trade. Particularly high-quality fur types are awarded with it, but the distinction to the other fur types is blurred and was not always the same in the various fashion epochs . The terms “semi-precious” and “non-precious” skins are also used gradually in trade.

At least since the emergence of modern fur fashion, around the last quarter of the 20th century, when people began to wear fur not only as fur , but also with the hair on the outside, sable , silver fox , mink , ermine , tree or Marten and chinchilla counted among the noble fur animals and noble fur respectively.

Noble hides

In 1984 the veterinary council Ulf D. Wenzel defined what constitutes a noble fur animal fur as follows:

  • "Noble fur animal skins are the skins of animals whose coat, color and pattern show a particular beauty, whereby the beauty and not the durability is dominant."
  • "The amount of noble fur fur is subject to certain limits by the conditions of production or by hunting and catching."
  • "The effort for hunting and catching or for production in cages is higher compared to other types of fur."

Sable, mink, ermine, tree or noble marten and the lynx undoubtedly belong to the classic noble furs. The Russian faux fur, in particular the gray saddleback fur, was highly regarded as early as the Middle Ages.

  • Sable skins were already considered the most valuable skins in the early Middle Ages. They are particularly different in appearance and, similar to the purity of diamonds, can be finely differentiated in their value. The best sables are traded as " crown sables ".
  • The fur of the pine marten , also known as the noble marten, is very similar in appearance to the sable and is also very much valued. In the pine marten, the higher fur value compared to the stone marten is already documented in the animal's second name.
  • The mink , also from the zoological family of the marten, is characterized above all by its great durability. With its flat hair structure, it is also particularly suitable for fur jackets and coats. Due to the high number of breeds, it has lost the nymbus of rarity that sable and pine marten skins still have.
  • The ermine fur is also part of the marten family . For a long time the white winter fur was reserved for emperors and kings and very high secular and ecclesiastical dignitaries.
  • Just like the ermine, from the cold north-east, especially from Siberia, comes the misfur . It comes from the Russian squirrel , the gray back fur is particularly popular. But not only the backs of the feet, but also the white peritoneum with its gray edges was at times clothing mainly for higher clerics ( mozzetta , almutia ).
  • The chinchilla fur of the animal, which is native to South America, entered world trade with the conquest of the continent; today, all of the fur comes from breeding, after the chinchillas were almost completely exterminated in their country of origin through excessive hunting. The real chinchillas , which are important for fur processing , were also referred to in the trade as noble chinchillas with the addition "noble".
  • Lynx skins were already used in ancient times as particularly effective trimmings and trimmings. The Doges of Venice in particular liked to add the lynx's peritoneum to their precious, ermine-lined robes .

The term noble fur animal is most broadly defined in the fur breeding literature. In 1987, the authors Löhle and Wenceslas include the coypu (nutria), the stone marten , the opossum , the raccoon , the raccoon dog , the Karakul sheep , the polecat , etc. (!) To " rabbits do not belong to the precious fur animals, take them a special position ”.

Noble foxes

  • Noble fox varieties

  • From top to bottom:
    1. Blue fox
    2. White fox
    3. Platinum fox
    4. Bluefrost fox
    5. Silver fox
    6. Noble red fox
    7. Gold fox
    8. Sea fox ( raccoon dog)
    9. Shadow fox

In the fur industry, the term “noble” is particularly used for fox skins. The furs of the common red fox , the North American gris fox and the South American gray fox species , in general all wild fox species outside of Europe, Asia and North America are considered not “noble” or “semi-precious” fox species .

The color that was first referred to as the noble fox was primarily that of the silver fox, as well as that of the white fox with its variant, the blue fox. After the start of silver fox breeding, further color deviations from the common progenitor, the red fox, arose over the decades through mutation breeding.

The older noble fox varieties that also occur in the wild are:

  • Silver fox
  • White fox or ice fox
  • Blue fox
  • Cross fox

Selection of new fox varieties created in breeding: → Fox fur (summary)

  • Platinum fox
  • Gold fox
  • Golden Island fox
  • Bluefrost fox
  • Different Arctic Marble Foxes:
Arctic Marble, Arctic Marble Frost, Arctic Marble Blue, Arctic Marble Cross, Sun Glo, Red Amber, Amber Frost, Red Platina, or Red Platinum, Golden Island Shadow.

Base and semi-noble types of fur

"As a semi-precious skins of fur trade usually called the species that are to be regarded as a means between noble and ignoble skins in durability and hue." By this definition from 1930 were there at that time species such as cross foxes, certain red foxes, lynx is ( today, as in the Middle Ages, regarded as noble fur), nutria , Australian possum , muskrat and feud. With increase in fur farming but the related literature counted virtually all significant extent from the precious fur farmers farmed species to the precious fur animals, including nutria, raccoon dog , raccoon and Iltis .

In the parlance of the tobacco trade, ignoble fur is called “which, as the name suggests, is of poor quality, i. H. wears out in a shorter time, offers less thermal protection due to the weak development of the undercoat and finally has a color that is perceived as so unattractive that it is naturally only rarely processed into fur. The base fur usually needs to be colored in order to adapt it to the taste ”. It should be noted that durability plays a subordinate role, but the value of the coat type is very decisive. The very sensitive chinchilla fur, which is unique in its hair thickness, is classified as noble fur without restriction.

The fur , which is typically regarded as ignoble, is the rabbit or rabbit fur , which, however, usually wrongly bears the name. In the wild, this classification is right, these skins are not very durable and are usually not perceived as attractive when they are undyed. However, in the breeding of domestic rabbits, skins of various types are produced, the fur of which has good wearing properties and whose beauty corresponds to that of noble furs.

Noble character, noble lamb and noble goods

The Austrian fur lexicon from 1949 also lists:

  • Noble character
“This designation can be given to a common fur if it is considered an imitation of a noble fur. So an upper hair lambskin, in itself a common fur, has a noble character when it is colored as an imitation silver fox. We also speak of noble lamb at Nutriettes, or even better at Buenos, Embros, Borregos [lambskin refinements] and the like. "
  • "Noble lamb,
in the fur industry not the name for Persians (Karakul), but for those types of lamb that are refined and imitate noble skins, such as Buenos, Borregos, Indian lamb, Nutriettes, Bibus, Biberon, Oposette, Silberfuchslamm, Fokafix etc. [ Lambskin finishing, the latter brand names no longer in use today]. "
39 years later, in 1988, a reference work says the opposite: "Because of their higher value compared to other lambskins, Persians, broad-tailed and better half-Persians, including Shiraz, Baghdad, are also called noble lambskins ".
  • Precious goods
“In contrast to the stack article, a distinctive expression in the tobacco shop. Noble goods require more individual technical treatment, the stackable article is often manufactured in the factory, even if not always and everywhere. "

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ulf D. Wenzel: The fur animal book. Verlag Eugen Ulmer, Cologne 1990, p. 15.
  2. ↑ Klaus Löhle, Ulf D. Wenzel: Rabbits and noble fur animals . VEB Deutscher Landwirtschaftsverlag, Berlin 1987, pp. 55–56.
  3. ↑ a b Paul Schöps: The world production of rabbit fur . Reprint from negotiations of the I. International Rabbit Breeder Congress Leipzig 1930 , Journal for Fur Animal and Smoke Goods, Volume III, Verlag der Reichs-Zentrale für Furztier- und Rauchwarenforschung, Leipzig 1931, pp. 260–261.
  4. ↑ Ulf D. Wenzel: The fur animal book. Eugen Ulmer publishing house, Cologne 1990.
  5. ↑ Christian Franke / Johanna Kroll: Jury Fränkel ’s Rauchwaren-Handbuch 1988/89 . 10th revised and supplemented new edition. Rifra-Verlag, Murrhardt 1988, p. 264 .
  6. ↑ Alexander Tuma: Pelz-Lexikon. Fur and rough goods . tape XVII . Alexander Tuma, Vienna 1949, p. 142–143 (keywords: real furs, noble character, noble chinchilla, noble skins, noble foxes, noble lamb, noble fur auction, noble goods).