Fishing marten fur

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The Russian opera singer Fyodor Chaliapin with inner lining and trimmings made of fisherman's marten skin (Virginian polecat) (painting, 1922)

The fishing marten, also called pecan, is a North American, forest-dwelling predatory animal from the genus of the real marten. The fisherman's marten skin has always been sold as a Virginian polecat , although it is neither a polecat nor does it occur in Virginia . The term fisher for fur, which is now also in use in German trade, comes from the Indians, who said the animal would rob the fish traps without getting into them. It is a typical forest dweller; its home extends from the northern area of ​​the Cassiar Mountains to the Great Slave Lake and the south shore of Hudson Bay as well as from Labrador to the Anticosti Peninsula. He also lives in the Rocky Mountains to the Great Salt Lake, as well as in South and North Dakota , Indiana and Kentucky . The fur is one of the more durable and higher quality furs, at times it was particularly in demand as a collar trim on men's coats.

hide

With a head body length of 50 to 70 centimeters, the Virginian polecat is the largest member of the real marten family . The skins of males are significantly larger than that of females, their leather is relatively thick and sometimes “stubborn”, especially that of the skins from British Columbia . The very dense and bushy tail is 30 to 40 centimeters long. Compared to other species of marten, the hair is very long, it is soft and dense. The feet are very hairy. The fur is dark brown to black, sometimes very light (yellowish white) and chestnut brown. The head, neck, ears and shoulders are lighter, sometimes turning gray; unlike other species of marten, it has no throat spot. The undercoat is yellowish to bluish gray. There may be irregular white spots on the chest and abdomen. The best “blue-gray” varieties have a deep black-brown, bluish shimmer, like the best raccoons.

In early winter the fur is dense and shiny; The length of the upper hair is around 30 millimeters on the stomach side and 70 millimeters on the back.

The durability coefficient for fishing marten fur is given as 90 to 100 percent. When the fur types are divided into the hair fineness classes silky, fine, medium-fine, coarse and hard, the fishing marten hair is classified as fine.

Trade, history

Virginian polecat, colored red-brown (2009)
  • The fisherman's marten fur can be divided into two distinct types, those from eastern Canada, together with some from the peripheral areas of the USA, as well as those from the mountains in the western and northwestern parts of Canada and the state of Washington.
Eastern type:
Province of Quebec and Labrador.
Ontario
Western type:
Western and Northwest Canada.
Coast.
The difference between the western and eastern origins is mainly in the hair structure, eastern ones are much more silky than western ones, but also considerably darker. However, the silkiness does not correspond to that of other species of real marten, the guard hair is more similar in its strength to that of the raccoon, the eastern fishing marten is comparable to the eastern raccoon. In terms of quality, there is no significant difference between those from Quebec Labrador and those from Ontario, except that those from Ontario may be slightly thicker in the hair. However, the differences compared to the fur from western and northwestern Canada and the coastal types are more striking. Here the hair seems less dense, but the top hair is actually so coarse that the hair tends to lie flatter on the leather overall. The pelts from the East are a bit smaller, narrower and soft in the hair, in America they were therefore sometimes wrongly offered as Baby Fisher. The color of the back plays an important role for the commercial value, the color of the neck and shoulder area is of the greatest importance. Western varieties are generally brownish.

Female pelts are darker than males.

Natural colored fishing marten fur (Virginian polecat)
Origin : Canada, USA
Sizes : Large (over 28 inch), medium (25 to 28 inch), small (up to 25 inch)
Types : I, I & II, II, III, slightly damaged, wooly, pieces
Colors : Dark, brown, medium, light brown, pale, expale, exexpale, reddish.
First qualities (I) show a complete winter coat, the upper and lower hair evenly cover the entire coat.
The second (II) are generally late-caught, springy, or bucky skins, meaning the leather is stiff and unyielding. If you press the head leather between your fingers, it crackles strongly.
Third (III) are pelts that have accrued significantly outside of the fishing season. The hair is strawy and so small that it makes the fur look woolly.
In terms of color, the skins are most valuable when they can be used in their natural state without darkening or dyeing. For the trapper this means that the optimal time of catching is shortly before the onset of the strongest winter frosts. Then the fur is slightly bluish and the hair oil is still fresh and soft. The hair is blue-brown at this point, the sides of the fur gradually darken towards the middle of the fur.

The raw hides were delivered round, closed at the back (bag shape), hair facing outwards (before the skin is completely dried on the tensioner, it is turned on the hair side). According to a specialist book from 1988, however, a price reduction would sometimes be made if the skins were not delivered with the leather to the outside.

Isolated attempts at breeding had only little success, as farm breeding was not worthwhile when the offspring seldom had more than two boys.

Up until the Second World War , the relatively large Virginian polecats were often made into fur necklaces , fur necklaces in animal form, which were fashionable up to then . Before the First World War , Russia was the most important customer, and the skins were processed there into men's furs . The tails were in great demand, they were used by the Polish and Galician Jews to trim the hats of their national dress.

processing

Fisherman's marten muff from the American company Albrecht, model Chanticleer $ 18.00; $ 24.00; $ 30.00 (1912)

The fishing marten , pecan or Virginian polecat is mainly used for trimmings, occasionally also for jackets and coats. If there is enough, as with almost all other types of fur, the fur residues that arise during processing are put together into bars and, above all, further processed into inner linings.

In 1965, the fur consumption for a fur board with 18 to 26 pelts sufficient for a fisherman's marten coat was given (so-called coat “body” ). A board with a length of 112 centimeters and an average width of 150 centimeters and an additional sleeve section was used as the basis. 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.

The processing technique corresponds to that of other marten skins , such as the sable skin or the red fox skin .

facts and figures

Number of marten skins sold between 1920 and 1984. Red = number of pieces, green = average fur price (Canadian dollars)

Detailed trade figures for North American tobacco products can be found at

• Emil Brass : From the realm of fur. Publishing house of the "Neue Pelzwaren-Zeitung and Kürschner-Zeitung", Berlin 1911
• Emil Brass: From the realm of fur. 2nd edition, published by the "Neue Pelzwaren-Zeitung and Kürschner-Zeitung", Berlin 1925
• Emil Brass: From the realm of fur (1911) in the internet archive: archive.org
• Milan Novak et al, Ministry of Natural Resources: Wild furbearer management and conservation in North America. Ontario 1987 (English). ISBN 0-7778-6086-4
• Milan Novak et al., Ministry of Natural Resources: Furbearer Harvests in North America, 1600-1984. Appendix to the above Wild furbearer management and conservation in North America. Ontario 1987 (English). ISBN 0-7729-3564-5
  • Up until 1870 , the Hudson's Bay Company imported 7,000 to 8,000 Virginian polecat skins to London annually, and around 4,000 to 5,000 came from the USA.
  • In 1925 the Hudson's Bay Company seldom imported more than 4,000 skins from the Hudson's Bay area, from the United States there were still 4,000 to 5,000. The value at that time was between 200 and 600 marks, depending on its size and beauty, the value especially for Polish people Hats used tails 10 to 30 marks each. In England, France and elsewhere, the tails were also used for other purposes.
  • In 1936 , at the Wildlife Protection Conference in Washington, closed and protected times and a temporary hunting ban were called for, as the fishing marten was extinct in many areas.
  • The stocks are now closely monitored. In 1985/86 , according to the jury, Fränkel 's tobacco manual, 15,000 pelts came onto the market from Canada alone.

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 classification was made in steps of 10 percent each, only the weakest species received the value class of 5 to 10 percent. The most durable types of fur according to practical experience were set to 100 percent.

See also

Commons : Marten skins  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
Commons : Marten skin clothing  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

supporting documents

  1. ↑ Harry König: Smoking goods of North American origin. In: Rauchwarenkunde - Eleven lectures from the goods science of the fur trade . Verlag der Rauchwarenmarkt, Leipzig 1931, p. 17.
  2. ^ A b David G. Kaplan: World of Furs . Fairchield Publications. Inc., New York 1974, p. 163.
  3. ↑ Heinrich Dathe , Paul Schöps, with the collaboration of 11 specialists: Pelztieratlas . VEB Gustav Fischer Verlag Jena, 1986, p. 177.
  4. ^ RA Powell: Mammalian Species: Martes pennanti . (PDF) In: The American Society of Mammologists (Ed.): Mammalian Species . 1981, pp. 156: 1-6. Retrieved October 21, 2011.
  5. ↑ Paul Schöps; H. Brauckhoff, Stuttgart; K. Häse, Leipzig, Richard König , Frankfurt / Main; W. Straube-Daiber, Stuttgart: The durability coefficients of fur skins . In: Das Pelzgewerbe , Volume XV, New Series, 1964, No. 2, Hermelin Verlag Dr. Paul Schöps, Berlin, Frankfurt / Main, Leipzig, Vienna, pp. 56–58.
  6. ↑ Paul Schöps, Kurt Häse: The fineness of the hair - the fineness classes . In: Das Pelzgewerbe Vol. VI / New Series, 1955 No. 2, Hermelin-Verlag Dr. Paul Schöps, Leipzig, Berlin, Frankfurt am Main, pp. 39–40 (Note: fine (partly silky); medium-fine (partly fine); coarse (medium-fine to coarse)).
  7. ^ A b c Max Bachrach: Fur. A Practical Treatise. Prentice-Hall, Inc., New York 1936. pp. 336-339.
  8. ↑ a b c d e Christian Franke / Johanna Kroll: Jury Fränkel's Rauchwaren-Handbuch 1988/89 . 10. revised and supplemented new edition, Rifra-Verlag Murrhardt, pp. 56–57.
  9. ^ AR Harding: Fur Buyer's Guide . Self-published, Columbus, Ohio 1915, pp. 301–305 (Eng.)
  10. ^ Frank Grover: Practical Fur Cutting and Furriery . The Technical Press, London 1936, pp. 50-52.
  11. ↑ a b c Emil Brass : From the realm of fur . 2nd improved edition, publisher of the "Neue Pelzwaren-Zeitung and Kürschner-Zeitung", Berlin 1925, pp. 576-578.
  12. ↑ Paul Cubaeus, "practical furriers in Frankfurt am Main": The whole of Skinning. Thorough textbook with everything you need to know about merchandise, finishing, dyeing and processing of fur skins. A. Hartleben's Verlag, Vienna, Pest, Leipzig 1891 (also in the 1911 edition), pp. 53–54.
  13. ↑ Paul Schöps among others: The material requirement for fur clothing . In: Das Pelzgewerbe Vol. XVI / New Series 1965 No. 1, Hermelin-Verlag Dr. Paul Schöps, Berlin et al., Pp. 7-12. Note: The information for a body was only made to make the types of fur easier to compare. 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.