Wallaby fur

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bush wallaby fur, zoologically Bennett's kangaroo

As Wallabyfelle are the skins of all kangaroo species in the fur trade , the skins of the actual wallabies and young skins of kangaroos usually larger, respectively.

Wallabies include several species from the kangaroo family. However, the term is not clear. In the narrower sense, only eight smaller species of the genus Macropus are included, which are grouped together in the subgenus Notamacropus . In a broader sense (as in English), all smaller genera of the kangaroos (such as rabbit kangaroos , nail kangaroos , bush kangaroos , filanders and rock kangaroos ) are included.

Kangaroos are distributed in numerous species across Australia, Tasmania, New Guinea, Aru and Kai Islands and parts of the Bismarck Archipelago. They were naturalized in New Zealand around 1947.

The skins of all wallabies are mostly reddish brown, also bluish with light tips. The hair is long, similar to that of raccoons, but a little fluttering, the underside is gray-white.

The durability coefficient for wallaby fur is given as 30 to 40 percent, for the fur of the giant kangaroo as 20 to 30 percent. Wallaby hair (kangaroo types) is classified as medium-fine in a division of the fur types into the hair fineness classes silky, fine, medium-fine, coarse and hard.

From time to time in the individual states protection and protection laws for wallabies were enacted or repealed, so that the deliveries were changing. Some kangaroo species have been included in the Washington Convention on Endangered Species (Appendix I and II). The skins of the large kangaroos were exclusively used for leather processing, for which they no longer play a role today, in some cases they are subject to export bans.

Types suitable for fur processing (among others)

  • Whiptail wallaby
This is the name under which the pretty-faced wallaby was introduced from eastern Australia. The most striking characteristic are the white stripes on the cheeks that extend from the muzzle to under the eyes. The head body length is about 80 centimeters, the tail length about 75 centimeters. The front body, the underside and the hind feet are light gray. The fur is a little darker on the shoulders. The back of the body is isabel-colored, too dark towards the back. The tail is whitish in the back, the tip of the tail is black. The thighs have a wide white stripe. The muzzle is blackish, the top of the head quite dark. There is a wide, white vertical stripe on the cheeks. The ears are light with a large black center spot.
Distribution: The eastern Australian coastal region, from the south of the Cape York Peninsula (Queensland) to northeastern New South Wales. Attempts to establish the species in Germany at the end of the 19th century were unsuccessful.
Before 1925, around 300,000 pelts were imported into Europe annually. In 1905 the value of a fur was 3 to 6 pence, in 1910 an average of 3 shillings, in 1925 about 8 to 10 shillings.
The soft fur was used, among other things, to make artificial small koala bears as toys or souvenirs.
    • Bush wallaby, red-necked wallaby, Bennett kangaroo
    Red-necked wallabies reach a head-trunk length of 70 to 90 centimeters, the tail is 65 to 90 centimeters long.
    Distribution: Eastern and southeastern Australia, in the states of Queensland, New South Wales and on the island of Tasmania.
    The bush wallaby has the best coat quality, from him (red-necked wallaby) come what is known as the Silvery Darkside . Before 1911, around 300,000 pelts were exported to Europe annually. The animal was not only hunted down excessively because of its fur, but it was also wiped out in large areas through poisoning campaigns. The number of pelts marketed in Queensland had dropped from around 16,000 in 1955 to 5,000 in 1965.
    • Swamp wallaby, swamp wallaby
    The head-trunk length of the swamp wallaby is 70 to 90 centimeters, the tail is 65 to 90 centimeters long. The coat color is variable. The upper side of the body is gray-brown or orange-brown to dark brown, the belly side is light brown-yellow. The face is gray, the cheeks whitish yellow. On the sides of the head there is a wide blackish rein stripe. The tail is blackish. The hair is curled.
    Distribution: In eastern and south-eastern Australia, from eastern Queensland to Victoria and eastern South Australia. Contrary to what their name suggests, swamp wallabies also live in forests and open grasslands.
    The pelts were valued for both furs and fur blankets , they were also dyed like a skunk . Around 1925, 200,000 pieces were imported into Europe each year, the unit price was 6 to 8 shillings. While around 13,000 swamp wallabies were shot in Queensland in 1955, there were only around 1200 animals in 1965.
  • Rock wallabies, rock wallabies
With 17 species, rock wallabies are among the most species-rich genera in this family.
Distribution: Mountainous regions in northwest, east and southeast Australia, not in Tasmania. In contrast to other smaller species of the kangaroo family, they are less threatened and in some cases still widespread.
In 1910 around 200,000 to 300,000 rock wallaby furs came on the market, worth around 3 shillings each, in 1925 it was no more than half as much. Rock wallabies and brydle (short-nailed kangaroo), commonly known as "paddymelons" (pademelons, German Filander ), were initially the main types of wallabies traded.
The rock wallabies include, among others:
    • Quokka or short-tailed kangaroo
    Quokkas reach a head body length of 48 to 60 centimeters, the tail measures 25 to 35 centimeters. Their short, rough fur is gray-brown in color, sometimes with a slight red tinge. The head is lighter with black eyes. The hair is long and dense, the awn somewhat coarse. The tail is relatively short and hardly hairy. The body is quite stocky, as with most kangaroos, the hind legs are long and strong, the front legs are short. The short, rounded ears are striking.
    Distribution: Originally widespread, now some small, protected populations in southwestern Western Australia and on some offshore islands such as Bald Island and Rottnest Island.
    The quality of the fur is different.
    • Red-bellied kangaroo, also called red-bellied filander
    Red-bellied filanders are a relatively small species of kangaroo. Their physique is stocky, the sparsely hairy tail is comparatively short. Their long fur is dark olive to gray-brown on the upper side, the underside is reddish-orange to reddish-yellow. Sometimes they have a pale yellowish stripe on the thigh. As with most kangaroos, the back legs are longer and stronger than the front legs.
    Distribution: Originally red-bellied filanders inhabited southeastern Australia and southeastern South Australia, in Victoria and on Tasmania. On the mainland they became extinct at the beginning of the 20th century, so that today they only occur in Tasmania, where they are however common. Between 1923 and 1960, almost 66,000 pelts were captured annually in Tasmania.
    • Derbywallaby, also Tammar, Eugenifilander
    The fur of the Derby Wallaby is gray-brown on the upper side, the underside is lighter, mostly yellowish-gray and the legs are reddish. As with most kangaroos, the hind legs are significantly longer and stronger than the front legs, the head is elongated and the ears are large. Males are significantly larger than females and have larger front paws with more pronounced claws. Adult animals reach a head body length of 52 to 68 centimeters and a tail length of 33 to 45 centimeters.
    Distribution: Derby wallabies were at home in large parts of southern Australia until the 1920s. Today they still live in southwestern Western Australia and on some islands off the coast of South Australia, such as Kangaroo Island. There has been a small population on the New Zealand island of Kawau since around 1870.
    • Red-necked filander, thetis kangaroo
    Red-necked filanders are small, stocky representatives of the kangaroos. The body sizes of these animals are between 55 and 70 centimeters, the tail measures 25 to 40 centimeters. Males are larger than females. The fur is colored brown-gray on the back, the belly is clearly lighter. The reddish-colored shoulders and neck are the name-giving feature. The coloring and color distribution vary individually. The thighs sometimes have a narrow, light stripe. As with most kangaroos, the hind legs are significantly longer than the front legs, and the tail is sparsely hairy.
    Distribution: In eastern Australia, from southeast Queensland to central New South Wales.
    The quality of the fur is different. The skins were made into fur linings , trimmings and sometimes also into jackets and coats.
  • Gray wallabies
The skins were sometimes also traded as rock wallabies
    • Mainland brush kangaroo
    The upper side of the fur is brown to light brownish, the underside gray to whitish. The hair on the tail end is blackish and forms a brush comb. The fur is soft and dense, the awns stick out a bit.
    The quality of the fur is different.
Elderly coat and hat made of kangaroo skin, Australian work (photo 2013)
    • Brush-tailed rock kangaroo, brush-tailed kangaroo
    The brush-tailed rock kangaroo has a compact body, the head body length is 50 to 72 centimeters, the tail length 42 to 56 centimeters. The upper side of the fur is essentially red-brown or more gray to dark gray-brown in the front area. The head is dark gray to grayish brown on the upper side, whitish on the underside, with a blackish eye stripe on the color border from the snout to the ear. The feet and the muzzle are black-brown to blackish. The front half of the tail is sometimes gray-brown or reddish. Occasionally a thin blackish line of eel runs over the top of the head and the front part of the back. The underside of the body is yellowish-white. Often there is a blackish stripe on the sides of the body from the base of the arm to the hips. Individual guide hairs are black, the other hairs are essentially brownish. The guide hairs are up to 52 millimeters long. In the last third, the hair is extended like a brush. The small, round ears are characteristic.
    All brush kangaroo species are endangered species due to the changed environmental conditions. The quality of the fur is different. The skins, once known as Silvery Lightside , came from the brush kangaroo .
    • Yellow-footed rock kangaroo
    The fur length of the yellow-footed rock kangaroos (2 subspecies) is between 60 and 80 centimeters, and the tail is 60 to 80 centimeters. The upper side of the fur is gray in the front area, more reddish gray in the back. The ventral side is whitish. Front and rear legs are light yellowish rust color, the ears are yellowish. The eel line is dark brown. There is a white stripe on each of the cheeks, as well as on the sides of the body and over the thighs. The tail is yellowish with 10 to 15 dark brown transverse rings.
    Distribution: South Victoria, Bass Strait Islands, Tasmania.
    Yellow-footed rock kangaroos were mainly hunted between 1880 and 1920 because of their pretty, colorful and soft fur; today they are under protection in Australia.
  • Red giant kangaroo
The body length of the red giant kangaroo is 130 to 160 centimeters in males and 100 to 120 centimeters in females. The tail length in males 85 to 105, in females 65 to 85 centimeters. The fur of the adult nominate form has a light reddish to brownish red upper side, while the underside is whitish with a reddish belly and possibly a bright red throat. The red color is caused by a powder-like skin secretion that is deposited on the chest and spread with the front paws to the back. Even the dried pelts lose their red color over time and then resemble the female pelts, light gray to blue-gray on the top and whitish on the underside. The cheeks are whitish with a dark stripe in front of the eyes. The coat is very soft and dense with a bluish, rich undercoat, also longer-haired than other species, the underside is white. The leather is thin and soft.
Distribution: All of Australia with the exception of the coasts and the southwest.
Here only the skins of female animals were used for “furriers”. In 1911 the price of fur had risen considerably. While fur cost 3 to 4 pence in the early 1880s, in 1890 1 ¼ to 1 ½ shillings, it was now 4 shillings. In Queensland in 1955 around 97,000 red kangaroo skins came onto the market, in 1960 there were 250,000 and in 1965 it increased again to 352,000.
  • Gray giant kangaroo
The gray giant kangaroo has two subspecies (according to Dathe / Schöps 3), the eastern gray giant kangaroo and the western gray giant kangaroo .
The length of the head body in males is 105 to 140, in females 85 to 120 centimeters, the tail length 95 to 100, in females around 85 centimeters. The fur is gray-brown to reddish gray on the upper side, the dark forehead stripe is only faintly indicated. There is usually a whitish-gray arch above the eye. The underside is whitish gray to white. The individual hair is gray-white in the area of ​​the roots, light brown or gray-white in the middle. The leading hairs are black in the tip part. The length of the slightly wavy hair varies from short to fairly long (13 to 40 millimeters) depending on gender, occurrence and season. The subspecies M. g. rasmaniensis has a particularly long-haired and coarse coat.
Occurrence: Northeast Queensland to Victoria and to southeast South Australia and on Kangaroo Island. Subspecies found in the coastal areas of Southwest Australia between Geraldton and Esperance and on Tasmania.
The fur was mostly made into leather.
  • Mountain kangaroo
The dense, shaggy fur of the mountain kangaroos is darker than that of most kangaroo species, it is mostly dark gray on the upper side, often almost blackish in color, but also brownish-red, reddish or even isabel. The underside is gray-white to white. The head is sometimes lighter than the body, sometimes with light cheeks and a small, light arched line over the eyes. The feet and tail are often dark brown. The fur of M. r. antilopinus is light reddish, from M. r. cervinus brown-red. The males are each darker gray or more intense red than the females. As with most kangaroos, the physique is characterized by the strong hind legs, the muscular tail and the short front legs. The fur is short in the northern forms and quite long in the southern forms. Mountain kangaroos reach a head body length of 75 to 140 centimeters, a tail length of 60 to 90 centimeters. The males are significantly larger than the females.
Distribution: All of Australia, even in the inhospitable central part of the country, but not in Tasmania.
Due to the shaggy, short and coarse hair, the fur is not very suitable for fur purposes, it was mainly processed into leather.
  • Regarding the terms used in auctions, such as Victoria or Swampwallaby, Silvery lightsides, Silvery darksides and Tasmanian, a Leipzig tobacco shop remarked in 1931 that these terms were actually only collective names. Because under Silvery lightsides there were lots of the opossum-colored Tamar wallaby , the blank wallaby and the bridle kangaroo , the Queensland and Western Australian scrub wallaby and many others . Under the name Silvery darksides, under which primarily the bush wallaby were understood, lots of Tasmanian fur were often included, sometimes even the swamps . A distinction was made between "tanners", the tanner ware, and "furriers", the furrier ware, from which the tanner ware was often bought for furrier purposes and vice versa .

Trade, history

Horse-drawn vehicle with 6000 marsupial skins of different types ( Charleville district, between 1902 and 1904)

For the Australian natives, kangaroo meat was the main food. After the arrival of the European settlers, the kangaroo was hunted for other reasons, partly for meat production, but mainly because of the competition with the farmers, who see the animals as a threat to their existence and fight them in various ways , because they eat up the fields and use the artificially created waterings. The kangaroo skin is a by-product, the price has rarely been so high that the hunt would have been worthwhile because of it.

Fashion discovered the wallaby skin in the second half of the 19th century. In the beginning of the colonization the hunt was either consumed in the country or brought to Europe as a curiosity, most of the skins were thrown away as worthless. Australian pelts were first mentioned at a London auction in 1871, namely 18,021 opossum skins , and in 1891 wombat skins , kangaroo skins and wallaby skins. Before 1911, most of the non-Australian processed skins went to North America. Over the years, a sharp decline in the Australian prehistoric fauna was observed, whereas the incidence of the pelts of originally European animal species introduced by the settlers steadily increased considerably ( rabbit skins , red fox skins ).

Around 1926, kangaroo skins or the wallaby varieties, along with other, hitherto little used types of skin, became a coveted coat material in Germany after the non-well-colored skins had started to be dyed. Next to Germany, England was the main consumer of wallaby fur. The Breslau tobacco company Adolph Schlesinger Successor with its Leipzig fur store "dominated the wallaby market" in Germany for two decades, temporarily exclusively with goods dyed by the London company CW Martin & Sons .

In 1961 a German fur magazine reported that coats made of kangaroo skins were being presented for the first time as a novelty in Sydney at extraordinarily low prices . The coats should be extremely light with durable leather. Mostly they were bleached white or dyed brown, natural-colored skins were not processed until then.

In 1988 it was said: "The incidence of wallaby skins is said to have been up to 1 million in recent years, but more precise figures are not available". Since then, the fur seems to have almost completely disappeared, at least from the European market.

The skins are sorted into the following classes:

  • Regular: gray-brown, spotted black to the right and left of the thigh.
Largest skins (extra long) up to 70 centimeters, quality partly good, partly poor.
The hair of the good skins is about 2 centimeters long; the undercoat is accordingly good. Small pelts are softer (milky) in the hair.
  • Furriers are mostly colored on silver gray, brown, blue, mink, red and black,
  • Tanners are dyed on mink in the better qualities.
  • Silver bare: Smaller, longer and softer in the hair
  • Red and bare: mostly smaller, dark brown to brownish red. They are particularly suitable for browning.

The raw skins are delivered open, not peeled off round. It was noted by the trade that some wallaby varieties contain a noticeably high number of skins with bite marks, which almost devalue first-class skins.

processing

Coat made of deep- shorn ,
ocelot-printed wallaby (2010)
Wallaby wallet purse (1950s)

Good-colored pelts were mostly processed in natural colors, bad-colored pelts were dyed onto other fur colors, for example mink. Some of the skins were sheared. Since raw-burned hides (hard in the leather due to rotting) were often delivered, the failure rate was considerable. The treatment of raw hides in the country of origin was not uniform and was sometimes very careless.

Often, because of the gradual hair change, wallabies often have new growth spots, areas where the new hair is even shorter. These may have to be removed during processing. While a master furrier in the 1920s describes all the elaborate work techniques involved in furring, such as omitting , letting in or cutting, also for wallaby, it is otherwise advisable to process the skins as simply as possible, with straight seams, full or half skins placed next to and on top of each other. Processing against the grain, with the hair flap upwards, also gives a very nice effect (" downward processing").

In 1965 the fur consumption for a fur board (made of small kangaroo pelts) sufficient for a wallaby coat was given as 20 to 30 skins (so-called coat “body” ). 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.

They are mostly processed into jackets or coats, flatter skins into inner linings. Other uses mentioned in 1928 were the long-haired, natural-colored skins as opossum or raccoon imitations for men's collars, skunk colors and lighter shades for women's trimmings , muffs and fur stoles .

The ability to repair wallaby furs was given in 1974 as “good”. Redesigning the model was not advised, as it would rarely be worthwhile in relation to the purchase of a new one, and there were no matching skins to be obtained.

Numbers and facts

  • In 1910 a wallaby coat was offered in a catalog for 550 marks.
  • Before 1944 , the maximum wholesale price for wallaby skins, natural or colored, was a large 25 marks; small 16 marks, flat 9 marks.
  • In 1968 the Tierpark Berlin asked about their experiences with keeping kangaroos and whether breeding for fur purposes would be worthwhile. In summary, the answer was that given the effort required, this would not make economic sense.

Web links

Commons : Wallaby skins  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files
Commons : Clothing and Other Wallaby Skin Products  - 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 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 Christian Franke / Johanna Kroll: Jury Fränkel ’s Rauchwaren-Handbuch 1988/89 . 10. revised and supplemented new edition, Rifra-Verlag Murrhardt, pp. 228-230.
  2. 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.
  3. 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, p. 40 (note: fine (partly silky); medium-fine (partly fine); coarser (medium-fine to coarse)).
  4. a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Heinrich Dathe , Paul Schöps, with the collaboration of 11 specialists: Fur Animal Atlas . VEB Gustav Fischer Verlag Jena, 1986, pp. 71-82.
  5. a b c d e f Emil Brass : From the realm of fur . 2nd improved edition, publisher of the "Neue Pelzwaren-Zeitung and Kürschner-Zeitung", Berlin 1925, pp. 766–768.
  6. a b c d e Emil Brass : From the realm of fur . 1st edition, published by the "Neue Pelzwaren-Zeitung and Kürschner-Zeitung", Berlin 1911, pp. 633–635.
  7. ^ A b c d e Franz Weiss (company Franz Weiss & Sohn, Leipzig): Australian tobacco products . In: Rauchwarenkunde. Eleven lectures on the product knowledge of the fur trade . Verlag Der Rauchwarenmarkt, Leipzig 1931, pp. 124–146.
  8. Fritz Schmidt: The book of the fur animals and fur . FC Mayer Verlag, Munich 1970, pp. 53-59.
  9. ^ Philipp Manes : The German fur industry and its associations 1900-1940, attempt at a story . Berlin 1941 Volume 1. Copy of the original manuscript, p. 145 ( G. & C. Franke collection ).
  10. Arthur Samet: Pictorial Encyclopedia of Furs . Arthur Samet (Book Division), New York 1950, p. 361. (Eng.)
  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, pp. 168–169 ( → table of contents ).
  12. Without the author's indication: fur coats made from kangaroo skins . In Hermelin , 1961 No. 4, Hermelinverlag Dr. Paul Schöps, Berlin et al., P. 34.
  13. a b c Alexander Tuma jun: The practice of the furrier . Published by Julius Springer, Vienna 1928, pp. 35, 186–187.
  14. ^ Heinrich Schirmer: The technique of the skinning . Verlag Arthur Heber & Co., Leipzig 1928, pp. 214-217.
  15. ^ Frank Grover: Practical Fur Cutting and Furriery . The Technical Press, London 1936, p. 123. (Eng.).
  16. 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.
  17. ^ David G. Kaplan: World of Furs . Fairchield Publications. Inc., New York, p. 195.
  18. ↑ Smoked goods (furs and prices) 1910 . Catalog page of an undisclosed company.
  19. ^ Friedrich Malm, August Dietzsch: The art of the furrier. Fachbuchverlag Leipzig 1951, p. 73.
  20. D. Lau: keeping and breeding of kangaroos . In: Das Pelzgewerbe , Vol. XIX, New Series, 1968, Issue No. 4, Hermelin-Verlag Paul Schöps, Berlin et al., Pp. 29-30.

See also

Commons : Wallaby skins  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files
Commons : Wallaby Skin Apparel  - Collection of images, videos and audio files