Platinum fox fur

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Platinum Fox Cape Jacket, taken in 2010

The most spectacular color variant that appeared in silver fox breeding is the platinum fox. The article treats the platinum fox skin as a commodity and the products made from it.

In the fur industry, the platinum fox is one of the varieties known as noble foxes. Wildly occurring noble foxes are the silver fox, white fox and blue fox, as well as the cross fox. With this first color mutation in fur farming, a development began that later continued in mink farming with many colors and shades on a large scale.

Breeding, history

It is said that the earliest known platinum fox was the Norwegian male "Mons", born in 1932 by the fisher and fur breeder Evertson on the small island of Hinnøya , after whom the breed became known as the "Mons tribe". At the first introduction the animal was rejected, but my breeder colleague Kjaer bought it anyway. In 1936 he was able to offer the first skins at an auction in Oslo under the name of platinum foxes, which were immediately sold more expensive than silver fox skins. The price soared from the original 330 and 430 Danish kroner in 1937 to 750 to 2050 kroner, with an offer of 9 skins. There was a run on the breeding animals. A year earlier, however, the news came from America that Geo. E. Spencer, owner of the High Sierra Fur Farm, Berkeley, California, reported on his "naturel platinum foxes" obtained through crossbreeding between Alaskan blue and white foxes for several years, with a white undercoat and silvery or blue top coat. The fact that a constant breed had emerged, however, was considered very unlikely in a German fur breeder's newspaper, "since crossbreeds between blue and white foxes are known to be just as common as between silver and red fox and seem to break down regularly into the original components." Breeding of the platinum fox, a mutation of the silver fox, was apparently the more successful, certainly also the more attractive variant, "whose beauty" was "not doubted" by American breeders.

The platinum fox achieved its maximum price in New York in 1939, 399 hides were sold for an average of 548 US dollars (= 2,400 Danish kroner), and the top skin cost 11,000 dollars (= 48,800 kroner or around 27,000 Reichsmarks). That was the highest price paid for a single fur until at least 1942, but probably at all. In total, there were around 1,750 to 1,800 skins in this season, in which, despite the record numbers, prices were already falling.

Auction catalog for platina foxes from 1939, 6 years after the mutation first appeared.
With price notes from Francis Weiss .

In 1974 the tobacco merchant Francis Weiss remembers the birth of mutation fur farming:

During the auction in 1935, four heads of a completely new shade were shown. Sky blue, referred to as "Platina". I bought this rarity, including some at the next auction (1936). This time I tried to find out where the goods came from, but the management turned out to be ignorant. On the following morning, however, while inspecting some withdrawn lots , I found a very tiny, worthless fur of this character in a bundle of the smallest sub-varieties ... and look! On the miserable little fox there was a little note with the name and address of the sender. I wired him to come to Oslo immediately at my expense. Until then, the breeder of the wonder foxes , Hans Kjaer, had no idea what gold mine he owned.

The vast majority of platinum fox skins always went to the USA and Canada. In 1942 the price was still around 30 percent above that of the silver fox. A significant proportion of long-haired fur species has only been going to Asia and Russia since around 2000.

As the American weekly " Life Magazin " reported in 1922, one of the nine platinum fox pelts that fell in 1936 was given to the Norwegian Crown Princess Martha as a gift, four were made into a breeder's cape and the remaining four pelts were left with nothing known. The pelts that came out the following year all went to South America. In 1938, eleven skins came on the market, five of them to Buenos Aires and six to Paris. Four of the six skins were bought by a New York company, and the French fashion designer Molyneux is said to have used two skins for the Duchess of Windsor and Princess Lucinge.

Today's platinum fox is not a bastard, but a mutation of the silver fox. Its special character is based on a dominant hereditary factor. In contrast to the silver fox, it is heterozygous , so it cannot transfer its character to the entire offspring when it is mated with a female silver fox. The first breeding male, Mons, produced eight puppies when he was first mated, five of which fell after the father.

hide

Fritz Schmidt describes the fur as follows: The value of the platinum fox is based on the peculiar light color, which is created by the interplay of light, mostly pure white woolen hair with guard hair of various colors, i.e. partly white, partly dark to black, partly also with silver hair. The ends of the hair are usually pigment-free here. The now more light, now more dark platinum character is often associated with white markings of various shapes and sizes on the forehead, neck, underside and legs, so that the animals sometimes appear piebald. The platinum fox does not present a uniform picture in the overall picture as in the shading of its color.

Platina fox refers to a much lighter color variant that was originally bred in Norway. The white hair and hair pieces can be beautified with a light bleaching.

When the fur animals are divided into the fineness classes silky, fine, medium-fine, coarse and hard, the platinum fox hair is classified as fine.

Processing, use

Platinum Fox Necklace (2008)

For processing, see → silver fox fur .

The use also corresponds to that of the silver fox. Like all fox skins, platinum foxes have always been preferred for trimmings and smaller accessories, but also as a particularly impressive material for opulent coats and jackets, and occasionally for fur blankets as high-quality home accessories. For the production of the animal-shaped fur scarves, which were very popular up until the 1960s, see → Fox necklaces .

Rose Kennedy with a platinum fox jacket and Joseph P. Kennedy (1940)

More fox mutations

Other later mutations are the

  • White-face fox (white-faced fox ). Characteristic are the white markings; more or less closed neck collar, a narrower or wider blaze and white legs. The white-faced fox can have many color variations, such as red, silver, pearl, amber, and others. This fox variety is now traded as White Mark Fox. In contrast to the platinum foxes, there is less white. Legs are not completely white, but often only "stocked" or lightly speckled.
  • White Mark Fox, Ringneck Fox with the same character and numerous transitions to the White Fox Fox. The fox that came onto the market as a ringneck is no longer traded like this today, it is now one of the White Mark foxes.
  • Pearl platinum fox , pearl fox ; uniformly light, bluish-brown color without white markings. The color, which appeared in Colorado , was first mentioned in 1942. The original name platinum-pearl-fox for a fox without the white markings typical of platinum foxes is misleading, however, it is now referred to as the pearl fox.
  • Burgundy fox ; the black color of the silver fox has been replaced by a brownish, chocolate-like pigment.
  • Pastel fox ; Created in 1946 in the Swedish province of Dalarna through repeated crossings of white-face and platinum foxes; with a warm, gray-brown color that "reminds a little of sand". Today there are 3 types of pastel foxes : amber , for very light gray-yellow skins, cinnamon , for more orange-brown skins and lavender , for more brown-gray skins.
  • Glacier blue fox ; glacier blue; Bred out of a combination of platinum and pearl platinum foxes. (As of 1970) Not in stores today.
  • Snow fox ; this white fox with a black spotted snout, black ears and a dark back line was a mutation on a Russian farm. The appearance is very similar to the now more common Arctic Marble Fox. However, the snow fox, which is also traded as the Georgian White Fox, does not have a marble effect in the hair, but rather completely defined dark spots in the fur.
  • Other new mutations or breeds are offered under names such as Amber Gold , Dawn-Glo , Almond , Golden Island , etc. (status 1988). In the meantime, other colors have emerged, although after the massive decline in long-hair fur fashion and the disappearance of fox farms in 1970, fears were expressed that the end of many color variations could have come. Obviously forgotten is the Norwegian new breed of the opal fox , which became famous in 1940.

numbers

  • In 1936 the first three skins were offered in Oslo and sold for 430, 330 and 330 Norwegian kroner. A fourth skin achieved 460 crowns in London.
  • 1937 acquired a well-known furriers from Buenos Aires at auction in Oslo after a very heated battle a pair of good matching skins, designated in the catalog as "platinum foxes" , at a price of 2,050 Norwegian kroner (about £ 100). It said: “It has been some time since silver foxes were traded at prices of over 100 pounds sterling.” Other interested parties paid 1075 crowns for four skins and 750 crowns for three skins.
  • In 1938 the Association of Norwegian Platinum Fox Breeders (Norges Platinarevavslag) was formed.
  • In 1939 , 399 platinum foxes on offer in New York paid an average of $ 548 each (2,400 Norwegian crowns). A point head fetched $ 11,000, the highest price ever paid for a head.
The total production in 1939/40 was around 1750 to 1800 skins.
  • 1940 , the war and the simultaneous increase in supply lowered the platinum fox price, with an average of 500 to 600 crowns for a hide.
Total Norwegian production was around 16,000 to 17,000 pelts. But also in Sweden, Finland and America, despite the export ban for breeding animals, new breeds with Norwegian animals were established.
In order to protect the rarity value, the Norwegian breeders' association introduced the “Superplatin” brand, which was only allowed to be used by members for particularly exquisite skins . Official quality control classified the incidence in three assessment classes : Platinarevskin (platinum fox skins) , Ringnecks (darker skins) and Vrak (unsuitable for export).
  • In 1980 , 90,000 platinum fox skins came on the market, 75,000 of them from North America and 15,000 from Europe.

See also

Web links

Commons : Platinum Fox Skins  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
Commons : Platinum Foxskin Apparel  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
Commons : Fox fur processing  - collection of images, videos and audio files
Wiktionary: Platinum fox fur  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Dr. Fritz Schmidt: The book of the fur animals and pelts . FC Mayer Verlag, Munich 1970, p. 18, 195
  2. ↑ Editor: "Platinfüchse". In: Der deutsche Furztierzüchter No. 17, Munich 1931, pp. 475–476.
  3. ↑ a b "P": Where have come the platinum fox skins . In: Der deutsche Furztierzüchter No. 21/22, Munich 1939, p. 442.
  4. ^ Francis Weiss: The romantic fur trade . In a publication by the tobacco company Marco, Fürth 1974, year end 74 , p. 40
  5. ↑ Brinchmann-Hansen, Oslo: On the history of platinum breeding in Norway . In Der deutsche Pelztierzüchter , 17th year 1942, issue 2, Munich February 1, 1942, pp. 41–42. Reprinted from: Der Rauchwarenmarkt , Leipzig, No. 22, 1949
  6. ^ David G. Kaplan: World of Furs . Fairchield Publications. Inc., New York 1974, pp. 166-167 (Eng.)
  7. ↑ a b c d e f g h i R. HL: The Norwegian platinum fox. In: "Hermelin" 12th vol. Issue 7, Leipzig July 1941, p. 24
  8. ↑ www.furcommission.com : Fur Types in Brief , September 15, 2011, accessed February 18, 2012
  9. ↑ 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
  10. ↑ In: Der deutsche Pelztierzüchter, 17th volume, issue 3, p. 66, Munich March 1, 1942: American "Perl-Platinfüchse" , from the North American trade press
  11. ↑ Latest news from all over the world . In: Rund um den Pelz issue 1, January 1951, Fulde-Verlag, p. 34.
  12. ^ A b Christian Franke / Johanna Kroll: Jury Fränkel's Rauchwaren-Handbuch 1988/89 . 10. revised and supplemented new edition, Rifra-Verlag Murrhardt, p. 158
  13. ↑ EB: ... and still new varieties . In: Der deutsche Furztierzüchter , 17th year, issue 1, Munich 1942, p. 16
  14. ↑ Without the author's name: A record price at the Oslo silver fox auction . In: "Hermelin", 9th year, issue 2, Leipzig February 1938, p. 33
  15. ↑ Dr. Friedrich Lübstorff: World production of fur skins . In Das Pelzgewerbe , 1953 No. 1/2, supplement to the magazine Hermelin , Hermelin-Verlag Dr. Paul Schöps, Berlin and Leipzig, pp. 1–14