Silver fox fur

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

  • Silver fox skins of various degrees of silver

  • Silver fox coat, galonized
    (Herve Leger, New York 2014)

In the fur trade, the silver fox fur is at the top of the so-called noble fox fur , such as arctic fox fur , blue fox fur and cross fox fur .

The silver fox , zoologically also black and silver fox , is actually a color variant of the red fox (black fox), around 1900 it was considered the “king of fur animals”. The fur has enjoyed this extraordinary esteem for over 1000 years. Originally pure black skins were considered to be the most valuable. A particularly beautiful coat was sold for 10,000 gold marks at a London auction in 1910 . The systematic breeding of fur animals began with the silver fox in the 1890s.

General, history

Boris Nikolayevich Yusupov with a black and silver fox collar (1850)

An overview of the price development for black and silver foxes can be found at the end of the article.

The low occurrence of black and silver foxes in the wild is largely due to hunting that has been going on for over a thousand years. It would be even more rarely used, but more correct than the term black and silver fox, to call it the silver black fox. The decisive characteristic is the black color and not the silvering. In the Mediterranean region in particular, the rare, completely black specimens were particularly valued.

As early as 627, the Emperor of China received a black fox from King Wen-t'ai of Turfan (East Turkestan , Xinjiang ) as a gift, along with a candle holder depicting two six-inch-high dogs leading a horse by the reins.

With the beginning of the Arab- Norman trade, the black foxes were also in great demand in the Arab world , as the caliph Mahdi had recognized the black fox skins as the warmest through an experiment in his own person. On a frosty winter night he filled several bottles with water and wrapped them in various furs; the experiment showed that only the bottle with the black fox fur did not freeze over. According to the reports of al-Mas'udi from the 10th century, however, the Arabs obtained their black fox skins from the land of the Burtâ (mostly on the left bank of the Volga, descendants are the Chuvashes ).

The above-mentioned gift to the Chinese emperor already shows the special value of a black fox fur. The travel report of al-Mas'udi (d. 957), also mentioned above, is the first tradition with an indication of the price, it says about the Burtâ:

“ Black and red fox skins, known as Burtasian, are exported from their country. One of their pelts is worth every 100 gold pieces and more, at least the black ones, the red ones are cheaper. The black ones wear the kings of the Arabs and Persians and compete in luxury with this costume. It is dearer to them than sable , fennec and other fur. The kings have them made hats, caftans and coats, and there is hardly a king who does not have a cloak or caftan lined with these black Burtasian foxes. "

  • Evening costume with silver fox sleeves (Netherlands, 1936)

  • Silver fox evening jacket (Australia, 1940)

Black was the color of the Abbassids , so only black furs were worn at the court of the rulers.

Al-Mas'udi also wrote:

“ Others (ships on the Volga ) from the land of the Burtâs bring black fox skins and these are the most prized and valuable furs. There are also red and white ones , which can compete with the fennec , and black and white ones (obviously a distinction is made between pure black and silver foxes) ; the worst species is that known as the Bedouin fox. The black species is found nowhere but in this area and the neighboring districts. The barbarian kings indulge in luxury by dressing in these skins and wearing hats and furs from them. The black type fetches a high price. It is imported to the region of bâb al-abwâb , Berdha'a and parts of Khorâsân and sometimes it is imported into the land of the Kyrgyz (?), Then into the land of the Franks and Spain and these furs, black and red, after the Magrib . "

From the Arab geographer and postmaster Ibn Chordadhbeh (* around 820; † around 912) we learn that the Varangian merchants let the black fox pelts from the extreme lands of the Slavs to the Mediterranean Sea ; According to Ibn Hauqal's report from the 10th century, most of these hides, which were negotiated to the south, come from the land of the Ersa, a sub-tribe of the East Finnish Mordvins , their home was the headwaters of the Oka , across the Volga to the southern Urals .

For a long time, parts of the Siberian peoples were obliged to pay tribute to the Russian crown, the " yassak ". He was paid mainly in fine fur. In 1237, after the conquest of the old " Rus ", every inhabitant of any age was obliged to deliver one fur from a brown or polar bear, beaver, sable, polecat and black fox. One could conclude from this that the black foxes were still common there at the time. It often seems unclear to what extent the respective statements refer only to full black silver foxes.

Five centuries later, in 1709, a hunting book says: “ In Moscow and other midnight places there are also white and black foxes, but the white foxes are not big and are not expensive either, but the black ones are so expensive and highly paid that you have to pay 20 or 30 guilders in front of some black brats. “And in 1791 about black foxes, a particularly valuable tobacco product from Lapland:“ ... hence it is also forbidden in Russia, where these skins are supposedly only kept for use on the court, are forbidden to trade with or to use them with high punishment To bring abroad. "

A specialist furrier book from 1911 says about the price of fur: “ The Russian black fox is one of the largest foxes and hardly ever comes to Europe on the market because the Russians usually keep the whole harvest and the skins are so rare on the whole that Selected beautiful specimens can often be paid for at fabulous prices of up to 20,000 marks . ”A special feature of the processing as late as 1910 is the indication that a fur made from silver fox throat and neck pieces could cost 25,000 marks at that time. A tsar's fur coat made entirely from the black necks of silver foxes was exhibited at the World Industrial Exhibition of 1851 ; its real monetary value was 23,300 thalers. The neck pieces of the silver foxes are often completely black even with otherwise silvery fur. Presumably, according to the extreme appreciation of the rare pure black foxes at the time, the use of exclusively these fur parts for a coat as well as the high price achieved with it explains.

Today's farm foxes are descended from North American silver foxes. A hide was worth more than fifty beaver pelts to the natives there . If a chief accepted such skin as a gift, it was considered an act of reconciliation.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the pure black skins fetched the highest prices at the London auctions at between 5,000 and 7,000 marks. An English furrier wrote in 1913 that in some years only two or three skins were sold, while silvery skins only sold a few pounds sterling. At the end of the 1930s and the beginning of the 1940s, people then preferred all-silver, i.e. very light, silver fox skins.

Silver fox necklace, silent film star Mabel Normand , USA (1892–1930)

The modern era of silver fox fashion began with the single-skin silver fox necklace, all around fur with a naturalized head. In the beginning the silver fox was not an everyday item, it was never worn on the street. Soon there were two skins, in the 1935/36 season capes and pelerines were added, but then also jackets and finally coats. For decades, the silver fox fur was at the forefront of the fur types used for fur clothing. The silver fox was surrounded by a nimbus of great rarity and the highest valuation . With the expansion of the breed this reputation did not lose, soon it alone determined the fashionable image of all festive events and in the stands of the elegant and sporty public . However, admiration for the seemingly timeless beauty was over when the silver fox had become commonplace. It almost completely disappeared from the market and the streets when fashion turned away from long-haired pelts around 1950 and instead preferred types of fur such as Persian and mink.

The London tobacco retailer Francis Weiss wrote in his report on the ups and downs of fur prices (the silver fox price had meanwhile dropped from £ 500 to 50 to 60 shillings): “ Shortly before the Second World War, silver fox stoles came in the USA as“ street girls -Uniform “in fashion. As a result, no decent woman dared to wear a silver fox in public for the next several decades. "

This was only partially the case for Germany. The war prevented the import of valuable types of fur due to a lack of foreign currency, a German woman wore German fur anyway, that was mainly the inexpensive but not particularly renowned rabbit , but there was also the bred silver fox. More and more silver fox farms were established, and silver fox fur became the favorite fur of the Hitler era. Film stars could be admired privately and on the screen with voluminous, shoulder-hugging capes and encouraged imitation. When the German troops occupied Denmark and Norway, the soldiers brought their brides and wives one or two silver fox skins bred there, which the local furrier then usually combined with a necklace with a head, tail and paws or a wavy collar with paws or a simple shawl collar or a fur stole worked. With the currency reform in 1948, the era of long hair fashion ended in Germany.

Wild silver fox

Silver fox cape (with white fox) and short coat (Germany, 1978)
From left: short silver fox coat, bluefrost fox coat, two fawnlight fox coats, Golden Island fox coat (Germany, 1988)

In the wild, the silver fox can only be found in small numbers in northern North America ( Labrador , British Columbia , Alaska, Canada) and in northeast Siberia . The catch of the American silver fox was once almost exclusively the privilege of the Peguis Chippewa Indians, in whose territory it was mainly to be found. The wild silver fox is a black fox of the various red fox species in whose range it lives, the skins from the respective origins are correspondingly different ( Labrador , New Brunswick , Sitka Island , etc.).

Where the red fox fur has different shades in the red-brown spectrum, all the color pigments of the silver fox are black. The more noticeable are the non-colored, silver-white hair or sections of hair, and the tip of the tail is white like the red fox. The basic color of the fur is black (technically deep “blue” ) with different levels of silvering. In addition to the black guard hairs that protrude from the more or less dark undercoat, there are black guard hairs with a white cross band. Everything together then appears as "silvering", the intensity of which is assessed differently depending on the fashion.

The hair tips of the silver fox are never white, they are always black or brown.

The hair itself is long and silky to fine, shiny and dense, the under hair is well covered by the guard hair. The awn is much stiffer than that of the blue fox. The finest hair formation is on the nape of the neck, often with frizzy hangings near the shoulders. This mane, which is typical of Canadian silver foxes, has almost completely disappeared in connection with the breeding of full silver foxes. The tail is particularly bushy.

The skins are differentiated according to the degree of silvering. It can be completely absent and can extend over a quarter, half, three-quarters or more of the back (especially the hip area). The silvering of the eye area, known as a mask, can also be spread over the head. For sorting and evaluation, it is important whether the silver band is sharply defined against the black part of the hair (clear) or whether there is a more or less broad transition between black and white. If the white band is very narrow, the fur often appears "pepper and salt" -like. If the silver band is close to the tip and it is very wide, the fur appears more chalky. If the black ends of the hair cover the white rings, the fur appears, when it meets the pure black awns, as if covered with a kind of veil.

Annual Silver Fox Collection at a Hudson's Bay Company fort (before 1912)
Origin (wild caught)
North American : The best hides come from the Hudson Bay Territories and Labrador .
Those from the west coast, especially from Alaska, are larger in area and stronger in growth, but coarser in the hair ( Sitka fox ).
Siberian : The color impression is slate, slightly lead colored.
Often there is a brownish, rounded mark on the shoulders and hips, the Siberian hunters call it Jabloki (apples). The trade name for these skins is, together with the brownish red foxes, Chernoburi (black-brown).
The best Siberian wild-caught animals come from the Lena (Lensky) area, and skins from the areas of the Indirka and Kolyma rivers are also considered to be quite good .
Color range (for wild-caught and farm foxes)
Dark, Slightly Silvery, Silvery, Quarter Silvery, Half Silvery, Three Quarter Silvery, White Silvery (only for Polish farm foxes).
In addition, the quality of the color is differentiated into
Pure in silver
Clear silver. Silvering free of yellowish or brownish color; pure silver pelts have the highest value.
Chalky
Silvering of chalky (lead-colored) appearance. The so-called "blue" tint appears veiled.
Monkey silvery
Mostly brownish silvering. The upper hair is similar to monkey hair with its stiffness and lack of flexibility.
Assortment for wild caught
Hudson's Bay Company : Canadian, Scandinavian
Russia: Kamchatka, Siberian, Northern (European Russia)

The skins are pulled off in the form of a bag and delivered with the hair on the outside.

The annual incidence of fur from wild silver foxes has been insignificant for decades, also because they are significantly inferior to the quality of the farmed fur.

Farm silver fox

Fox farmer in northern Canada with young animal (approx. 1st third of the 20th century)

The first attempts at breeding began, with little success, around 1870 to 1880 in Canada on Prince Edward Island . The breakthrough came, also there, with the systematic breeding of the Canadian Charles Dalton , who first attracted attention in 1894 with the high prices achieved. He soon merged with the silver fox farmer Robert Oulton; A common monument was set up for them at the place where they worked, in Summerside , and a silver fox museum was set up. At the beginning of the 19th century they sent the first silver fox skins to London for auction. In doing so, they concealed the fact that they were farmed products. The results were already amazing. In 1910 they achieved an average price of 275 pounds at CM Lampson & Co. , the most expensive, a black fox fur, brought in 540 pounds. When the truth became known, the run on the breeding animals began. At its peak, a breeding pair later cost $ 35,000. In the history of fur farming, such price bubbles have appeared time and again in attractive new breeds. They keep puffing up for a while, not only because of the hype of the press - the reports about the astronomical prices push them up even further - but above all because it is initially much more lucrative to sell breeding animals instead of the furs. Despite the prices, there are hardly any good skins on the market for a long time. As soon as there are no longer enough buyers for the meanwhile many animals, the bubble bursts without transition and many hopeful breeder, who had invested all his money in the expensive breeding pairs and the equipment, suddenly faced ruin.

Fox farmer with black fox fur (1914)

In Europe, the first successful silver fox farms were established in Sweden and Norway. In 1913 Arne Christensen imported the first pair of silver foxes from Canada to Oslo for £ 3,000. In 1925, 30,000 pounds sterling was named as the highest price in the world for a breeding pair to date. - Scandinavia is again a major supplier of silver fox skins today.

At the instigation of Leipzig tobacco merchants, the "German laboratory animal breeding company noble Pelztiere GmbH" was founded in 1920 and a silver fox farm was financed in Hirschegg - Riezlern , near Oberstdorf in Kleinwalsertal , in which the first German silver foxes fell in 1923. It was founded in the period of inflation , at that time it was only possible to purchase a piece of land for it in the duty-free German Kleinwalsertal. Shortly afterwards, in view of the sales proceeds, especially for breeding animals, private individuals founded further farms: in Upper Bavaria, in the German low mountain ranges and at the mouths of the Elbe and Weser. 1925 was then the year with the great boom in silver fox breeding; A large number of farms emerged in almost all German areas. The first German silver fox auction , at which, however, mostly inferior and inferior goods were auctioned - the breeders parted ways with the animals that were less suitable for breeding - took place in Leipzig in 1931.

In 1910 world production was already estimated at 9,500 skins, in 1928 at 80,000 and in 1939 with the maximum number of 1¼ million. A hide cost 200 to 300 marks at that time, the highest price for a farm skin in the time of the "silver fox hype" in the early 1930s was US $ 2,100. During the 1935 harvest at the Hudson's Bay Company, the amount of wild fur was barely seven percent , and " not one of the skins came close to the quality of the bred ones ". In contrast to mink breeding, which took a relatively long time, the silver fox pelts from farm farming quickly found recognition.

Two breeds were initially used for breeding: the Canadian silver fox (standard strain) and the Alaska silver fox (Alaska strain). Both have significant differences in size, build, and hair structure. Since the Canadian silver fox is particularly fine-haired and has a silky hair, the Alaskan strain was gradually abandoned. At the end of the 1930s there were almost only descendants of the Eastern Canadian silver fox left in Europe.

In addition to the general quality standards, the value of the skins depends on the distribution of silver (quarter, half, three-quarters and full silver). "Dark silver", "full silver" and "white silver" are also bred, although the appreciation for the different color variants changes depending on the fashion. In 1988, the general price of silver fox skins was the order of the day; they are subject to great fluctuations, but are usually around twice the price of the blue fox . Even blue fox skins now come almost exclusively from breeding farms.

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

Currently, very long-haired, lighter-colored silver foxes are preferred, which have more silver. Legs, tail and muzzle should be as black as possible and form a strong contrast to the rest of the fur (2012).

Silver fox muff and scarf, actress Ethel Barrymore (USA, c. 1901)
  • When purely bred, both silver fox breeds consistently produce silver foxes. If you cross them with each other, you get the so-called Patch Fox , a kind of →  cross fox with gray and brownish markings on the shoulder and back, which hardly resembles the silver fox.
  • One color variety of the silver fox is the platinum fox, born for the first time by a Norwegian breeder . Schmidt described the →  platinum fox fur : “ It is characterized by the peculiar light color that is created by the interplay of light, mostly pure white, partly dark to black, partly also silver hair. The sometimes light, sometimes dark coat character makes the animals appear spotted. “When it first appeared at auctions, this variety fetched higher prices than the silver fox skins - at 27,000 Reichsmarks, the highest price ever paid for a single skin. A then well-known New York furrier supplied the film star Paulette Goddard with a coat made of 13 skins, which is said to have cost around 250,000 Reichsmarks. Just the collar skin alone cost the furrier 25,000 Reichsmarks. However, the fur press assumed that the price also included a good amount of advertising for both parts .
  • Other later mutations that emerged from the silver fox are, on the one hand, the white face fox . Its distinguishing features are the white markings: a more or less closed neck collar, a narrower or wider blaze and white legs; then the 'ringneck' to which a number of transitions lead from the platinum fox. They all have the same character, but very different shapes and designs of white badges.
  • The pearl-platinum fox has a uniformly light, blue-brownish color with no markings. This American silver fox variety was first reported in 1942.
  • In the Burgundy fox , the black pigment of the silver fox has been replaced by a brownish, chocolate-like color.
  • The pastel fox was created in 1946 from a cross between white foxes and platinum foxes. It has a warm, gray-brown color that is somewhat reminiscent of sand .
  • The glacier blue Glacier Blue fox , bred from platinum and pearl platinum foxes, is probably no longer on the market under this name.
  • The snow fox , a Russian mutation, has a white fur with a black marbled snout, black ears and a dark back line.
In 1959, the Norwegian breeder Sverre Omberg called his new breed of a white silver fox, which he bred from a mutation that had occurred a few years earlier, as the " atomic fox ". She was heralded as "the world's first white silver fox". The fur is snow-white, the backbone ( grunt ) runs a somewhat darker eel line and a trace of silver can be seen on both sides, as well as on the edges of the ears and around the eyes.
Sorting of the silver fox skins at the Leipzig VEAB, the people's own collection and purchase company, including for skins (1950/51)

Farm silver foxes are traded at auctions and in tobacco wholesalers with the following information (as of 1988):

Come here
Polish and Scandinavian
Russian
Canadian
(The largest deliveries currently come from these areas)
Size designations
Polish
and
Scandinavian		 Russian
00 = over 106 cm 1 = over 95 cm
0 = 97 to 106 cm 2 = 80 to 94.5 cm
1 = 88 to 97 cm 3 = under 80 cm
2 = 79 to 88 cm
3 = 70 to 79 cm
4 = under 70 cm

Canadian silver fox skins are also offered in sizes 1, 2 and 3.

Qualities and colors

The classification by color and quality is as follows:

Polish silver foxes
Around 1988 Poland was the supplier of the largest skins, similar to the Russian ones.
sorts
Syrena 1 designation
Syrena 2 for special qualities
Syrena selected} Polish qualities
A, B, C, each divided into 1 and 2, Inferior (weak), Damaged (damaged)
Colours
White silvery (only for Polish foxes), Full Silvery, Dark Silvery, Three Quarter Silvery, Half Silvery, Quarter Silvery.
In addition to the sizes, Russian silver foxes are sorted into the color gradations medium, dark pale and ex pale.
Canadian silver foxes come to the auctions as
Grades: A, B, C, divided into 1 and 2. I, II, II, Damaged.
Colors: Like Polish, without White Silvery.

The raw hides are delivered round, with the hair facing outwards.

Left Norwegian, right Russian silver fox fur (approx. 1978)
World supply of farmed silver and bluefrost foxes (cross between blue and silver fox) in 1986
Silver fox Bluefrost fox
Finland 250,000 350,000
Norway 130,000 80,000
Canada 100,000 -
Soviet Union
(export only)		 75,000 15,000
Poland
(export only)		 60,000 -
Denmark 40,000 30,000
United States 30,000 -
Sweden 15,000 2000
Japan 15,000 -
Iceland 1,000 1,000
Others 6000
total 772,000 481,000

At the beginning of the Second World War, silver fox production had peaked with around 1¼ million skins. The rarity and with it the preciousness had disappeared as a result. There were 200 to 300 marks for the best skins and 500 marks for top quality. After the war, the price continued to fall until fashion completely turned away from long-haired fur and the sales proceeds for most breeders no longer covered the production costs.

After the end of longhair fashion, breeding had declined to 5000 skins annually by 1955, only to pick up again from 1965 after a revival in demand from Japan. At least 9,000 skins waited relatively successfully for twelve years in American cold stores before they were then sold to Japan. Only in the Soviet Union had larger silver fox farms survived due to the high domestic consumption that continues to this day (2011). In 1965, for example, only 2000 to 3000 skins were exported from there. In 2007 the production of Scandinavian silver foxes was again 197 thousand skins (source: Oslo Fur Auctions), which also went to Russia in significant quantities.

In the past few years, interesting new color effects have been achieved on silver fox skins by bleaching and dyeing. Silver fox skins are mostly used for small parts and trimmings, but not so often for jackets and coats in Central Europe.

Refinement

A worker "refines" a cheaper type of fur by inserting white hair (called "tips") on a silver fox (after 1900)

Since the silver fox fur was almost always the most expensive of all fox skins, other types of fur were dyed to resemble silver foxes. In the prime time of silver fox fashion, people even went so far as to glue white hair of other types of fur into black-colored fox skins or fox-like skins with rubber adhesive, the so-called “tips” . In 1968, Effi Horn said in her book aimed at the fur wearer: " Today, fine white tips can be achieved less laboriously through little coloring tricks ".

Silver fox skins in fashion colors (2009)

Insofar as discolored or brownish silver fox skins are produced, they are improved in color or re-colored in processing companies . By withdrawal of the black dye, for example, receives a rust reddish color type known as chestnut or Gobifuchs went on sale. Since "Goldfuchs" already names the very orange-colored, bred red fox, it is now traded as a Crystal Fox or a crystal fox , a name that is still little known in German-speaking countries.

The silver fox is mostly processed in a natural color, but also dyed in all fashion colors, see →  Fur finishing . The black hair, which continues to dominate after dyeing, creates particularly lively, natural color shades.

Processing, use

Fox paw processing into an inner lining (1895)

Like all fox skins, the silver fox skin is now preferred for trimmings and smaller accessories, but also as a particularly impressive material for opulent coats and jackets, and occasionally as a high-quality home accessory for fur blankets . For the production of the animal-shaped fur scarves, which were very popular up until the 1960s, see → Fox necklaces .

The consumption for a silver fox coat of size 40 is given in 1989 according to the fashion of the time with 10 to 16 fur.

As with most types of fur, every part of the fur is processed by the silver fox. Fox paw panels are made from the barrels, incorrectly also called fox claw panels, the term claw should actually be reserved for the lamb extremities. The forehead pieces are also put together to form panels or coat or jacket “bodies”. These semi-finished products are then preferably processed into fur linings , but also into coats, jackets, vests and other things. The main place for the recycling of the fur residues in Europe is Kastoria in Greece as well as the smaller town Siatista, which is located nearby . Hood trimmings are made from the tails, and they also serve as eye-catching key or bag tags. In the 1970s, a fox's tail, preferably from the silver fox, was a symbol for " chubby " Opel Manta drivers who used it to decorate their car antennas.

  • Left: silver fox fur.
    Middle: leather side with air galon.
    Right: hair side

  • Air Galonized Silver Fox Scarf (2012)

For small pieces of fur, the silver fox fur can be stretched into the required shape with its leather, which is very quick when tanned when it is damp. Since the introduction of the fur sewing machine around 1870, it has been possible to change the shape of fox skins as required by leaving out fox fur at economic costs . Here, the skins are brought into any desired length, up to a floor-length evening coat, at the expense of the width, mainly through narrow V- or A-shaped cuts.

The silver fox pelts, which are strongly matted in the undercoat, as well as the arctic fox pelts, can be loosened up by pleating in the hair and enlarged in area. Very narrow strips of leather are sewn into the fur without tearing the fur felt. If the furrier doesn't bother and divides the woolly hair before sewing it in, or if the galons are too wide to be covered by the hair, the work process is called " feathers " according to the resulting pattern .

In the case of air gallooning , the leather is only incised and the incisions are stretched out to form a grid-like structure and then fixed. The result is a particularly fragrant, softly falling product with a simultaneous increase in area.

Price development of the black and silver foxes

  • 10th century - Arab trade
Black foxes - more than 100 gold pieces. (after Masûdi († 957))
  • 16th century - Russia
Black foxes - 30 to 40 ducats
In comparison, red foxes in the range of 100 skins cost 2 rubles each.
  • 17th century - Russia
Black foxes - about 50 rubles.
  • 18th century - Russia
At the time when the natural economy still predominated in Russia , the tribute was still delivered in skins and the warehouses were at times overcrowded, which drove the price down. The different values ​​of the individual types of fur in intra-Russian trade, shown here on the budget of the Russian Ambassador Weljeminoff in Vienna:
                 Stück   Wert je Fell                       Stück   Wert je Fell
Feh            337.234     0,02 Rubel      Biber            3.000     0,97 Rubel
Marder          20.040     0,26 Rubel      Wölfe            1.000     0,53 Rubel
Zobel           40.360     0,70 Rubel      Silberfüchse       120     4,70 Rubel
  • 1730
The price for a "quite large black fox" is up to over 400 rubles.
  • 1770–1772 - Kiachta (Russia)
Black foxes, ends of hair ice gray - 4 to 180 rubles
Black foxes, from Canada - 1 to 100 rubles.
  • 1787
Petersburg
Black foxes of the best variety - no price
very nice - 80 rubles
lower - 15 rubles.
Kiachta (Russia)
Blacks with ice gray and other tips of hair - 4 to 180 rubles.
Nuremberg
Black, different sorts - 10-30 guilders
In addition, in the trade handbook, from which the information comes from 1878, it is noted that the Chinese pay up to 100 rubles for the precious pelts and that up to 400 rubles were paid for a fox.
Silver fox caps (Australia, 2012)
  • 1798 - Russia
A completely black fox surpasses all fur, even that of the best sable. It is almost thought to be priceless.
  • 1800 - Russia
At the beginning of the 19th century, the price of a black fox was 600-1000 rubles.
  • 1821 - Kamchatka (Russia, Siberia)
Black foxes - 35 to 210 thaler
Silver Foxes - 70 Thaler
Most fur hunters, especially native middlemen, were well aware of the value of their furs. Often the most beautiful skins were not sold immediately at the high prices demanded.
  • 1857 - Russia
Russian Customs Tariff of 1857:
Black fox, chinchilla and sable - 3 silver rubles 50 kopecks
The same tariff applied according to the previous tariff.
Other foxes were charged with 40 kopecks when imported by sea and 30 kopecks on land. Previously, the higher tariff of 75 kopecks to 50 kopecks applied. The imports from Finland were favored because of the personal union with the Russian Tsar, who was also Grand Duke of Finland. The new tariff was 20 kopecks here, compared to 45 before.
  • 1864 - Leipzig
Black foxes - about 300 thaler
Black foxes, only a little silvered - about 300 thaler
Silvery skins - 50 to 200 thaler.
  • 1881 - Canada
Black and silver foxes - $ 75 to $ 100.
  • 1900 - London Auctions - World harvest about 3,000 to 4,000 skins
Black fox, top quality - 500 ₤ (over 10,000 gold marks)
Silver Fox (Dalton Farm (Prince Edward Island)) - 7,950 marks.
  • 1900 - Leipzig
Silver foxes - an average of 500 marks.
  • 1910 - London Auctions
Twenty-five silver fox skins fetched an average price of $ 1,400, and lace skins - $ 2,500 to $ 2,800.
  • 1924 - Canada
On the "Prince Edward Islands" ( Prince Edward Island ) there were a total of 12,500 silver foxes. Of these 4,000 were exported, including 3,400 to the United States. In the following year, around 2076 skins came to the February auction, the largest offer up to that point.
Around 90 percent of all silver fox skins sold on the raw fur market came from farm-bred animals.
In America the value of a silver fox skin was assessed according to the following table:
Length and density of the guard hair 22%
colour 18%
Hair firmness in the leather 18%
Size of the fur 10%
Texture and woolliness of the fur 5%
Length of wool hair 5%
Density of wool hair 5%
Color of wool hair 5%
Length of the tail 4%
Width of the tail 3%
white tip of the tail 5%
100%
  • 1926 - Sweden
“ The first breeding silver foxes arrived in Sweden from Alaska. Shipment worth $ 110,000. "
  • 1932 - Berlin
The "first Silberfuchs specialty store" opens on Berlin's Kurfürstendamm . The silver fox necklaces are offered in three series: Series I costs 145 RM, Series II 195 RM, Series III 245 RM.
  • 1935 - New York
At a New York fashion show, one of eight silver foxes received the first prize out of 150 exhibited fur cases. The manufacturer was Russeks, Fifth Avenue . In the retail trade this jacket (cape ?, this part was also referred to as a jacket in the report) was sold for 1500 dollars.
  • 1937 - USA
The highest price paid for a silver fox skin since 1910, achieved at auction by Fromm Bros. Inc., Hamburg / Wisconsin, was $ 2,100.
  • 1939/40
Largest silver fox world harvest with around 1 ¼ million skins.
Good quality skins - 150 to 200 marks
Top quality - around 500 marks.
About 40,000 furs came from Finland, the capital invested in the silver fox breeding (started in 1916) amounted to about 90 million Finnmarks. The skins came mainly from small farms with an average population of 25 foxes.
  • Before 1944 - Germany
The maximum price for silver fox skins was: the best 550 RM; medium RM 500.
  • 1946 - USA
Average price for silver foxes - $ 35.45 (about 149 marks).
  • 1953 - USA
Average price for silver foxes now only - 7.94 dollars (about 32.50 marks).
According to the American breeders, the production costs during the boom were $ 30 per hide.
  • 1966 - USA
Silver Foxes - $ 65
Pearl foxes (mutation color) - $ 55
Mauve Amber (mutation brown color) - $ 45.
  • 2002/03 - Denmark
47,856 skins, average price - 744 Danish kroner (€ 100.09).

See also

Commons : Silver Fox Skins  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
Commons : Silver Fox Skin Clothing  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
Commons : Fox fur processing  - collection of images, videos and audio files
Commons : First silver fox farms on the Prince Edward Islands  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files
Wiktionary: Silver fox fur  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Dr. Paul Schöps: On the trading history of the black and silver foxes . In: Das Pelzgewerbe Neue Episode, vol. XXI, 1971 No. 1, Hermelin-Verlag Dr. Paul Schöps, Berlin et al., Pp. 14–33.
  2. ↑ Bruno Schier : Ways and forms of the oldest fur trade in Europe . Publishing house Dr. Paul Schöps, Frankfurt am Main 1951, pp. 23, 37-38. Primary source: Adam von Bremen: Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum . IV, 31.
  3. ↑ Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn al-Husain al-Mas'udi : Murûdsch al dhahab (gold panning) . Secondary source: Schöps: The black and silver foxes (see there)
  4. ↑ Ways and forms of the oldest fur trade . Archive for fur studies Volume 1, Verlag Dr. Paul Schöps, Frankfurt am Main 1951, p. 25. Table of contents .
  5. ↑ Michael Jan de Goeje : Bibliotheca geographorum Arabicorum , Volume II, Leiden 1873, p. 286; Christian Martin Joachim Frähn: Ibn Fosslâns (Fadlâns) and other Arab reports on the Russians of older times . Petersburg 1823, p. 163 ff, 255. Secondary source: B. Schier, ways and forms of the oldest fur trade in Europe . P. 25 (see there)
  6. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k Dr. Fritz Schmidt: The book of the fur animals and pelts . FC Mayer Verlag, Munich 1970, pp. 190-199.
  7. ↑ Fritz Schmidt (see there). Primary source: IAE Göze: European fauna . 1791.
  8. ↑ 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 1911. pp. 33-34.
  9. ^ E. Unger: Materials science for leather and fur workers . Teaching Practice Series of the Max Mehner Further Education School , Volume 10, Alfred Hahn's Verlag, Leipzig 1910, p. 23.
  10. ↑ From nature . Volume 43 or New Series Volume 31, Gebhardt and Reisland Verlag, Leipzig 1868, p. 267.
  11. ^ Morton, Thomas: New English Canaan: Or, New Canaan (Research Library of Colonial Americana) . Arno Press (Engl.), New York 1972, ISBN 0-405-03309-5 , p188.
  12. ↑ George R. Cripps: About Furs . Daily Post Printers, Liverpool 1913, p. 60 ( table of contents ).
  13. ^ 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. 172 ( G. & C. Franke collection ).
  14. ↑ Alexander Tuma: Pelzlexikon . Volume XXI, Verlag Alexander Tuma, Vienna 1951, search terms silver fox, silver fox farms and Dalton (volume XVII).
  15. ^ Fritz Hempe: Handbook for furriers . Verlag Kürschner-Zeitung Alexander Duncker, Leipzig 1932, p. 217.
  16. ^ Francis Weiss: Up and Down . In Winckelmann Pelzmarkt , Winckelmann Verlag KG, Frankfurt / Main, issue 317, January 2, 1976, p. 1.
  17. ^ Marie Louise Steinbauer, Rudolf Kinzel: Marie Louise Pelze . Steinbock Verlag, Hannover 1973, pp. 118, 152-153.
  18. ^ E. Unger: Materials science for leather and fur workers . Teaching Practice Series of the Max Mehner Further Education School , Volume 10, Alfred Hahn's Verlag, Leipzig 1910, p. 23.
  19. ↑ signed P .: When Winnetou traded in silver foxes ... In: Der deutsche Pelztierzüchter , 13th year, issue 11, Munich June 1, 1938, p. 277.
  20. ↑ Arthur Samet: Pictorial Encyclopedia of Furs . Arthur Samet (Book Division), New York 1950, pp. 211–217 (Eng.)
  21. ↑ Emil Brass : From the realm of fur . Publishing house of the "Neue Pelzwaren-Zeitung and Kürschner-Zeitung", Berlin 1911, pp. 316-318, 447-449
  22. ↑ a b c d e f g h i Christian Franke, Johanna Kroll: Jury Fränkel's Rauchwaren-Handbuch 1988/89 . 10. Revised and supplemented new edition, Rifra-Verlag Murrhardt.
  23. ↑ a b Wolfgang Stichel: The silver fox breeding . FC Mayer Verlag, Munich 1939, pp. 7-8.
  24. ^ Francis Weiss: The romantic fur trade . In: End of the year 74 , Fränkische Pelzindustrie - Marco Pelz (Hsgr.), P. 38.
  25. ↑ Elizabeth Ewing: Fur in Dress . BT Batsford Ltd, London 1981, pp. 150-151.
  26. ^ A b c Max Nasse: America's fur industry - results of a study trip by German furriers and fur manufacturers. Berlin 1925, pp. 11-12.
  27. ^ R. Demoll: Twenty Years of Fur Breeding in Germany . In: "Der Rauchwarenmarkt", Leipzig March 21, 1941, p. 5.
  28. ^ Friedrich Lorenz: Rauchwareenkunde . Self-published, Berlin 1958, pp. 143–145.
  29. ^ Paul Schöps: In memory of Franz Sartorius . In "Hermelin", XXXX No. 1 (1970), Hermelin-Verlag Dr. Paul Schöps, Frankfurt am Main, p. 36.
  30. ↑ Ewald Strümpfel: What did the first auction of German silver foxes teach us? In: Der deutsche Pelztierzchter , 1931 No. 8, pp. 125–127.
  31. ↑ Paul Schöps: The emergence of silver fox breeding in Europe. In: Das Pelzgewerbe , Volume XX New Series, No. 1, Hermelin-Verlag Dr. Paul Schöps, Berlin et al. 1969/1970, pp. 23–32.
  32. ^ Walter Fellmann : Der Leipziger Brühl , 1989, VEB Fachbuchverlag, Leipzig.
  33. ↑ Dr. Fritz Schmidt: On the quality of the farm hides . In: The fur industry , XXII. Vol., 1952 issue 9/10, Hermelin Verlag Dr. Paul Schöps, Berlin, Leipzig, p. 7.
  34. ↑ 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.
  35. ↑ Without an author: Fantasy price for platinum fox fur in Hollywood . In "The tobacco market" XXXI. Vol. 5/6, Leipzig January 29, 1943, p. 8.
  36. ↑ signed P .: American "pearl platinum foxes". In: The German fur breeder. 17th year, Berlin March 1, 1942, p. 66.
  37. ↑ Without an author's name: The world's first white silver fox . In: Die Pelzwirtschaft No. 3, March 1959, p. 99. According to: Norsk Landbruk , January 1959, p. 7.
  38. ^ Franke / Kroll: Jury Fränkel's Rauchwarenhandbuch (see there), p. 157, primary source Saga.
  39. ^ Arthur C. Prentice: A Candid View of the Fur Industry . Publishing Company Ltd., Bewdley, Ontario 1976, p. 198.
  40. ^ Dieter Wieland: Organization of the tobacco trade . CB-Verlag Carl Boldt, Berlin / Frankfurt am Main, p. 101.
  41. ↑ Effi Horn: Furs . Verlag Mensch und Arbeit, Munich 1968, p. 127.
  42. ↑ Helmut Lang: Fur . Deutscher Fachverlag, Frankfurt am Main 1989, p. 39
  43. ↑ N. Kutjepow: The Great Princely and Tsarist hunting in soot from X to XVI. Century , St. Petersburg 1896.
  44. ^ Paul Schöps: Securing the fur yield in the Soviet Union . In: Das Pelzgewerbe Jg. XXI New Part No. 5/6 1973, Verlag Dr. Paul Schöps, Berlin Frankfurt / Main, Leipzig, Vienna, p. 37.
  45. ^ Ph. I. Strahlberg : The north and east part of Europe and Asia. Stockholm 1730, p. 355. After Schier, p. 23, 26.
  46. ^ Heinrich Lomer : Der Rauchwaaren-Handel , self-published, Leipzig 1864, p. 98.
  47. ↑ GH Buse: The whole of the plot . Erfurt 1801, chapter "Fuchs" p. 27f. Based on quotations from S. Hilts Handels-Zeit, from 1787.
  48. ^ W. Chr. Friebe: About Russia's trade . Hildesheim and Petersburg 1798, III. P. 409. After Schier p. 23, 66.
  49. ^ Johann Beckmann: Contributions to the history of inventions. Leipzig 1805, V., p. 60. After Schier, p. 23, 66.
  50. ↑ John Dundas Cochrane: Foot trip through Russia and the Siberian Tartarey . Vienna 1823. According to Schier p. 54.
  51. ^ Heinrich Lomer: Der Rauchwaaren-Handel , self-published, Leipzig 1864, p. 94.
  52. ^ Heinrich Lomer: Der Rauchwaaren-Handel , self-published, Leipzig 1864, p. 70.
  53. ↑ The Dayly Patriot , Charlottetown (Prince Edward Island) June 3, 1881.
  54. ^ Archives of the Hermelin publishing house.
  55. ↑ P. Larisch and J. Schmidt: Das Kürschnerhandwerk , Paris 1902.
  56. ↑ Editor: Pelzerne Mixed Pickles . In: Die Pelzkonfektion Nr. 12, supplement from Der Rauchwarenmarkt , Leipzig, December 1930, p. 17.
  57. ^ 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. 119, ( G. & C. Franke collection ).
  58. ↑ The first Silberfuchs specialty shop. In: Der Rauchwarenmarkt , Berlin, February 20, 1932.
  59. ↑ Editor: Silver fox jacket made of eight foxes. In: Der Rauchwarenmarkt No. 5, Leipzig January 19, 1935, p. 4.
  60. ↑ Der Deutsche Furztierzüchter No. 12, Munich 1967, p. 224.
  61. ↑ Without author: Finland as a fur producer. In: "The tobacco market" XXXI. Vol., Leipzig January 2, 1943 No. 1/2, pp. 1–2.
  62. ^ Friedrich Malm, August Dietzsch: The art of the furrier. Fachbuchverlag Leipzig 1951, p. 65.
  63. ↑ Der Deutsche Furzerzucher No. 6, Munich June 25, 1955.
  64. ↑ Information from Fromm Brothers Inc., Hamburg / Wisconsin.
  65. ↑ Der Deutsche Furztierzüchter No. 12, Munich 1967, p. 224.
  66. ^ Norwegian Agricultural Authority / 2004 Statistic Norway (accessed January 1, 2012).