Seal skin

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two Amautis (women's parkas), left made of bearded seal skin (1999)

The tobacco products industry is different in sealskin between the

  1. Seal fur, the Sealskin of the fur seal (obsolete: Beaver seal ), the fur seals to the fine soft undercoat ,

and the

  1. (Hair) seal (obsolete: box sea ​​dog ) with only awn and no special under hair.

These are then differentiated again under geographical terms, such as Newfoundlanders , Icelanders or are or were in trade under development-related names such as Beater , Puller , Whitecoat or Blueback . A summary of the trade names and the status of the current legal situation in the European Union on trade in seal skins can be found at the end of this article.

The skins of the monk seal (protected), the horse seal , the crabeater , the Wedell seal , the leopard seal , the southern and northern elephant seal have always been hardly used by the fur industry . The walruses are also not used for fur farming, only the Eskimos hunt them for a living.

After the overexploitation in the 19th century, which was also wrought among the seals after the discovery of new areas, the decimated stocks were able to grow to millions again after the introduction of strict laws in various countries.

Apart from the use in the countries of origin, the skins that are currently being produced go almost exclusively to Asia, including Russia.

history

In the maximum price edict issued by the Roman Emperor Diocletian in AD 301, the seal skin is also mentioned. A raw sealskin is given as 1250 denarius , a tanned hide with 1,500 denarius. In comparison, a raw leopard skin cost up to 1,000, a sheepskin up to 20 denarius. Emperor Augustus used to go out in sealskin during storms because it was supposed to protect against lightning strikes. For the same reason sealskin strips were attached to the masts of the fleet at the time. In addition to the long trade route, this benefit attributed to the fur is likely to be the reason for the highest price of all the fur mentioned in the edict.

It is assumed that the shinat , a medieval term for a coat or dress trim made of dark or steel-blue shimmering fish skin, could actually have been seal skin. It is portrayed as the fur of a wild fish of a wonderful bluish color, with small shiny gold spots on it, at other times it is also declared black. This could agree with Tacitus , who already reports of the spotted fur trimmings of the Teutons.

For the northern peoples, hooded anoraks, trousers, shoes and gloves made of seal and reindeer skins are the main traditional winter clothing. Iglulik- Inuit wore seal skin masks with and without fur at the autumn festival of the goddess Nuliajuk (or Sedna). At the beginning of 1900 it is still said that seal skins are not often marketed - Baikal seals mostly go to China - but are mostly used by the natives themselves. The skins of the largest animals are sewn together to make boats, called baidars , which are stretched apart internally by pieces of wood and can hold twenty to thirty men. The skins of the other seals are cut into shoes, boots, trousers, straps and sacks for shipping all kinds of goods . In the 19th century, during the period of commercial whaling, the Labrador Indians even sewed “diving suits” from depilated seal skins so that the workers could defeat the whales in deep water. These suits covered the entire body, leaving only the face exposed.

Until the First World War , modern fur fashion only used seal fur that had been freed from the awn. Sullied seal skins were so little in demand that there was only one small company at the Leipzig Brühl fur center that specialized in them. The skins were only used for shoes, ski surfaces and occasionally for the outside of foot pockets . It was only after the war that the hair seals began to enter the tobacco industry considerably with the whitecoat and blue backed pelts. Special processes had to be developed to protect against yellowing, especially for the preservation of raw hides . Bleaching and dyeing were soon added, making the material interesting from a fashionable point of view. Over time, seal variants such as Newfoundlanders, Greenlanders, Icelanders and seals from the Atlantic coast were added. Improved finishing of thinner and lighter leather, de-yellowing and optical bleaching made the type of fur even more attractive.

During their study trip to Paris in 1929, the furriers also visited the exclusive fur fashion house Fourrures Max , owned by Mme. Leroy . In the second salon they had the opportunity to see a large sealskin rug that had won first prize at the Paris International Decorative Arts Exhibition.

Towards the end of the 20th century, interest in the material decreased, not least due to campaigns by animal rights activists, until the legislature largely banned the trade of all seal skins in the European Union from 2010 onwards. Exceptions apply to skins or products that come from a seal hunt carried out by Eskimos or other indigenous communities, from the management of marine resources or imported for the personal use of travelers. Since then, attempts have been made in Denmark, from where these furs are traded worldwide, to make sealskin clothing more popular again with designer collections. In 2016 the collection was designed by the Danish Jesper Høvring.

Fur seal (fur seal, bear seal)

The home of the fur seal is the northern part of the Pacific Ocean. After unrestrained exploitation immediately after the discovery of the stocks (estimated 2 to 4 million), the number fell to around 200,000 animals. In 1835, the first of the protective measures were taken that saved the species from complete extinction. After the herds had reached a number of one and a half million animals on the Pribilof Islands alone , the catch of 60,000 to 70,000 "bachelors" (three to four years old) was allowed annually. They have a lighter, longer-haired patch on the shoulder called a "wig" (wig). For the skins of older fur seals, the term “wig” has therefore become common in English. In older animals the hair in patches are even longer, stiffer and denser, so the coat that no longer uniform long prepare leaves. If you pull out the awn, which is particularly strong here, from the skins of old animals, the fur appears flat, as the woolen hair is not thick enough to stand upright.

The durability coefficient for seal skins is 60 to 70 percent. When fur animals are divided into the hair fineness classes silky, fine, medium-fine, coarse and hard, the seal hair is not classified. It is mentioned there, however, that after removing the hard upper hair, the lower hair of the fur seal (fur seal) is considered to be extremely silky.

" Machine for removing water hair from seals, otters, beavers, rabbits, etc. " (approx. 1903)

The undercoat of the skins is copper-colored. After the hard upper hair has been plucked out, the soft undercoat remains, the durable fur is available as sealskin or furseal , but the relatively heavy fur has not played a role in Germany in recent decades. In the beginning the fur was only detached, a type of fur finishing that has been known in China for a long time. In 1796 the Englishman Thomas Chapmann also managed to do this, which suddenly drove the price of seal skins up. Chapman himself could not benefit from his previous six months of experimental work before he came with it on the market, it has already been copied, and his attempt to obtain compensation at a hearing before a committee of the House of Lords failed. On April 12, 1881 the patent for a dehairing machine was registered by the brothers Gustave (* 1841 in Vienna; † June 5, 1914) and Ferdinand (* 1856; † January 11, 1905) Cimiotti, who lived in the USA. The Cimiotti Brothers company was dissolved in 1914, but continued to exist as the Cimiotti Unhairing Company after the last brother's death.

A very popular color around 1845 was Châtaigne d'or , chestnut gold.

In the early 1900s it is said that in England the pelts are laid in pits for dehairing for months until the hair roots have loosened and the awns can be easily removed. Black coloring was first achieved in Paris in 1830, and further developed in Germany in 1870, it was still very cumbersome and very time-consuming with more than 20 coats of the top color. The development of aniline dyes then completely replaced the old process. Plucked untreated sealskins have very curly hair ends. In the correct dyeing procedure, the hair is tightened so that the curls are removed. The silky sheen is also only created during dyeing; in its natural state, the fur looks quite dull. Woolly or coarse skins that do not work completely have a lower value.

The first outwardly worked fur of the modern age was a sealjacket, it was made in London in 1842. The London tobacco retailer Francis Weiss suspected that the point in time could be assumed earlier. He also thought he recognized that a painting from 1823 portrayed the four-year-old, later Queen Victoria in a seal coat. Fashion expanded after Queen Alexandra wore a black seal jacket on her arrival in London to marry the Prince of Wales (1863). Sealskin has long been the main sealskin trade. Until about the 20s of the following century, a coat made from it was considered "as something like an heirloom that was passed on to the next generation like silverware".

After the Seal Convention (1911), the Fouke Fur Company began to dye St. Louis black on behalf of the government (until then mostly London) with the help of hired employees from the then famous English dye works Georg Rice Sealfelle in St. Louis, USA . In the contract, the US government agreed with Fouke, giving three years' notice to pay the government a certain amount for each furseal shot, plus half of the proceeds after deducting the cost of the skins from the Pribiloff Islands. Until before the Second World War , England and Japan also received 15% of the net proceeds of all skins obtained from the Pribiloffs. The company had sole fishing rights for this. At least before 1952, every fifth barrel with seal skins on the Pribiloff was labeled “Canada”, since according to a contract from 1942 the Dominion Canada was entitled to 20 percent of the skins obtained on the islands.

Salting the seal skin (ca.1946)
Fouke showroom with buyers and auction assistants (St. Louis, 1946)

Fouke developed into the seal skin specialist with unequaled finishing qualities. After 1920 the colors Safari (replaced the previous Châtaigne d'or - a lighter brown), the successful browns Kitovi (old: Bois de Campêche - dark, blue-black) and Matara (warm dark brown) followed. In 1956, female animals were released for capture for the first time. They were surprised to find that the furs behaved completely differently when plucking than the males, with large amounts of the undercoat being lost. The seal hair has a peculiarity, awn and wool hair come from the same skin pore, which makes it more difficult to remove the awn. Fouke solved the problem by not plucking these skins, but shaving the hair to a length of 2 mm. They came on the market as a completely new product under the name Lakoda (from Aleut "Lakudaq", female fur seal). The deep-shorn skins have a suede-like, hardly fur-like look. New tanning methods made the leather soft and much lighter. Natural, i.e. unplucked and undyed skins were also used. With around 12,000 hairs per cm² Sealskin is one of the toughest skins of all.

Are of importance for trade

  • South African fur seals
  • South American fur seals (sometimes referred to as Cape Horn Seals ) from catches on the coasts of Tierra del Fuego , the Falkland Islands , from the islands off the coast of Uruguay ( Castillo Grande Islands , Torres Islands , Lobos Islands ), Argentina and Chile , i.e. from the both south coasts of South America. The incidence in 1988 was estimated at around 4,000 to 5,000 pelts per year, 80% of which came from the Lobos Islands.
  • Australian fur seals and pelts from South and South West Africa .
  • The African pelts are sold as Cape seals or Transveldt seals ; the skins of Australian seals as the South Sea .
U.S. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt in Alaska Seal Coat (1942)

The best skins are the Alaska seals , South American seals are long-haired and less dense, and African origins are also less dense in the hair. Australian furseals are similar in quality to the Alaska seals, they are slightly longer-haired.

The raw hides are delivered open, mostly salted in barrels.

All Arctocephalus species (southern fur seals) are included in Appendix II of the Washington Convention , the Guadalupe fur seal in Appendix I.

Most of the sealskins came onto the market through auctions that were held annually in the USA and Canada. The auction was carried out on behalf of the United States, Japan, the South African Union (now the Republic of South Africa) and Uruguay. The less high-quality copper seals offered by the USSR were refined in the country and traded via Leningrad and London. The Fella case of fur seals is extremely decreased by safeguards and by the Robben campaigns worldwide. Until 1955, about 65,000 males were furred annually from the northern fur seal, then about 48,000 males, and then an additional 25,000 females from 1965–1968. Then only 25,000 males. After the Fouke company closed in 1983 and the auctions stopped, practically no skins were marketed except for local consumption. The latest figures are not taken into account, since then the fur has no longer had any significance for the European market. Since 2010, all seal skins have been subject to a trade ban within the European Union (see below).

Maned seal

To fur purposes only the skins of young animals of some species with dense undercoat of the sea lion belonging Mähnenrobbe processed. The whiskers of the sea lions were used as toothpicks, especially in China.

Only the maned seal that lives on the coasts of South America is of importance for the fur trade. The fur of the young animals, which is around 60 to 80 cm in size, is marketed as a rock seal . The hair is very short, silky, dark to medium brown and more or less strongly moiré. In 1935, at a time when foal skins were slowly becoming scarce, Rockseal skins with their foal-like moiré pattern were a “welcome substitute” as jacket and coat material.

From 1920 to 1930 the annual incidence temporarily reached up to 200,000 pelts. In 1988 the annual incidence was estimated at around 5,000 to 10,000.

A catalog from around 1930 praises men's furs with dark brown trimmings made from “appropriately prepared seal skins” under the name “Otterette”, a replacement for Canadian otter fur, which “at first glance cannot be distinguished from noble fur ".

The skins of the young Alaska sea lions ( Steller sea lions ) are similar, only the hair is longer. They were mostly sold as “ Otter-Seal ”, but are now strictly protected (“Sealotter”, on the other hand, was used to designate decayed otter skins , as almost all plucked and sheared fur types were prefixed with “Seal” in the main time of seal fashion). In 1842 it was colored in a brown similar to the plucked otter for the first time (hence the French name "Loutre"), a color that suddenly increased the price of sealskins and which gradually developed into a black-brown and became a basic type of tobacco dyeing .

Seal imitations

The seal fur , especially the black-colored one, was the fur most often imitated by appropriate fur finishing in the main time of the seal fashion . Kanin , as Sealkanin, became the most widely used type of fur alongside lambskin . The name Sealkanin was common until the end of the 20th century and is still in use today in the tobacco industry. Black-colored, sheared bisamp fur was called the Hudson Seal . In addition, there were some other black colorations of sheared fur types that carried the addition seal in trade, such as seal nutria or seal otter .

Harbor seals or dog seals

Blueback coat dyed, 1975

Folding cap

The name folding cap comes from the skin sack on the animal's head, which is inflated in case of danger. The cap lives on the drift ice belt of the North Atlantic.

By the end of the first year of life, the gray fur turns bluish-gray, the sides whitish. The fur is then dense and quite long-haired and was traded as blueback (also blue back, blue man).

The skins of the old animals are silver-gray with black patterns (polka dots). From the stage in which the fur is referred to as "Fleckgris" (around six months of age), the furs are so thick that they can only be used as upper material for shoes.

When fur animals are divided into the hair fineness classes silky, fine, medium-fine, coarse and hard, the blue-backed hair is classified as coarser, like the hair of the seal species in general.

The article Coronation of British Monarchs reports a peculiarity :

Different participants in the ceremony wear special official costumes, uniforms or robes. A peer's robe consists of a purple velvety cloak and an ermine cloak . Sealskin stripes on the cape indicate the peer's rank. A duke wears four stripes, a marquess three and a half, an earl three, a viscount two and a half, and a baron or lord of parliament two. Royal dukes wear six ermine strips, ermine on the front of the cloak and a long train. The ranks of the female peers are not indicated by strips of sealskin, but by the length of the train and the width of the ermine braid at the end. "

The locals used to make kayak covers, tents and kamik soles out of blue backed skins . In 1861 it is mentioned that the Leipzig company G. Gaudig & Blum exported blueback skins to Russia, where they were used to cover sheep's skins. Another part was made into hussar hats . The later use was mainly for jackets and coats, skins of older animals for shoes and seating. In 1911 it is said that bluebacks are rarely processed naturally, "a lot but colored black and brown, and then into boys' hats as well as the shakos of the hussars, etc. The current value of the blue men is around 20 to 30 marks per piece".

Arctic ringed seal

Seal skins stretched to dry (Greenland, 1999)

The coat of Eismeer- ringed seal is dark, often brownish than that of the harp seal with characteristic whitish rings. The slightly spotted belly side is lighter.

Regardless of their origin, the skins are sold as "Greenlanders". The yellowish-white pelts of the juveniles, like the juvenile fur of the harp seal and the gray seal, are traded as whitecoats . The white and yellow unpatterned fur has little in common with the conventional idea of ​​what a seal fur looks like, it is more like a smooth-haired lambskin .

Because of the thick hair, whitecoat skins are not suitable for processing into jackets or coats. In the 1970s, they were also used in Germany as inexpensive trimmings, mostly dyed. In 1903 it is mentioned that they are “particularly suitable for children's paletots and children's furniture because of their shiny silver color”. What is striking is the great elasticity of the leather when it is wet. The hair tends to swirl if not handled properly.

The durability coefficient for seals with awns is 40 to 50 percent, for bluebacks 50 to 60 percent. When the fur animals are divided into the hair fineness classes silky, fine, medium-fine, coarse and hard, the blue-backed hair is classified as coarser like that of the other types of seal fur.

Some species of ringed seals have adapted to life in freshwater, the fur yield of the Baikal seal , the Caspian seal , the Ladoga ringed seal and the Saimaa ringed seal was always small; today some of the animals are under protection; the Baikal seal and the Caspian seal are hunted in a controlled manner. They are smaller than the open sea species, the color varies from black to gray with less noticeable rings on the side of the body.

Bearded seal, also belt seal

Bearded seal skins were hardly used in the tobacco industry. According to Franke / Kroll, they are not waterproof and are therefore not used by Eskimos for kayak covers. A pamphlet by the “Greenland Self-Government”, on the other hand, writes of a use for “summer tents, in the past also kayaks , women's boats and especially kamiksoles… A capable captive woman could split a bearded seal skin into 2-3 thin sheets” “ Kamik ” are the colorful ones, to the national costume of the Greenlanders belonging boots. Mainly, however, the skins were cut into strips in order to make sled straps, dog leashes, dog whips, suspension lines, etc. from them, hence the name strap seal. In order to get a single, long strap from a hide, these skins were pulled off round without cutting them open on the belly side. At the beginning of industrialization, machine drive belts were also used to a considerable extent . The skins were sold as " Square Flipper ".

In 1988 a maximum of 1,000 were caught per year in Greenland.

Greenland seal, harp seal, harp seal or greenland seal

Greenlandic seal jacket of the Danish Olympic team, Albertville 1992

The Greenland or Harp seal lives around the drift ice fields of the Arctic. The fur is tougher, more resilient and more waterproof than that of the folding hat and the ringed seal and was therefore preferred by the Eskimos as a cover for kayaks and waterproof seawear.

The fur is gray to yellowish in the back, the sides are colored silver-gray. The characteristic feature is the dark band that extends on both sides of the fur. Front to back, the two strips unite so that a saddle-like drawing arises that the animal called " harp seal " or " Saddler was" in Anglo-Saxon countries to recognize the shape of a harp and calls them " Harpseal ".

Up to one week after the birth, the skins are yellowish white ( lanugo hair ) and are traded as whitecoats (EU import ban, see below ). They are of lower quality than the hatchlings of the harp seal and the gray seal, which were also traded as whitecoats. The transitional skins , which are hair-like, are called pullers or overgang , skins from three to eight week old animals are called beaters (silver-gray with small dark spots). The term beater is used exclusively in the raw fur trade, in furrier the fur is called " Newfoundland ", which does not necessarily have to be the designation of origin. Skins from two to three year old animals are called bedlamers or middlings , and skins of adult animals are called harpseal .

Around 1900, Lübeck and Hamburg in particular traded in Greenlandic seal skins, Bremen purchased fur from the Eskimos through Honolulu . Until about the end of 2000 there was still a tobacco shop specializing in seal skins in Hamburg.

Canada has special laws to protect harp seals . On March 18, 2009, Russia banned the hunt for harpseals under one year old in the White Sea . The reason given was the significant decline in the population, caused by global climate change and the associated ice melt, as well as some overhunting.

As a result of the anti-seal campaigns, which were originally aimed only at catching the seal pups near Newfoundland, the average price for Greenlandic adult seal skins fell from

1964 = 166.76 Danish kroner (1st auction, 17,569 heads), 146.73 DKK (2nd auction, 21,316 heads)
1966 = 115.49 D. Kr. (1st auction 25,365 skins) to (start of the campaign) 56.62 D. Kr. (2nd auction, 25,493 skins) back; reached
1976 the price of 225.46 D. Kr. (1st auction, 22,279 heads), 200.68 D. Kr. (2nd auction, 24,874 heads); fell in the next campaign
1977 to 123.80 D. Kr. (1st auction 19,357 heads), 63.60 D. Kr. (2nd auction 15,265 heads); increased to
1980 = 144.12 Dkr. (1st auction, 34,179 skins), 173.76 D. Kr. (2nd auction 31,331 skins) and fell in another campaign
1982 up to 93.66 D. Kr. (1st auction 20,147 heads), 83.14 Danish kroner (2nd auction 19,048 heads). (Auctions by KGH - Royal Greenland Trade)

The skins are usually bundled in 25 or 50 pieces. A hide weighs an average of half a kilo, so a much larger amount would be difficult to handle.

Gray seal

Climbing skins for skis
(around 1925)

The gray seal lives mainly in parts of the western and eastern Atlantic, it used to be common in the entire Baltic Sea. The gray coat has irregular oval to rounded spots and lighter sides. The males are irregularly oval to roundish lightly spotted on a dark gray background, while the females have dark gray spots on a silver gray background. The white-yellow pelts of the newborns were also available as whitecoats (see above, harp seal and ringed seal).

Gray seals have always been of little commercial interest to seal hunters but have been hunted by fishermen because of their alleged competition. They are now protected in most countries.

Common seal, "Icelander"

Danish actress Betty Nansen in an Icelandic seal coat (1915)

The fur of the young animals (about 80 to 85 cm long) of the common seal , which lives scattered over large areas , is traded as "seal", in wholesalers also as " Icelander ". The silky, silver-blue, more or less granite-colored spotted coat is probably one of the most beautiful of all seals. For thousands of years, the coastal inhabitants have hunted the seal for food, oil extraction and clothing.

The fur of older animals varies in color from gray-yellow to more or less light or dark olive-brown. The spots are also different, so that the fur sometimes looks three colors. We have now succeeded in making the very heavy leather thinner and thus lighter by folding and grinding. A large part of the skins, especially those of older animals, was used for leather processing or consumed by the Eskimos.

Pelts of other dog seal species are probably also on the market, these are then sorted under the coat name, ie with the other pelts corresponding to the coat.

As early as 1988 it was said: “ The current world incidence of fur of this type is extremely low due to protective regulations and the anti-seal campaigns. It is estimated that a maximum of 60,000 skins will reach the markets through Greenland and Norway. The last auction in Greenland in 1985 offered 20,000 ringed seals and 5,000 harp seals. Seal catching and processing are subsidized by the state. “Since then, the Danish state has continuously tried to market the sealskins bought to support the Inuit. In 1992 the Danish Olympic team entered the stadium in seal jackets for the Olympic Games in Albertville, France. The seal collection designed by Danish designer Benedict Utzon for Great Greenland for 2013/14 may not be sold in the European Union due to the import ban that has now been imposed. According to the manufacturer, it should show the world " that seal is in fashion and anything but beaten ".

The raw hides are delivered cut open; partly salted, scraped (without fat and leftover meat); washed to remove oil stains that would otherwise yellow the hair.

The Greenlanders used the Icelandic seal skins to make festival robes. The last time it was processed was in Scandinavia to make-up, in Central Europe (especially Austria and the Federal Republic) for shoe purposes. Formerly also for knapsack lids and bags, in 1820 a natural history book mentions the use of "completely watertight fittings for suitcases and the like" (hence also "Kofferseehund"), hats, and men's hats (" Schiffchen "); still today occasionally to purses and the like. However, using it as a wallet has its pitfalls. Tucked into your pocket with the tips of your hair down, you will inevitably work your way out of the pocket again.

In 1988, nothing was known about a possible fur attack of the subspecies of the Ungava seal ( Phoca vitulina mellonae ) living in the fresh water of the Canadian Petit-Lac-des-Loups-Marins lake .

Tape seal

Like the young harp seals, newborn band seals also have a white coat. Adults are chocolate brown with white or yellowish-white stripes around the neck, hindquarters and forelegs. The skins from the USSR are offered as "Krylatka".

In 1988 it could not be determined to what extent the skins are still being traded. According to the IUCN, the last time there was a large commercial harvest of ribbon seals in the Russian Far East was in 1994 .

walrus

Walrus fur stretched to dry

The body of the living walrus appears bare from a distance, but is actually covered by a stubby coat that is about an inch short and thins with age.

The skins are usually not on the market, they are only hunted by the Eskimos for their own use. However, the thick leather was previously used in the metal industry to polish machine parts of locomotives by gluing the emery required to the walrus leather. It was generally used by silversmiths and fine bag makers to polish fine metal surfaces, for which it is said to be particularly suitable because of its dense grain. In northern Norway and northern Russia it was used to make harnesses for draft animals , and it was also used for drive belts.

In 1958 a tobacco shop published a note that a New York furrier company had bought furs for about 500 coats in Norway the previous year: “The skins look silver gray and silver white. Coats made from this should be as soft and supple as those made from otter skin and particularly easy to wear. "

processing

Joining two seal skins with a suture

Heinrich Hanicke describes the classic Sealskin preparation in his furrier handbook in 1895:

If they have passed the auction there (London) , they are trimmed and depilated using a "sweating process", ie the skins are hung in damp heat and the temperature is increased until the awning hairs can be removed. Now the sweating process must be interrupted; the awning hair is then wiped off, the hides shaved and taken into a sumac broth. As soon as they are completely tanned, dried and slightly moistened again, they are well lubricated with oil and butter, milled, re-lubricated after milling, left for one night, pulled around, plugged and machined, with the skins running through brush rollers, which the hair against drive the line brushes. Thereupon they pass a knife roller, which cuts off all hair that was left during plucking close to the leather, but leaves the undercoat untouched. Then the skins come into the color to be removed afterwards

The oval shape with the two fin holes is characteristic of the seal skins. The structure of the hair causes a strong seam marking during the processing of the fur, especially with the fur seals. For this reason, it is difficult to use parts of the fur that fall off, such as the belly areas behind the fin holes and the pump parts (= fruity for the rear end of the fur); when processing into clothing, there is usually a considerable amount of residue, which can then be used for small parts (animal figures, footmuffs, Rugs , etc.) is used. The shape of the fur is largely left in the traditional clothing of the Eskimos, it can even be recognized in their textile clothing, fabric jackets and coats often end in a tailcoat-like curve at the front and back, especially in women's parkas, the Amauti .

By tensioning (" purposes ") in the moist state, the furrier brings the skins into the shape required for jacket or coat processing as far as possible. Between the fin holes and in the pump the skins are stretched out. If the part to be worked has a large, lower width that runs counter to the shape of the skin, the corners can be supplemented by adding the sloping sides. The areas of fur next to the fin holes are particularly suitable for this; the fur edges of the fin holes should only be marginally edged.

If the length of one head is insufficient, two heads must be placed on top of each other. This is done either with a straight seam or a pattern chosen by the designer, usually in wavy or zigzag lines. In the case of seal fur with the upper hair removed, the seam marking is not quite as conspicuous and annoying, here the sides of the fur are occasionally sewn on in a small "seal prong" to extend it. Basically for all seal species, seams should be avoided as much as possible, because the hair structure means that “invisible” seams can hardly be achieved. - Sealskin is always worked with the hair stroke upwards, i.e. the head downwards, because of its nicer look.

When in the 1970s, tailored coats were increasingly required in fur fashion, the blue-backed fur in particular posed a particular problem. Where the blue-gray back markings of the fur (the “ grot ”) are widest, the coat with its waist is the narrowest which results in high fur consumption, considerable waste and an unsightly appearance in the finished fur. The master furrier Ernst Diebel therefore suggested processing the skins with the haircut upwards ("downward" processing). To do this, the skins are divided at the level of the fin holes and the heads are sewn together in the trunk downwards and the body parts upwards. Since the middle of the dark fur is equally narrow in these areas, this results in a harmonious color transition. The overturned processing for seals is, however, technically controversial, as the fur probably looks unsightly (rough) faster over the years.

In 1965, the fur consumption for one for coats made of seal and seal fur was given for a fur sheet sufficient for one coat (so-called coat "body" ), for one

Blueback coat body = larger heads 5 to 6 pieces, smaller ones 7 to 8 pieces
Seal coat body = 6 to 8 pieces
Seal coat body
Greenlanders (Ringseal) = 5 to 6 pieces
Newfoundland (Harpseal) = 5 to 6 pieces
Icelanders (Rangerseal) = 7 to 8 pieces.
Whitecoat body = 6 to 10 pieces.
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.

Around the 1960s, when the so-called “skipping” of furs was particularly fashionable, seal skins, which were actually unsuitable for this, were left out, resulting in a coat-long coat with a striped pattern that is striking in seals through the seams (on the last picture in the The enlargement is particularly easy to see below). The following is the documentation of the work process of a masterpiece made in the outlet technology in overturned processing (Erwin Hugendick, Schwelm):

Trade Restrictions and Bans

A fur seal skin devalued for trade by branding on the animal. The hole was created during tanning on a burned area of ​​the skin (Aleutian Islands, 1896)

(See also the article on seal hunting ).

The commercial importation of certain goods made from juveniles of the harp seal (whitecoat) or the hooded seal (blueback) into the territory of the European Community was prohibited by Council Directive 83/129 / EEC of March 28, 1983; as a guideline, however, the ban was not directly applicable.

In the EU, Regulation (EC) No. 1007/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of September 16, 2009 with a ban on the placing on the market of seals (including parts, including fur), applies directly ; It defines placing on the market as importing into the common market through which provision is made for third parties against payment. The rationale behind the regulation was: "Seal hunting has caused indignation among citizens and governments sensitive to welfare issues as the most common methods of killing and skinning seals for these animals are associated with pain, agony, fear and other forms of suffering are." The implementation in Germany is regulated by the Animal Products Trade Prohibition Act (TierErzHaVerbG) with powers to intervene for customs and the police authorities and with regulations on fines.

The ban was due to come into force on August 20, 2010. After the European Court temporarily suspended the entry into force, this decision was reversed on October 25, 2010. The court justified the change in opinion to the lawsuit initiated by the Eskimos and other plaintiffs that it saw no need for the suspension. The argument put forward by the plaintiffs that this ban would lead to a considerable loss of income for the Eskimos and their communities and would result in the social disruption of these communities was rejected by the court as a "general and abstract assumption". The filed suit, the so-called "Application of Annulment", remains unaffected. Norway sees the regulation " in contradiction to the rules of the World Trade Organization WTO ". After consultations with the EU did not lead to an amicable solution, Norway decided to request that “ a WTO dispute settlement panel carry out an independent assessment. Canada requested the establishment of the WTO Dispute Settlement Panel on February 11, 2011. "

Article 3 of Regulation (EC) No. 1007/2009 makes exceptions to the prohibition for pelts or fur products that

  • proven to come from a seal hunt that is traditionally carried out by Inuit or other indigenous communities, with "due consideration" of animal welfare and for sustainable livelihood, but not for commercial purposes,
  • are occasionally introduced by travelers for personal, non-commercial use or,
  • according to the original version of the regulation originate from the sustainable management of marine resources.

The Greenlandic Seal come from the Inuits in Greenland and are auctioned off by the Copenhagen auction company Kopenhagen Fur . They are the only seal types that are allowed to be traded in the European Union. Copenhagen Fur has signed a contract with the trading organization Great Greenland to auction Greenlandic Seals from the 2013/14 season.

Trade names in the abstract

Icelander seal on the left, rock seal in the middle and on the right, each trimmed with different types of fur (Atelier Bachwitz, 1908–1910)
  • Arctic and panther seals: Rangers from the west coast of Canada and Alaska, similar to Icelanders. The provenance of the west coast with light, ring-shaped very narrow drawing ("Panther Seal")
  • Beater: skins from harp seals approximately three to eight weeks old. Wholesale name, referred to in skinning as "Newfoundland"
  • Bedlamer, Midling: Bedlamer mutilated from Bête de la mer, fur two to three year old harp seals
  • Blueback, Blaurücken: The hat's youthful clothing until around the end of the first year of life
  • Fleckgris: fur on the hat after changing hair from blueback around the sixth month
  • Furseal, Alaskaseal: skins of the northern fur seal ; the skins of the other fur seals are traded as Cape-Seal, Cape-Horn-Seal, Sealskin, etc.
  • Gray Seal, Grau Seal: Old animal skins of the gray seal
  • Greenlanders: pelts of the ringed seal, sometimes also of the common seal
  • Hair Seal: General (English) term for (hair) seals
  • Hooded Seal: Flap Cap (Young Animal Blueback)
  • Icelanders: Common Seal pups
  • Labradors: Rangers who mainly live on the east coast of Canada ( Labrador )
  • Lakoda ® Seal: trade name for the deep-sheared, unplucked seal skins that were refined by the Fouke company until 1983
  • Middling: See Bedlamer
  • Newfoundland: Not necessarily a designation of origin at the same time, see beater
  • Puller, Ragged Jack, Overgang: Hairless transitional skins of the whitecoats
  • Ranger: Young animal pelts of the common Canadian seal
  • Ringed seal: See Greenlander
  • Rockseal: Young animal fur of the South American sea lion (zoologically maned seal )
  • Saddler: See Harpseal
  • Seal, Sealskin: See Furseal
  • Shoal-Seal: The rangers found on the German North Sea coast and on the Dutch coast
  • Square Flipper: bearded seal fur, blue seal
  • Whitecoat: First-time dress of the harp seal and the gray seal, sometimes also of the ringed seal (up to one or two weeks after birth). (Russian: belka, bjelka)

Numbers and facts

  • Before 1944 , the maximum price for dyed whitecoat skins was:
    large 60 RM; medium 40 RM; small 25, - RM
    for seal skins: best blue RM 90; others 40 RM.
  • In 1948 the Fouke Fur Company listed in the spring auction catalog: On behalf of the United States 29,367 seal skins, of which 2108 were in black, 17.056 in matara brown and 10.203 in safari brown 4200 of the 4216 skins from the Republic of South Africa were Transveldt brown, the rest “self-colored”. 1516 Transveldt-colored skins were also offered by private companies. Among these were 151 in the color Safari from New Zealand and 68 from "various" courses.

See also

Commons : Sealskins  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
Commons : Sealskin Apparel  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
Commons : Sealskin Processing  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files
Wiktionary: seal skin  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

annotation

  1. a b The given comparative values ​​( coefficients ) are the result of comparative tests by furriers and tobacco merchants with regard to the degree of apparent wear and tear. The figures are ambiguous; in addition to the subjective observations of shelf life in practice, there are also influences from tanning and finishing as well as numerous other factors in each individual case. More precise information could only be determined on a scientific basis.

    The division was made in steps of 10 percent each. The most durable types of fur according to practical experience were set to 100 percent.

Individual evidence

  1. Alexander Tuma: Pelzlexikon. XXI. Volume of fur and tobacco products , keyword Rauhwarenhandel , Verlag Alexander Tuma, Vienna 1951.
  2. ^ Anna Viola Sievert: A magical gem from the August Kestner Museum. Thoughts on a conference poster (based on Suet. Aug. 90) .
  3. ^ Francis Weiss: From Adam to Madam . From the original manuscript part 1 (of 2), here p. 36, p. 45–46.
  4. Eva Nienholdt: Fur in the costume of the early and high Middle Ages . In: Das Pelzebt , 1955 No. 3, pp. 92-93.
  5. Alexander Tuma: Pelzlexikon. XXI. Volume of fur and tobacco products , keyword Schinat , Verlag Alexander Tuma, Vienna 1951.
  6. Valeria Alia: Arts and Crafts in the Arctic . In: Wolfgang R. Weber: Canada north of the 60th parallel . Alouette Verlag, Oststeinbek 1991, p. 104. ISBN 3-924324-06-9 .
  7. Jos. Klein: The Siberian fur trade and its importance for the conquest of Siberia . Inaugural dissertation to obtain a doctorate from the Rheinische Friedrich-Humboldt-Universität Bonn, 1900. p. 23. Primary source Steller, p. 111.
  8. ^ W. Taylor: The Case of the inviable Inuit Reconciling Archeology, History and Oral Tradition in the Gulf of St. Lawrence . 1979. In: Al 'McCartney (Hsgr,): Thule Eskimo Culture: An Archaeological Retrospective, Canada . National Museum of Man. Mercury Series, Archaeological Survey Paper 88, Ottawa. Secondary source: Jill Oakes, Rick Riewe: The Art of Inuit Women. Proud boots, treasures made of fur . Frederking & Thaler, Munich, 1996, p. 101.
  9. ^ Friedrich Jäkel: The Brühl from 1900 to World War II . 2. Continued in: All about fur no. 2, February 1966, Rhenania Verlag Koblenz, p. 86.
  10. ^ Anton Ginzel: 60 years of tobacco product refinement . In: The fur industry . Verlag Die Pelzwirtschaft January 1, 1965, Berlin, p. 50.
  11. ^ Philipp Manes : The German fur industry and its associations 1900-1940, attempt at a story . Berlin 1941 Volume 2. Copy of the original manuscript, p. 223 ( G. & C. Franke collection ).
  12. www.kopenhagenfur.com: Galleri: Se Jesper Høvring and Great Greenlands smukke sælkreationer . February 9, 2016 (Danish). Retrieved May 13, 2016.
  13. a b c d e f g h Christian Franke / Johanna Kroll: Jury Fränkel's [sic] Rauchwaren-Handbuch 1988/89 . Rifra-Verlag, Murrhardt 1988/89, 10th revised. u. added new edition Pp. 313-331.
  14. a b Dr. Paul Schöps; Dr. 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.
  15. a b c 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)).
  16. Under Eight Monarchs - 1823–1953 , CW Martin & Sons, Ltd., London 1953, p. 5 (English).
  17. ^ A b Francis Weiss : From Adam to Madam . From the original manuscript part 2 (of 2), (approx. 1980 / 1990s), in the manuscript p. 232 (English).
  18. ^ Albert Lord Belden: The Fur Trade of America and Some of the Men who Made and Maintain it: Together with Furs and Fur Bearers of Other Continents and Countries and Islands of the Sea . Peltries Publishing Company, 1917, pp. 152-153. Last accessed March 9, 2018.
  19. ^ A b W. Born: Fur Seal into Fur . In: Ciba Review No. 94 Alaska Sealskins , Ciba, Basel October 1952, pp. 3387-3394 (English).
  20. Jos. Klein: The Siberian fur trade and its importance for the conquest of Siberia . Inaugural dissertation to obtain a doctorate from the Rheinische Friedrich-Humboldt-Universität Bonn, 1900. p. 25. Secondary source Brehm II, p. 350.
  21. ^ A b c Paul Larisch , Josef Schmid, Paris: Das Kürschner-Handwerk, Part III , Verlag Paul Larisch and Josef Schmid, Paris 1903, pp. 63–67.
  22. Without mentioning the author: Seal skins, the largest of all fur skins. In: “Die Pelzkonfektion”, Vol. 2, No. 2, February 1926, Leipzig, p. 62.
  23. Stephen Poyntz Dennig: Princess Victoria at the age of four (portrait).
  24. Max Bachrach: Fur. A Practical Treatise. Prentice-Hall, Inc., New York, 1936. P. 520 (English).
  25. ^ A b c Emil Brass : From the realm of fur , 1911, publishing house of the "Neue Pelzwaren-Zeitung and Kürschner-Zeitung", Berlin, pp. 791–811.
  26. Alexander Tuma: Pelzlexikon. XXI. Volume of fur and tobacco products , keyword Sealkontrakt , Verlag Alexander Tuma, Vienna, 1951.
  27. W. Born: The seal catch on the islands . In: Ciba Rundschau Alaskische Sealskins , issue 102, Basel, April 1952, p. 3746 (with illustration).
  28. Abraham Gottlieb: Fur Truth. Harper & Brothers Publishers, New York, London 1927, pp. 46-47 (English).
  29. Unspecified by the author: The story of the Alaska seal . In: Pelz International , No. 1, January 1969, pp. 65-67.
  30. a b c d e f Fa. Denhardt & Schütze, Hamburg: Seal skins in the fur trade , 12 pages, undated (approx. 1970).
  31. a b c d Erna Mohr: The seals of the European waters. In the series Monographs of Wild Mammals Volume XII, Verlag Dr. Paul Schöps, Frankfurt am Main, 1952, pp. 138–141 ( → table of contents ).
  32. Editor: Rockseal - a jacket and coat material. In: Der Rauchwarenmarkt no.37, supplement Die Pelzkonfektion no.9 , Leipzig, May 11, 1935.
  33. S. Gottlieb & Co., Leipzig, bulk mail order company for cloth, lining materials, tailor articles and fur goods: our fur suppliers . Company brochure, approx. 1930.
  34. P. Larisch: The furriers and their characters . Self-published, Berlin 1928, p. 179.
  35. a b c d e Information Service of the Greenland Self-Government, Tusarliivik, 32 pages, 1983.
  36. ^ Paul Hirschfeld: Leipzig's large-scale industry and wholesale trade in their cultural significance . Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1887, p. 68.
  37. a b Prof. Dr. Strack: Natural history in pictures with explanatory text , Verlag der lithographischen Anstalt bey Arnz & Comp., Düsseldorf. Plate 17. Approx. 1820-1826.
  38. D. Totchkoff, Ochrida: Studies on tobacco trade and skinning, especially in Ochrida (Macedonia) . Inaugural dissertation to obtain a doctorate from the Philosophical Faculty of the University of Heidelberg. Universitäts-Verlag vorm. Ph. Wiese, pp. 29-30.
  39. Russian Fur Union, Moscow in a letter dated March 19, 2009: On 18th March, the Minister of Natural Resources and Ecologie announced a ban on hunting Harp seals (Pagophilus groenlandicus) under one year old in the White Sea.
  40. Without mentioning the author: Good Prices for Sealskins . In: News - Kopenhagen Fur , Copenhagen, February 1914, p. 17 (English).
  41. Tobias Østergaard Omme: Seal Belongs on the International Runways . In: News April 2013, Kopenhagen Fur, Copenhagen, p. 19.
  42. ^ IUCN, International Union for Conservation of Nature, Red List, accessed on March 19, 2011.
  43. ^ In The Fur Industry : Coats and Jackets made of Walrus , Hermelin-Verlag Dr. Paul Schöps, Leipzig and Vienna, 1958 No. 5, p. 231.
  44. Heinrich Hanicke: Handbook for furriers , publisher Alexander Duncker, Leipzig, 1895, pp 80-82.
  45. Adelung: Grammatical-critical dictionary of the High German dialect : "the so-called clarification, or pulling the color from a colored witness", [1] .
  46. Ernst Diebel: New Blueback Processing . Federal fur school . After an undated hectography, apparently from Rund um den Pelz , Fulde Verlag, Cologne.
  47. 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.
  48. Regulation (EC) No. 1007/2009 No. 4
  49. ^ In Pelzmarkt : Deutscher Pelzverband, Frankfurt am Main April 2011, p. 11.
  50. Article 3 Paragraph 2 b) of the first version
  51. Pelzmarkt , Newsletter of the German Fur Association, Frankfurt am Main, December 2010, pp. 2–3.
  52. Michael Abilon: Stimulating the Market for Seals . In: News - Kopenhagen Fur , April 1914, pp. 20-21.
  53. ^ Friedrich Malm, August Dietzsch: The art of the furrier. Fachbuchverlag Leipzig 1951, pp. 34, 63.