Ermine fur

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Ermine in heraldry

The article deals with the fur of the large weasel ( ermine ) as well as that of the small weasel ( weasel ).

Ermine fur has been used as part of clothing reserved for the knightly class and doctors since the earliest Middle Ages. The “pure white” of the ermine winter fur, also in a figurative sense, has led to it being a symbol of purity and flawlessness for centuries as a mark of princely or judicial power. To this day, the white fur with the characteristic black dots on the tail is part of many coronation regalia .

In heraldry , the ermine plays an essential role, see Ermine (heraldry) . From Asia, tables made from yellow-bellied weasels are occasionally sold as “Pineweasel” (English, literally “Kiefernwiesel”). Chinese weasel and Japanese weasel are permissible trade names for Kolinsky fur , see Kolinsky fur .

Ermine and ermine fur

Two guild coats of arms of the furriers from Schässburg / Transylvania (18th century)
Pope Benedict XVI with Hermelin-dressed Mozetta (2006)
An ermine catcher of the Chanten (1790)

The ermine or great weasel is the most common weasel species. It lives in large parts of Eurasia and North America.

The slender body has a fur length of 25 to 32 cm, the tail is 8 to 10 cm long. In contrast to the tip of the Little Weasel, the tip of the tail of the Great Weasel is always black. In the European-Asian species, the tip of the tail is about a third of the length of the tail, in the North American fur it is considerably shorter.

Fur panel of a seldom offered ermine color variant

The summer skins have a brownish to reddish gray back, the sides and the head have a yellowish to pure white undercoat. The winter coats are white with shades between bluish white and ivory white. In the temperate zones, however , the ermine remains brown all year round (southern England, Ireland, southern Europe, southern USA). In the far north and in the high mountains they keep their white, but in summer it is more gray-white to yellowish-white.

In terms of hair length and thickness, the differences between summer and winter fur are considerable. In winter the outer hair is 13 mm long, in summer it only reaches a length of 10 mm.

The durability coefficient based on general experience of ermine coat is 30 to 40 percent. Another list put the durability at 32 to 35 percent and places it at the 28th position on an incomplete durability scale, which traditionally begins with the fur of the sea ​​otter , which is assumed to be the most durable , and here ends with the hare fur at the 41st position. An American study classified ermine fur at 25 percent based on microscopic hair examinations.

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

A distinction is made in the tobacco shop:

  • Summer fur with a brownish to reddish gray back, sides and head with a yellowish to pure white undercoat,
  • Transitional skins in which the brown summer hair is interrupted by more or less white spots of winter hair (spotted or spotted weasel),
  • Winter hides white with shades between bluish white and ivory white.

The traded as "gray peaks" skins fall in the autumn, they have a white, with gray-brown guard hairs interspersed undercoat.

Occurrence

European provenances

Two summer hermelin skins on the left, two weasel skins on the right (Friesland, Netherlands, 1972)

European ermine skins are less white than the Siberian skins and coarser in the hair and are therefore considered to be of less quality. Ermine pelts from northern Sweden and northern Finland, such as Karelia and Enari , however, correspond in quality to Russian skins.

Russian provenances

The Russian trade standard distinguishes 18 provenances:

Berezovsky - Ishimsky Petschorsky Jenisseisky Bashkiria Central Russia
Petropavlowsky - Barabinsky Altaisky Lensky Ural Western
Tobolsky Turuchansky Sabajkalsky Kazakhstan
Tomsky Northern ( Severniy ) Jakutsky Northern Russia

The best Siberian varieties are: Ishimsk , Barabinsk , Berezovsk, Petropavlovsk, Pechorer. These are large, silvery white, smoky and silky. The Ishimsk, Petropavlovsk and Nordpetschorer are particularly beautiful in leather, thin and supple. The northern ones are less silky. Jakutski are partly yellowish, they are pulled off round, closed at the bottom, with the leather on the outside, long and narrow, delivered. Jennisseisky and Daschkirien are sometimes delivered open at the bottom, they are mainly used for coloring.

In the case of raw materials that are delivered with the leather side facing outwards, pelts that have accrued in the transition period can be recognized by the glassy leather. If the fur at the base of the tail has brownish tips, the fur on the back is also brownish. Bald and damaged areas can be clearly seen from the leather side: if the skins are held against the daylight, the bald areas shimmer like grease stains through the leather.

Around 1900 around a million ermine pelts came from Russia (around 525,000 according to Larisch). For the year before World War II, an estimated 500,000 furs were produced. In 1986, 120,000 ermine furs were offered at the Leningrad auctions, the following year only 92,000 ermine furs.

American provenances

American origins are often larger, but mostly flatter and coarser in the hair than Siberian ones. Occasionally they are also shorter-haired (English term: short-tailed weasel ). The areas of origin are: York Fort (e.g. Alberta , Saskatchewan , Manitoba (YF), Northwest (NW), Alaska , Fort George (Canada) (FG), Eskimo-Bai (EB), Moose River (MR), Lake Superior (LS ), Canada (CANA) and Newfoundland (NF)).

Furrier range of black-dyed American ermine furs. Not pure white skins are mostly colored (2012)

Max Bachrach describes the qualities in 1950:

“ Alaska weasels stand out in the quality of the structure and fullness of the hair above the other provenances. Northwest Canada are of the same type and closest in quality, the skins are large but not quite the same density and length of hair. In the neighboring states of Hudson Bay the little weasel prevails; it is on average smaller, but the quality is similar to that from Alaska. Western Canada , Northwestern United States, and Western United States are the three sections that mainly make the long-tailed weasel come from. Compared to the other ermines, it is very large, the particularly long tail has only a short black tip. The guard hair is coarser, especially in the pelts from the western areas. Eastern Canada supplies the largest quantities of the short-tailed weasels in the best qualities; they rank between those from Canada and the peripheral areas of the USA at the same latitude. They are silky but much narrower than the long-tailed species and only about two-thirds as large. Eastern USA . The name comes from the fact that the first of the species were found in New York State. It resembles the eastern type, but is not as hairy, but the average ranges of both areas are almost identical in terms of coat size. The fur shows the greatest difference of all species between the white winter fur and the brown summer fur. The South and Southeastern USA are similar to those mentioned above, but mostly they keep their brown fur all year round. Bridled Weasel from South Texas and North Mexico, the name comes from the black and white markings on the face and head. Only very small quantities come onto the market; they are of poor quality. "

In 1859 only 809 ermine pelts were exported by the Hudson's Bay Company , until the end of 1900 the annual number remained at around 2000 to 3000. In 1903 it rose very quickly to more than 33,000 pelts.

History and use

See also: → Over 5000 pictures of ermine clothing on Wikipedia Commons (2016)

Archduke's crown of Austria, the highest-ranking crown with ermine trimmings
Original text (approx. 1905): “To garnish ermine or things covered with ermine, pleasing motifs can be made from ermine. Fig. I shows a fringe as the conclusion of an etole. Strips of ermine are cut lengthways and drawn around a tail, about the thickness of a tail, over a cord. Then these cords are stuck on a board according to a pattern, fastened with knots made of silk or Genillenpassementerie and tails sewn on as a conclusion. These knots made of black or white passementerie serve to cover the stapled areas and at the same time as an ornament. Fig. 2 + 3 are intended as a set for the chest of etoles or coats. The manufacturing is the same. Fig. 4 + 5 are intended as trimmings for dresses (wedding dresses, ball, etc.). The edging strips are simply fur, the grating is thought to be curved. "

The ermine fur was already known and sought after in ancient times. The Greeks thought the ermine was a white rat and therefore called it the Armenian rat , from which the name ermine is said to have developed. In the little animal Hermelingten one saw the symbol of chastity and an immaculate conscience. It was said to be of such “purity” that it “would rather run through fire than into something unclean”. These ideas have probably caused that for centuries it could only be used for clothing of the very highest dignitaries, although there were and are many far more valuable skins. Ermine is generally considered to be the fur of emperors and kings.

Since around the 12th century, ownership and use were reserved exclusively for the crown. It seems uncertain whether a difference was made between ermine and the fur of the white winter fur of the northern weasel used for the same purposes (English "meniver"), very probably not. The smaller weasel fur cost only about a quarter of an ermine fur in England in 1419. The princely cloak made of purple velvet is a cloak trimmed with ermine and lined, a shape that emerged from the cloak used by the upper classes at the time. The shoulder-width fur collar was added in the early 14th century. Also set with ermine, it will in future be characteristic of the princely coat, especially when the broad collar shape disappeared from general fashion in the 15th century. The regalia is completed by a headgear also trimmed with ermine, often reminiscent of a crown. The large ermine collar is missing from the princely lady's mantle. The magnificent, fur-trimmed cloak of the religious and secular knightly orders, which was primarily worn by their grandmasters, is similar to the princely coat.

Edward VII in coronation robe

King Edward III proclaimed ermine as royal fur in England around the middle of the 14th century. Since then, its use as an essential part of the English coronation regalia has been maintained to the present day. For her coronation in 1953, Elizabeth II wore a cloak trimmed with 540 finest Canadian Central Manitoba long-tailed ermine skins and adorned with 650 ermine tails. The crown of the Empire also lay on a velvet blanket trimmed with ermine. But it was also Elisabeth who thought carefully about her coronation for the numerous guests. In order to at least save their wallet, she had her body tailor, Norman Hartnell , design a simple, cheap state robe before the event . Instead of valuable brocades and ermine fur, it consisted only of red velvet and a cape made of white rabbit fur , the headgear was no longer a diamond-studded browband or a crown made of gold-plated silver, but a cap, also only made of red velvet with rabbit border, gold braid and Gold fool. At the end of 2019, Buckingham Palace announced that for Queen Elizabeth II, who was 93 years old at the time, all new outfits would be made from faux fur in the future, but that she would not be advised to replace the existing wardrobe or to never wear fur again . The queen would continue to wear the existing clothes in her wardrobe.

In 1892 Henry Poland wrote in “Fur Bearing Animals”: ​​“This fur is worn by the Queen, some judges and senior staff officers and is also used for the festive dresses of the peers. Once, and for almost 600 years, it was intended exclusively for use on the crown, but it is now handled much more carelessly. "

In the 18th century, the furrier still covered rabbit fur with blackish ermine ears in order to imitate the ermine fur. According to a report by the British BBC in 1999, the peers have now replaced the ermine with white rabbit fur "with painted spots".

Paul Larisch noted in 1928 that the “state cloaks” of the English kings, like those of the monarchs of other countries, had tails, whereas the “coronation cloaks” used at the coronation were spotted. These are worn by all eminent people during the coronation ceremony . Depending on the rank of the wearer, the wide ermine collar has a precisely defined row of these spots. Only the king and queen have the right to an indefinite number of spots. The collars of princes and princesses as well as dukes and duchesses have four rows of polka dots. The Marquesses, Earls, and Viscounts are entitled to three and a half rows of polka dots, whereas Barons, Lords, and Ladies are only entitled to two and a half rows.

Hermelin fur was also valued by religious dignitaries, from the Pope down to the mostly French nuns. There the Carmelite Sisters wore a white cloth coat lined with ermine at festivities. The black-clad nuns of the hospitals in Rouen also wore this . The half-length, open black evening coat of the Dominican women of Montfleuron, which they put on over their white religious robes in winter, also had ermine trimmings.

Statue of Our Lady with natural ermine fur, La Guerche-de-Bretagne (photo 2010)

In the 12th century, the clergy of Chartres adorned the "Druid Virgin" (the oldest statue of Our Lady of France from the 1st century) with a cloak made of precious, gold-interwoven silk fabric of oriental manufacture. The cloak was trimmed with ermine at the lower hem. The coat was most recently in the possession of the Carmelite Order , but only the leather of the fur remains.

The importance of ermine fur for the nobility, clergy and also the fur trade is illustrated by the description given by Krünitz in the 18th century: “ ... as often as a pope or a king of England dies, this (fur) trade changes completely at one time take another course, which he kept for about a year, but then came back to his old track; for whenever such a death occurs, the cardinals in Rome and the English nobility in London needed many ermines, which were quickly bought up in Norway, Sweden and Russia and carried to Rome or London in unbelievable quantities, whereby all the others in Russia and Sweden Types of fine fur in price are rising. If the cardinals or the English lords had done their shopping for the impending solemnity of the new pope or king, Rome or London would remain the best market for ermine for about a year longer. "

Marco Polo reported by the Tartars -Leader Kublai Khan (1215-1294), that the tents of his residence "outside white black-and red-striped lion skins (meaning tiger skins ) are so well guarded covered and that neither rain nor wind can penetrate . Inside they are covered with ermine and sable skins ... "

Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip in coronation regalia (1953)

After the ermine fur became available to broader sections of the population around 1900, it played a different role in the tobacco trade depending on the fashion. The ermine price often fluctuated very strongly. For a while the price was so low that it was used to feed women's fur muffs. Emil Brass reported on this in 1911: “When the price is low, few stoats are caught, while the high price is attractive. 25 years ago the room (= 40 pieces) of the best finished Ischimer cost 40 Mk. At that time I even bought a large lot of about 700 room finished Yakutski for 7 Mk. Per room. Since the coronation of King Edward of England, ermine has suddenly come back into fashion, and in 1906 the price of Ischimer was the highest ever paid, averaging over 400 Mk., Falling somewhat in 1907, currently about 280 Mk. "

At the beginning of the 19th century, almost every piece of ermine was decorated with black ermine tails. Ermine fur was used by couturiers for all clothing, especially for muffs and other accessories, for collars and lavish trimmings, often in combination with other types of fur.

For some, an ermine scarf was still too expensive, master furrier August Dietzsch (* 1900; † 1993) from Leipzig remembers in 1987: “ When horse and trams were increasingly being developed as a means of transport, the hat pins that were common at the time turned out to be the most fashionable ones oversized women's hats as a health hazard for passengers. That is why one could then read in these means of transport: "People with unprotected hat pins are not transported". And for this reason we made hat pin protectors from ermine heads. Some women wore ermine without actually being able to afford it. “ In 1944, the American magazine Life highlighted interesting details, including earmuffs made of ermine, as the last fad among elegant women”. These "earmuffs" were declared "as a logical and necessary development in fashion that increasingly refrains from wearing hats".

After the Second World War, ermine fur, which was mainly prefabricated into panels in Anglo-Saxon countries, was largely replaced by the relatively cheaper and hard-wearing white mink . The ermine fur, which is now only available in small numbers, is now again achieving a high price on the international tobacco product market.

Judge Ekoko Ben Duala (Cameroon, 2009)

In June 2001 there was a question in the Austrian Parliament that Dr. Dieter Böhmdorfer , member of the government in the Federal Ministry of Justice, answered as follows:

The current President of the Higher Regional Court in Vienna does not have an ermine trimmed gown . There are therefore currently one official dress with a 12 cm wide ermine trimmings (for the President of the Supreme Court) and 19 official dresses with a 6 cm wide ermine trim (for the two Vice-Presidents and the 13 Senate Presidents of the Supreme Court, for the head of the General Procuratorate and for three Presidents of the higher regional courts) in use.
On average over the past ten years, three ermine-trimmed gowns have been purchased for the Supreme Court. The contract is awarded by the Supreme Court after obtaining several offers from the respective best bidder. I don't know where the ermines come from or how many ermines are needed for an official dress.
I am also of the opinion that distinctions on official clothing through fur trimmings are no longer appropriate. Since I still consider it sensible and important to wear an official dress that corresponds to the judge's position in office, I have asked the relevant department to check the use of suitable substitutes for the ermine that take into account the dignity of the respective office.

Pope Benedict XVI wore an ermine-trimmed velvet mozetta not only at the Easter octave . In December 2005 the Pope astonished in the very cold with an Hermelin-trimmed and lined, warm red cap, the traditional, but now unfamiliar Camauro . Fashion king Karl Lagerfeld told Stern magazine: In summer I sleep under a white ermine blanket, in winter under sable. But the Nibelungenlied already reports that the Burgundian kings, when they came to their beds as guests of the Hun king Etzel, found that

The bed covers looked like they were made of ermine
And also of black sable, including the night
You should rest leisurely until the light of day:
A king has never been so wonderful with friends ...

Breeding the ermine for fur purposes has never proven profitable. In 1931 a breeder believes he can judge that an attempt must fail from the outset due to the animal's astonishingly large voracity . The proceeds from ermine bellows, which have a unit price of almost 3 RM, are in no relation to the maintenance costs, let alone to the costs that arise from the enclosures and which should hardly be lower than with the mink , which is almost reached three times the size.

processing

Ermine processing
with tails and paws
Image detail

Ermine skins are usually sold as prefabricated panels (approx. 60 x 120 cm) in wholesalers, weasel skins practically exclusively. As with all white fur types, sorting is very easy. Well-colored pelts are essentially put together according to coat size and hair length. Unnecessary cuts should be avoided, they can often be seen on the side of the hair.

Ermine scarves "spotted"
Processing example coat, right muff and sash in wickerwork

Until after 1900, ermine processing was very complex. Ordinarily, the ermine things were "tailed" using the natural tails. However, because the tails are often too yellow, artificial tails were often made (see also → tail turning ). The best imitation of this kind is achieved by cutting the upper half of the fur and using the black tip made of trophy tail or polecat tail ; the brush ears of the fleeces were also dyed black for this purpose. In addition to “teasing” the ermine, “dabbing” in the manner of the Middle Ages has recently been used with success. Small pieces of different colored flat fur are used as "dots".

In spotted processing, ermine was usually called "Minniver" (from the old French menu-vair , the name for the various forms of feehwomen in the Middle Ages). If a part was made entirely from "Minniver", pieces of seal skin were usually used for dabbing . However, if the ermine was part of a fur made of other fur material, e.g. B. as collars, cuffs or trimmings, the polka dots were usually made from the same fur material.

  • Anne Howard-Vyse, Dressing up (1780)

  • Portrait of Hilda Spencer Watson (1869–1934), ermine muff and hat set

If the tails are left in the item of clothing as “plastering”, “you cut the skins delicately in a horizontal direction, push the little tail through the cut and sew the tail root.” Alternatively, you can reinsert them so that they cover the faulty areas cover where the front paws have been cut out.

Attempts have also been made to process ermine skins using the outlet technique customary for mink . Arthur Samet describes how three skins that are as large as possible can be cut into skins that are two and a half times as large. These are then left out to the required jacket length. Samet mentions that exactly 6412 pins were required to smoothly stretch and straighten the seams, and that the result would be “perfect”, given the amount of effort involved, as each strip looked like it was made from a hide.

After a certain time, the white pelts turn yellow like all light hair or they are already naturally yellowish. In both cases they need to be bleached . Was bleached first with a sulfur stain, now usually with Blankitbleiche with optical brightener. After the First World War, the skins began to be dyed in various shades such as beige, brown or pale gray. At least in the 1930s, the white pale yellowish ermine was a German specialty that had not yet succeeded in England. That is why they were often colored there in light, fashionable tones.

Mild-haired (hairless) skins were usually plucked and made into children's sets. Nowadays, ermine furs are mainly made into evening furs, small capes or light summer furs .

In 1965, the fur consumption for a skin table sufficient for an ermine or weasel coat was given as 220 to 360 skins (so-called coat "body"). A board with a length of 112 centimeters and an average width of 150 centimeters and an additional sleeve section was used as the basis. This corresponds roughly to a fur material for a slightly exhibited coat of clothing size 46 from 2014. The maximum and minimum fur numbers can result from the different sizes of the sexes of the animals, the age groups and their origin. Depending on the type of fur, the three factors have different effects.

Weasel (mouse weasel)

At the German fur refiner : In the shelf there is a colored and grottled Chinese velvet weasel board

The fur of the mouse weasel or little weasel differs from the ermine by the jagged line between the brown top and the white underside as well as by brown feet and a brown tail (without the black tip). The little weasel has a body length of 15 to 20 cm and a tail length of 4 to 5 cm, which is shorter than that of the ermine.

The summer coat is reddish brown, sometimes light brown to cinnamon, occasionally spotted with white, especially on the face. In areas with a temperate climate, the winter coat is brown to red-brown, in transition zones to the cold zone it is brown and white. It is white in the high northern cold zones and in the high mountains. The tip of the tail is brown depending on the body color and also white in the case of white winter fur. On the international market, the white skins are usually traded as ermine.

The occurrence is the same as in the ermine, only it is absent in Ireland.

Usually only the small (white) weasels from Russia-Siberia, sometimes called Laska (plural: Laski), were traded. Weasels do not have a black tip of their tails, which is probably why they were marketed without tails before 1900. Outdated trade names are "Laschitzen" or incorrectly "Junghermeline".

The origins according to the Russian standard are: Jakutsky, West Siberian and Russian.

The Frankfurt tobacco retailer Richard König reported in 1952 that hides from Mongolia the size of an ermine are traded as Laskafels or Solongoi . The color is yellowish gray. The hide was made up in the leather like an Ischimsky ermine. Some of them also came from the Harbing area , but were then “shriveled”. The range “usually went” 90 percent great, 10 percent large and 40 percent medium-sized. The skins were mainly sold to America, where they were dyed brown, chocolate, etc. and processed as a light, elegant coat material. The furs were not cheap, about 300 pelts were needed for one coat.

The demand for weasel fur was low until around the beginning of the 1990s, the costs for fur finishing and processing are higher than for ermine because of the small pelts. The skins are also usually flatter in the hair. Since one began to pluck the skins like velvet and dye the remaining undercoat, the consumption has increased. In the past few decades, we have almost exclusively processed weasel skins that have been made into tablets in China. The awn, which is difficult to color, has almost always been removed since around 1990. As a velvet weasel , the bars , mostly colored, are made into particularly light coats, jackets and fur linings . The skins of female animals are smaller and thinner, and therefore even lighter than the male.

In 1762 it was even said that the furriers rejected the red weasels and only made clothing lining out of the white hides. For us today it is difficult to understand another use of the white winter fur: “ The stench of their excrement may have given the countrymen the idea that it would be good to coat the cattle blown by the red weasel with the hide of a white weasel. "

Weasel skins have a durability coefficient of 40 to 50 percent. When classifying fur animals into the fineness classes silky, fine, medium-fine, coarse and hard, like ermine hair, the hair of the Chinese weasel is also classified as fine.

  • Velvet weasel coat, bleached (1999)

  • Weasel coat natural color with print (dots) (2004)

  • Velvet weasel coat, colored (2005)

  • Velvet weasel coat, grooved cord, colored (2017)

Dwarf weasel

The hairiness and color are like the little weasel, but the dwarf weasel is considerably smaller. Another distinguishing feature is the unusually short tail, only 2 to 3 centimeters long. In addition, there are no brown spots behind the corner of the mouth that are typical for the little weasel (mouse weasel), but sometimes only hinted at.

The white winter fur is also sold as an ermine.

Long-tailed weasel

With a fur length of 37 to 45 cm, the American long-tailed weasel is larger than the ermine. In addition, there is the longer and bushier tail, which is almost half as long as the fur. The tip of the tail is about a quarter of the length of the tail and is black. The fur is pure white in winter, but cinnamon brown in summer. The animals living in the south stay brown all year round. Compared to the ermine, the fur is thinner and flatter. The fur is less silvery white and is therefore mostly bleached. The fur of the American long-tailed weasel is usually sold together with ermine fur. The raw hides are peeled off round and delivered with the hair inside.

Apparently many North American Indian tribes preferred ermine furs to the furry decoration of clothing. Often together with otter tails woven into the long hair and a feather headdress, they also formed part of the male headdress.

  • Ermine fur among the indigenous peoples of America

  • Kiowa with a bundle of ermine fur (1898)

  • Cheyenne with ermine skins (1898)

  • Shirt of the Nez Percé (approx. 1880–1885)

  • War headdress of the Nez Percé (19th century)

  • At a consecration (1913)

Pineweasel, yellow-bellied weasel

In 1966 it says about the yellow-bellied weasel: " Almost never comes on the market and if it does , then mostly as" Solongoi "(especially the Altai provenance). "Around 1999 came from China as" Pineweasel "(pine weasel) traded panels made of skins of yellow-bellied weasels on the market, with the comment that they would normally as in retail" Summer Ermine "offered. In many of the skins on the boards offered around 1999, the leather was parchment-like glassy hard because of the improper pretreatment by the consignors.

Yellow-bellied weasels differ from other weasels by their relatively long tail. The fur is colored yellow-brown to dark brown on the upper side, the underside is light yellow to orange-yellow. The winter fur is lighter than the summer fur. The skins have a head body length of 25 to 27 centimeters and a tail length of 13 to 15 centimeters. The tail is somewhat bushy, with the southern origins short-haired (similar to the Solongoi). It is the color of the back, the tip is not black.

  • Pineweasel

  • Pineweasel tablets

  • Pineweasel Reversible Coat (1999)

Numbers and facts

  • 1913
Price list Heinrich Lomer , Leipzig, winter 1913/1914
  • In 1925 the tobacco wholesaler Jonni Wende offered: Hermeline: Hermeline, American 9 to 15 Reichsmarks; Ermine, Russian 12 to 25 Reichsmarks; Wiesel 5 to 9 Reichsmarks.
  • Before 1944 , the maximum price for ermine fur was:
Russian and Nordic ermine 15 RM; German ermine 10 RM
for German summer weasel 16 RM.
  • In 1955 , the then 16-year-old Angelita Trujillo, daughter of the dictatorial ruling President of the Dominican Republic Rafael Leónidas Trujillo Molina , received an ermine-lined dress worth 80,000 US dollars from the Roman fashion house Fontana for a festivity. 600 ermine furs are said to have been used for the fur lining.
  • 1988 Deliveries of American ermine skins have recently decreased significantly. Around 1960 around 250,000 pieces came from Canada and around 20,000 from the USA. In 1970 the USA statistics gave only about 6500 skins, the Canadian statistics from 1971/72 about 40,000. Before 1988, the annual incidence (including the long-tailed weasel) fluctuated between 80,000 and 125,000 pelts, half each from Canada and the United States.
  • On April 30, 2013 the enthronement of the Dutch King Willem-Alexander took place in the traditional ermine robe that had been changed for him. It was obviously the regalia already worn by his mother Beatrix . It was speculated that because of the consideration for opponents of fur, the yellowed and rotten hide was not renewed.
  • In 2018/2019 a copy of August the Strong's coronation mantle was made, exhibited in the royal parade rooms of the Dresden Residenzschloss .

See also

North American weasel and ermine skins (stripped round, leather side outside). Measuring scale in feet and inches (1906)
Commons : Ermine Furs  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
Commons : Weasel Pelts  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
Commons : Stoat Clothing  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
Commons : Weasel Skin Clothing  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Web links

Wiktionary: ermine fur  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Paul Larisch : Hermelin: Purity and Justice . In Die Kürschner and their characters , 1928. Self-published, Berlin.
  2. ↑ 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.
  3. ↑ John C. Sachs: Furs and the Fur Trade , Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons Ltd., 3rd ed., London 1933, pp. 76-78, 137 (English)
  4. ↑ Editor: The durability of fur hair . In: Der Rauchwarenmarkt Nr. 26, Leipzig, June 28, 1940, p. 12. Primary source: American Fur Breeder , USA (Note: All comparisons put the sea otter fur at 100 percent). → Comparison of durability .
  5. ↑ a b 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.
  6. ^ A b c d e f Christian Franke / Johanna Kroll: Jury Fränkel's Rauchwaren-Handbuch 1988/89 , 10th revised and supplemented new edition, Rifra-Verlag Murrhardt.
  7. ^ A b c d Paul Larisch and Josef Schmid: Hermelin in Das Kürschner-Handwerk , self-published, Paris, III. Part, III. Kapitel, May 1903, pp. 38-39.
  8. ↑ Alexander Tuma: Pelzlexikon, XVIII. Band der Pelz- und Rauchwarenkunde , Hermelin , pp. 101-102, Verlag Alexander Tuma, 1949.
  9. ↑ Max Bachrach: Fur. A Practical Treatise. F Prentice-Hall, Inc., New York, 1936. pp. 358-362 (English).
  10. ^ Elspeth M. Veale: The English Fur Trade in the Later Middle Ages . Oxford at the Clarendon Press, 1966. Several mentions. A room of ermine skins cost 15 s to 18 s, weasels (minever) 3 s. 4 d. up to 4 s. 6 d. (PRO ( Public Record Office ) Exchequer: King's Remembrancer, Custom Accounts, 407 / I) (English).
  11. ↑ a b Dr. Eva Nienholdt, Berlin: fur on rulers' robes, on secular and religious religious and official costumes . In: The fur industry , Hermelin-Verlag Dr. Paul Schöps, Berlin, Ffm., Leipzig, Vienna. Volume IX / New Series, No. 3, 1958, pp. 132-138.
  12. ↑ Editor: Ermine for the English coronation robe . In: "Die Pelzwirtschaft", Verlag Die Pelzwirtschaft, Berlin, probably 1953, p. 361.
  13. ^ Marie Louise Steinbauer, Rudolf Kinzel: Marie Louise - furs . Steinbock Verlag, Hanover 1973, pp. 191–192.
  14. ↑ The Queen and the Fur . In: Pelzmarkt Newsletter No. 12, December 2019, Deutscher Pelzverband Frankfurt am Main, p. 5.
  15. ↑ a b Dr. Fritz Schmid: The book of the fur animals and fur , FC Mayer Verlag, Munich, 1970, pp. 271-279.
  16. ↑ Without author's name: The status of smoking goods refinement around 1800. In: Der Rauchwarenmarkt No. 80, Leipzig, October 12, 1935, p. 5. Primary source: Karl Philipp Funke: Natural history and technology , Dessau 1798.
  17. ↑ BBC News special report: Lords reform . Retrieved September 27, 2009 .
  18. ↑ Eva Nienholdt: Fur on Herrscherornat, in worldly and spiritual religious and Amtstrachten (see this.). According to Krünitz, vol. 57, article Kürschner , note 1, who cites this (after Taube in his historical and political description of the English manuf. , P. 112).
  19. ↑ Reinhold Stephan, Bochum: On the history of the tobacco trade in antiquity and the Middle Ages and the development of the Russian-Asian region from 16.-18. Century , Inaugural Dissertation University of Cologne, 1940, p. 32. Table of contents .
  20. ↑ a b Alexander Tuma jun: The furrier's practice , published by Julius Springer, Vienna, 1928, pages 150–151, 206–208.
  21. ↑ Anna Municchi: Ladies in Furs 1900-1940 . Zanfi Editori, Modena 1992, p. 46 (English) ISBN 88-85168-86-8 .
  22. ↑ Editor: A master furrier from Brühl remembers (III). In conversation with August Dietzsch. Brühl magazine ISSN  0007-2664 , January / February 1987, p. 29.
  23. ↑ Without the author's name: Ermine earmuffs . In: Der Rauchwarenmarkt No. 1, January 1944, p. 7.
  24. ↑ www.parlament.gv.at (accessed December 23, 2008) .
  25. ↑ Alexander Tuma: The history of the skinning . Verlag Alexander Tuma, Vienna 1967, p. 79.
  26. ↑ A. Usinger: An unprofitable fur animal . In: The German fur breeder . No. 22, Munich 1931, p. 600.
  27. ↑ Editor: A master furrier from Brühl remembers (VI). In conversation with August Dietzsch. In: Brühl . Fachbuchverlag Leipzig, Issue 3, May / June 1988, ISSN  0007-2664 .
  28. ↑ Heinrich Hanicke: Handbook for furriers , publisher Alexander Duncker, Leipzig, 1895, pp 46-48 and table 43rd
  29. ^ Arthur Samet: Pictorial Encyclopedia of Furs , Arthur Samet (Book Division), New York, 1950, pp. 180-181 (English).
  30. ↑ W. Künzel: From raw fur to smoking goods. Alexander Duncker Verlagbuchhandlung, Leipzig approx. 1937, p. 102.
  31. ↑ 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 following measurements 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.
  32. ↑ a b c d Dr. Paul Schöps among other things: hair and color of the species of marten . In: Das Pelzgewerbe Vol. XVII / New Series 1966 No. 3, Hermelin-Verlag Dr. Paul Schöps, Berlin et al. Pp. 109–123.
  33. ^ Emil Brass: From the realm of fur , 1911, publishing house of the "Neue Pelzwaren-Zeitung and Kürschner-Zeitung", Berlin.
  34. ↑ Hans Werner, Gera: Die Kürschnerkunst , Verlag Bernh. Friedr. Voigt, Leipzig, 1914, pp. 112-113.
  35. ↑ Richard König : An interesting lecture (report on the trade in Chinese, Mongolian, Manchurian and Japanese tobacco products). In: Die Pelzwirtschaft No. 47, 1952, pp. 50–51.
  36. ↑ The Kirschner . In: JS Halle: Workshops for today's arts , Berlin 1762, see p. 311 .
  37. ↑ The specified comparative values ​​( coefficients ) are the result of comparative tests by furriers and tobacco shops with regard to the degree of apparent wear and tear. The figures are 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 classification was made in steps of 10 percent each, only the weakest species received the value class of 5 to 10 percent. The most durable types of fur according to practical experience were set to 100 percent.
  38. ↑ Jonni Wende's company brochure, Rauchwaren en wholesale, Hamburg, Düsseldorf, Leipzig, New York, August 1925, p. 9.
  39. ^ Friedrich Malm, August Dietzsch: The art of the furrier. Fachbuchverlag Leipzig 1951, p. 38.
  40. ^ [1] Trujillo: La trágica aventura del poder personal Bruguera 1968. p. 304 (Spanish).
  41. ↑ Dieuwke Grijpma: Kringloopmantel . In: De Volkskrant , March 18, 2013, pp. V3-V4 (Dutch).