Fur types

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Fur trader 1890 in the Canadian province of Alberta
Alfölder farmhouse” made of fur: exhibit from the Millennium Exhibition in Budapest 1896 (Katzer, Budapest). Sealskin bases; Substructure suzlik; Foundation walls and window fittings mole; Main walls and posts muskrat; on the post hedgehogs with frog-tailed boas in their mouths; Window and door overhangs Feehwamme (Russian squirrel); Gable walls made of seal skins. Different species of fox at the four corners; Roof tiles made from opossum tails; Chimney Grebesfelle (Great Crested Grebes) and on it a stork that feeds its young. Golden eagles and bears adorn the roof. In the gable is the skull of a moose.

As fur is fur of mammals with closely spaced hair and the worked therefrom garment designated. Tobacco goods , in Austria also rough goods , are prepared , that is, animal skins refined into furs. Fur animals are wild animals that have fur that can be used for clothing. This list deals with the fur and the products made from it, not the fur as an animal organ .

Insofar as the skins are not produced for other reasons (for example during meat production), fur animals are bred or hunted for it . The different types of fur or fur and the garments made from them are designated according to the species of animal (mink jacket, bisam coat). The breeding usually takes place in fur farms . The killing of animals for the production of fur, certain husbandry conditions or fishing methods for fur animals as well as a lack of consumer information about them are criticized by parts of the population and numerous animal welfare organizations and are repeatedly discussed in the media.

A list of the animal species protected according to the species protection regulations in force in Germany with the data of the protection status according to the Washington Convention , the EC regulations, the Federal Species Protection Ordinance and the Federal Nature Conservation Act can be found in the species protection database "WISIA" of the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation in Bonn.

Otto Feistle wrote in 1931 in Rauchwarenmarkt und Rauchwarenhandel : "Given the diversity of the types of fur used today, there have long been more than 500, almost all countries in the world, even Africa, are involved in fur production."

In the following, the different types of fur animals are listed under the aspect of fur use (origin and appearance of the fur, fur qualities, historical review of hunting, breeding and trade, etc.).

General

Name of the skin parts

One definition states that fur densities of more than 400 hairs per cm² are referred to, as furs 50 to 400 hairs / cm², all hair densities below that are hairless skin .

As far as the respective legislation allows, the resulting skins are used economically according to their suitability. Depending on the condition of the hair, the leather (thickness and condition of the skin), the size of the fur surface, and partly also on the degree of coloration, they are supplied to various industries as raw products. This is, among other purposes, the tobacco industry, the hair cutting industry, the tannery industry and the glue industry. With appropriate suitability, the greatest benefit can usually be achieved when feeding it for fur purposes. The hides that are not used in the hair recovery process can be tanned into leather together with the skins that are not suitable for fur. What is otherwise unusable is boiled to glue. As far as the skins are intended for fur, they are sorted again according to different criteria in order to obtain uniform assortments for processing; At the same time, this creates the basis for determining the value of the individual qualities.

The quality of a hide depends on many factors. The following can be generalized with reservations: Fur species that live wholly or temporarily in the water have a particularly thick and hard-wearing fur. The colder the living space, the thicker and silky the hair. A dense, soft undercoat is characteristic of the winter fur of the temperate and cold zones. In tropical animals, guard hair generally predominates over wool hair. Marten species usually have a particularly durable fur. Winter pelts are qualitatively better than summer pelts, transitional pelts (from the time of the coat change ) may under certain circumstances tend to hair loss ("mild hairiness") and show disturbing offspring areas. These spots can often be seen as dark spots on the leather side. The skins of small carnivores have a quicker and therefore more stable leather than those of herbivores.

Unbalanced markings of spots occur in fur animals, with the exception of very few species of hair seal, only in domestic animals, not in the wild. Leopard, tiger, giraffe, ocelot or Perwitzky have spots, the right side is always approximately the same or at least similar to the left side.

In the tobacco shop and skinning , some terms differ from the zoological or hunter-language terms. In most types of fur, the belly is referred to as a dewlap , the extremities completely as paws , with the exception of the lamb (= claws , e.g. Persian claws ). Every thickly haired fur tail is called a tail in the fur industry , except for the lamb or sheep. The back of the fur is the grump , the back part of the fur is the pump . The darkest, bluish winter coats are called blue in technical terms , in contrast to red , the rather lighter and therefore mostly less valued color variants of the same type of coat. A coat with thick, not tightly fitting hair is called smoke . - The tanning of the skins is called dressing .

In 1965 it was said that furs were obtained from 168 animal species at the time. Of these, 45 species were found in Europe, 53 in Asia, 35 in North America, 16 in South America, ten in Australia and nine in Africa. Twenty years later, in connection with the great diversity and diversity of tobacco products, it was explained: “For example, there are currently around 48 different fur species relevant for the tobacco product market with different origins (130 foxes alone), and the variety is increased even further through mutation breeding (for example 20 to 30 standard color shades for mink). In addition, the varieties have different qualities in terms of average size, hairline and damage ”.

Labeling regulations

In the various countries, regulations have been made that stipulate what an honest description of the goods should look like when offering and selling furs. In particular, they stipulate that the animal species of the fur used should be recognizable and that it should be identified if the part was not made from whole fur, but from the remnants of fur that fell off during processing (paws, heads, tails, pieces, etc.) .

Germany

In Germany, in the event of disputes about the correct naming of the fur, the designation regulations laid down in RAL regulation 075 A 2 are generally used. They were first set by the Committee for Delivery Conditions and Quality Assurance at the German Standards Committee (DNA) in 1939, in a comprehensive joint effort between the organizations of producers and processors, trade and consumers, with the participation of the authorities and the chambers of industry and commerce . In 1951 they were confirmed in the unchanged wording and revised in 1968.

Austria

In Austria, a corresponding ordinance came into force on February 1, 1962:

“To protect the public, the Federal Ministry of Trade and Reconstruction has issued an ordinance on making the quality of hides and fur products visible. The ordinance stipulates the following for skin products put up for sale:

1. Specify the fur animal, ie the type of fur, provided the offer relates to first-class goods.
2. If the goods are offered under a fancy name, the type of refined fur must also be specified. This also applies in particular to fur, which was imitated in more noble ways
3. Articles of fur made from parts of fur, e.g. B. backs, dewlaps, claws, heads, pieces are worked, have to wear a relevant addition. "

Differentiated implementation provisions follow.

Insect eater

Mole skins (sewn together) and color sample card

From the animal order of insectivores are for mechanical working only two species of the family of moles of interest: the European mole ( Talpa europaea ) and the Russian Desman ( Desmana moschata ).

The skins of the American-Asiatic mole were hardly traded.

The fur of the Pyrenean muskrat shrew , also known as the Pyrenean proboscis, which is 10 to 15 cm long and even smaller than that of the Desman, is mentioned in 1937 with the comment “only has local interest”. Mayer's Konversationslexikon from 1888 says under the keyword muskrat : "Its fine woolly fur is used to cover hats and house clothes."

The fur is chestnut brown on the back, gray-brown on the sides and silver-gray on the womens side.

European mole

Mole jacket
(2004, historical model)
Commons : Mole Hides  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
Commons : Mole Skin Clothing  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

The fur color of the mole is variable, dark bluish-blackish. The underside with greenish iridescent, fuzzy longitudinal stripes, which is particularly pronounced in old animals. Sometimes the fur appears to be almost black, but there are no pure black fur. The summer fur is gray and dull. The coat is extremely short and dense.

In addition to the skins coming from Russia, mainly Central European varieties were traded, as well as English (best district Fenland ), Scottish, which are considered to be the best alongside the Dutch, Italian and those from Serbia / Montenegro. Bavarian skins are beautiful in color, but much smaller than the Scottish ones, so they fetched considerably lower prices. In 1924 the inhabitants of Finland reported that they knew very little about the great value of their fur animals, "which strangely touches the German visitor". For example, they wear the finest moles as the lining of their mighty sheepskin coats .

Mole coat, skins alternately worked head up, head down (1915)

According to the time of the attack, summer, autumn and winter coats are distinguished. The winter coat is very dense and evenly fully developed. The leather is spotless and is called white leather, but it is actually greenish-gray. Since the mole has a hair change between the seasonal changes as a special feature in summer, such fur is more common than with other types of fur, recognizable by the dark spots on the leather side caused by the hair roots, the mole's skin is "black leather" or "black spotted". Almost fully developed skins are also referred to as "rimmed". Part of the leather surface is already white, i.e. mature, while greenish to black areas (stripes) are present on the edges.

Mole skins also came from outside Europe. Turkish moles are almost exclusively white and large and were therefore more valued than Persian and Syrian. Before 1936, around 25,000 Turkish mole skins were sold annually. In 1935 a large lot of skins of an African mole species was stored in Hamburg, but it turned out that it was not suitable for fur purposes.

In the USA, a study carried out around 1929 showed that the top quality of 600 pelts from animals caught in western Washington , the so-called " Townsend mole ", was as follows: The proportion of first-class goods was 100 percent in January and 75 percent in February and March Percent, in April 50 percent, in May 80 percent, in June 90 percent, in July 80 percent, in August 95 percent, in September 65 percent, in October 10 percent, in November 15 percent and in December 95 percent.

The fur is not very resistant to friction; it quickly becomes matted in heavily used areas. Compared to other types of fur, the durability coefficient is 5 to 10 percent.

Aristophanes wrote in the 5th century BC that merchants in Athens offered moles as well as other types of fur. The Roman author Pliny the Elder († 79 AD) mentioned a mole blanket that he saw on one of his trips to Greece. A specialist fur book from 1852 mentions a very unexpected use, in addition to being used for trimmings , trimmings on various items of clothing, e.g. B. on winter hats and sometimes on inner linings for men's fur : Because of its smoothness, the fur is advantageously used to lay out the blowguns . Russian mole skins were exported to China for clothing purposes at the time.

Initially, in modern times in England, mole fur was primarily associated as a material for the front of the west, which apparently was ubiquitous there for a while. It is said that Queen Alexandra, wife of Edward VII of England, ordered a mole wrap in 1901 after the great devastation caused by moles. Alexandra was in her environment as a trendsetter in fashion issues, she is said to have made a decisive contribution to the fact that the mole plague on the British island was put to an end through an intensive reenactment.

Mole fur really came into fashion in 1902. The fur had already accumulated in large quantities before, but it was only now, actually only for two years, that it was processed in great variety. In the winter of 1902/1903 France alone delivered two million skins. At first, retailers viewed the material with skepticism, on the one hand it did not appear to be very hard-wearing, and on the other hand there was the white leather that was visible from the hair due to the vortex formation. Only when the company Rödiger & Quarch, owner Märkle succeeded in “ dazzling ” the fur from the leather side and dying it again in the tint of the natural fur, did the fur again enjoy some popularity, especially in the 1920s and 1930s . At the time, however, the attack was apparently so great that the price had already fallen below Kanin's for the 1925/26 season . As suddenly as fashion had favored the mole fur, so suddenly this fashion stopped again in Central Europe. For 1968 a report on fur animals in the Mongolian People's Republic states: In an effort to expand the fur animals scale, the skins of Mongolian moles were examined for usefulness and made into hats, collars and children's coats (CHOTELCHU, 1968). The attempts should have been positive. Mongolian moles have a dense, elastic fur with a color that varies from gray to black.

The skins are sold in the form of bars. Up until 1988, around 500,000 pelts were processed annually, but the number has probably fallen considerably again in the meantime. Mole skins came onto the European market only sporadically in small quantities; in Germany they are hardly used (as of 2012).

In Germany, the European mole has been specially protected under the Federal Nature Conservation Act (BNatschG) since August 31, 1980 . Viewed worldwide, this species is widespread and is not considered to be threatened; the IUCN lists them as not at risk (least concern) .

Russian desman

Commons : Desmanskins  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
Desman

The fur of the Russian Desman , also Wychuchol or Vychuchol , is also known as silver bisam . With 20 to 25 cm and a tail length of 16 to 19 cm, it is about the size of a hamster and thus much smaller than the muskrat.

The short, fine to silky, very shiny and dense hair is brownish-reddish, dark brown to chestnut brown with metallic shimmering dark purple tones that become lighter towards the sides to show a shiny silver-white color in the dewlap . The leather is described as "particularly thick on the belly". When the fur was still being processed, there were two fishing seasons: in spring (April) and in autumn (October). The April pelts were significantly smoker (denser) than the October pelts. Overall, the hair density in females is greater than in males.

Durability coefficient: 40 to 50%

The effect of the "high-gloss dewlap" led to the name silver bisam on the Leipzig tobacco market . Because of the valuable dewlap, the skins were cut open in the back (unlike in the picture).

An 1841 encyclopedia says about the almost hairless tail: "The tail is made of fur because of its musky odor against the moths and protects it for up to two years because it retains its smell for so long."

The pelts were formerly processed into fur linings, rarely also into large-scale clothing. This particularly affected the Russian Desman, who lives in densely populated areas and was of material value due to his size. The Pyrenees Desman was of no economic importance. Peter Simon Pallas reported in his travelogues in 1771: “A remarkable animal is the muskrat (Wuichuchol), which is common in all lakes along the Volga , and whose skins can be bought at a very low price because they are not used for anything other than common fur clothes to disguise, applies. Nonetheless, these skins consist almost entirely of a fine, soft wool which does not give in to the sheen and delicacy of the beaver wool and would perhaps be just as excellent for making hat felts, although it is shorter ”.

In 1984, the Marco company introduced a new muskrat-biton refinement, also suitable for nutria, which they described as the “Desman effect”. The color of the Desman was artificially imitated here, running from the dark to very dark back to the light dewlap. The back was darkened, the fur sides lightened.

The Russian Desman is listed as endangered (vulnerable) by the IUCN and is no longer allowed to be hunted. In 1973 1,500 skins were auctioned at a Russian auction, but they probably came from catches of several years.

Small bears

Bassarisks

Bassarisk or Katzenfrett

The two species, the North American and the Central American cat frett , belonging to the family of small bears , are also called American ringtail (cat), Bassarisk or Raccoonfox , by the Spanish-speaking population Cacomixtle ("cat squirrel "). Bassarisk skins are traded in the intermediate trade as Ringtailcat (not to be confused with the Ringtail-Opossum or Ringtail-Possum, see Possumfell ), the fur in the German-speaking retail trade traditionally mostly as Bassarisk. Meat is also used in Central America.

The North American cat frett lives in the United States via Baja California to Veracruz and Oaxaca in Mexico , in the 20th century the range has expanded, it now extends to Kansas and Alabama. The Central American species is native to southern Mexico down to western Panama .

North American raccoons

racoon

In the fur trade, the old name for the raccoon : Schupp , plural shed , was retained until after the Second World War . As fur designation therefore circulates still occasionally shed fur or short scales .

Raccoon fur is an important trimming material in the tobacco industry, especially in times when fur fashion prefers long-haired skins . It is one of the most durable long hair pelts.

The furs sold as "Finnraccoon", "Russian", also "Chinese Raccoon" ("Russian" or "Chinese Raccoon") do not come from raccoons . They are fur from the raccoon dog , also known as "Tanuki" or, due to the greater similarity to the fox fur, as "Sea Fox". The use of the addition “Raccoon” for a completely different type of fur is likely to lead to confusion, only the name Raccoon always designates the raccoon.

The original range of the raccoon is the west and south of Canada over the USA to Mexico. Several small forms live on the islands off Mexico and Florida. In the 1920s, raccoons were also raised in Germany in addition to other fur animals. It turned out to be unprofitable. The pelts of these released or escaped animals are of lower hair quality than those from North America.

Coati

The fur of the coati , native to South America , was used in very small quantities for fur purposes. It is about 70 cm long, the tail 40 to 50 cm. The under hair is short and rough and shows a blue-gray shade. The awns are long and tight, very shiny and curled gray-brown-reddish. The tail is alternately ringed yellow and black-brown.

In 1939 it was said of the skins that they are suitable for fur, but were rarely found in the trade . They are then called “South American scales” (= raccoons) , although of course they are not actually scales.

Big bears

Bear fur or bear skin usually refers to the fur of the great bears.

Until before the First World War (1914 to 1918), many polar bear skins were imported via Denmark to the fur wholesale center in Leipziger Brühl in Germany, and Canadian brown bears were also traded on the Brühl. In 1940, a contemporary still remembered the large, deeply falling collars for the stately coachmen, but also the use of them as rugs : “In the boudoir, in front of the piano or in a corner of the master bedroom, you loved these monsters”, with one "Big, throat-tearing head."

Since then, the great bear skins have only occasionally used the fur of the baribal for clothing purposes. The bearskin is of little importance in terms of fur and the possible uses. For today's needs, the fur is too coarse and too thick in the hair, often too curled or shaggy and, moreover, too heavy. However, due to the decline in stocks and the protective measures introduced as a result, the incidence is now so low that no greater use is to be expected for this reason alone. Otherwise bearskins are almost only used as blankets, carpets and tapestries (partly naturalized, with elaborated heads). The hair is also made into brushes (brush bears).

British singer Elton John's fox coat, made from dyed furs of various fox species (mid-1980s)

Dogs (family)

foxes

Different noble fox species as pattern strips (2009)
Commons : Fox skins  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
Commons : Foxskin Clothing  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

The foxes belong to the animal species with the most different hair variations, both in color, hair length and hair structure.

The tobacco trade differentiates between noble foxes, the silver, cross, blue and white foxes, platinum foxes (mutation foxes) and the finest varieties of red foxes. And all other types of red fox, as long as they are not traded under their species name (Kitfuchs, Grisfuchs, Korsak, etc.).

Durability coefficient for noble foxes: 40 to 50%

In 2007 the world farm production of noble foxes was 7,054,500 skins (source: Oslo Fur Auctions) . Due to the decline in deliveries from China (2006: 8 million, 2009: 1.7 million furs), Finland has again been the leader in fox breeding since 2009 (delivery 1.7 million, including 1.2 million blue fox furs). However, in the absence of an exact record, the information from China is considered to be very unreliable. In 2012 around 350 thousand fox skins came from Poland.

Arctic fox fur

White fox or ice fox

The arctic fox or ice fox , also called arctic fox and stone fox , is divided zoologically into two colors, the blue fox and the white fox .

The white fox, the color variety of the ice or arctic fox lives in the entire northern polar zone. The retail trade seldom differentiates between the arctic fox fur and the white fox form of the blue fox, mostly the unequal fur types are offered as white foxes, even a Scandinavian auction house describes pure white blue foxes as white foxes. However, actual arctic fox pelts are relatively few in the trade.

  • The wild European populations of the arctic fox or arctic fox are strictly protected under the Federal Species Protection Ordinance.
Blue fox, dark variant

Blue fox

The arctic fox is divided zoologically into two colors, the blue fox and the white fox . For the fur of the fox traded as an arctic fox, also known as the ice fox, arctic fox or stone fox, see → Arctic fox fur .

The blue fox, a white fox color, is considered more valuable than the matted and smaller fur of the white fox. Almost white blue foxes with only a slight hint of a darker fur center are traded as shadow foxes ; pure white furs towards the end user, like that of the arctic fox, as a white fox.

In the technical language of the tobacco industry , the dark, bluish winter coats of all types of fur are referred to as blue , not just those of the “blue foxes”, in contrast to red , the rather lighter and therefore mostly less appreciated color variants of the same type of fur.

  • The wild European populations of the blue and arctic fox are strictly protected according to the Federal Species Protection Ordinance.
Corsican fur

Korsak (-Fox)

The home of the corsak fox (occasionally also Korsuk ), steppe fox or sand fox , formerly often also called Asiatic or Mongolian kit fox fur , are the steppes of Siberia, Central Asia from the Caspian Sea to Mongolia, Manchuria and Korea.

The steppe fox was already hunted in prehistoric epochs. In later times, nomadic peoples gave their tribute to the Mongols in the form of corsair skins.

Red fox skins

Red fox

Red foxes are found on all continents with the exception of Antarctica. The variety of races and the diversity of the skins is correspondingly large.

Cross fox skins

Cross fox

The cross fox , also known as the spotted fox , is a color variety of the red fox . A characteristic feature of the cross fox fur is the black or dark cross-like markings over the neck and shoulders, the back and sides are pale or brown-yellow, reddish or dark brown, often heavily silvered.

The fur trade counts the cross fox fur to the so-called noble fox fur , as well as the silver fox fur , the blue fox fur and the arctic fox fur .

The cross fox is widespread almost only in countries where there are also silver foxes, in Alaska , Canada , Eastern Siberia and Kamchatka ; other furs are now being bred. The incidence of wild fur was always small, if only because of the smaller occurrence compared to other fox species.

Silver fox skins

Silver fox

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”. Pure black skins were considered the most valuable at that time. 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. Today, the very long-haired, lighter-colored skins that have more silver are preferred. Legs, tail and muzzle should be as black as possible and form a strong contrast to the rest of the fur.

Platinum Fox Cape

Platinum fox

The platinum fox is one of the most striking color mutations of the silver and red fox. In the fur industry, it is one of the varieties known as noble foxes. With this first color mutation in fur farming, a development began that later continued in mink farming with many colors and shades on a large scale. Platinum foxes can show all colors of the Vulpes Vulpes color spectrum, but the feature here particularly relates to the white color markings that have the same scheme for all platinum foxes.

Golden Island fox collar

Golden Island fox

On February 1, 1982, 51 skins of the Golden Island fox "with an interesting silver-reddish effect" were offered for the first time as a new mutation color at a Copenhagen auction. The breed came from the Finn Eero Saarikettu. This breed of fox is a cross of two genetically not identical species. Here the blue foxes are paired with the male red fox. The result of breeding is a fox whose face resembles that of the blue fox. The ears are of medium size, the tip of the tail white; the back hair is dense as in the blue fox and almost as long and as silvery as in the red and silver fox. At the 1985/89 Hudson's Bay Company auction in London, farm skins fetched a top price of £ 575 each; the first skins were bought by Birger Christensen, Copenhagen. A similar color variant is the Arctic-Golden-Island-Fuchs, in which a male of a red fox is mated with the female of a shadow fox.

Bluefrost fox, colored

Bluefrost fox

Another color variant with the same genetics as the Golden Island fox is the bluefrost fox, which is bred from a blue fox and a silver fox. Here, too, a silver fox is the male and a blue fox is the female. The fur has the same average hair length, the fur a very blue-looking color with a light, even silver character. The tail has a white tip that is usually slightly rounded, similar to the blue fox.

Another variety is the platinum bluefrost fox , a bluefrost fox that, like the platinum fox, has white markings on its body. Here the male silver foxes are mated with female shadow foxes.

Further fox mutation colors that have been added in recent years

Fawn Light , with medium hair length; dark back and very light sides.
Various Arctic Marble fox skins
Arctic Marble , a new type of long hair; white with black awns interspersed, especially in the middle of the back.
Arctic Marble Frost , a variant of the Arctic Marble Fox with medium hair length, mostly bred by Saga. Unlike the Arctic Marble Fox, this one has very blue shimmering color markings.
Arctic Marble Blue
Arctic Marble Cross
Sun Glo , a color variant of the marble fox. White with a distinctive red-orange line on the back, individual hairs interspersed on the flanks, which cause the marble effect (marbled).
Arctic Golden Island , a new hybrid of Shadow Fox and Red Fox bred with medium hair length. White on the flanks, on the back from the nape of the neck to over the tail lies a slightly orange-looking, but nevertheless brown-gray dominant veil.
Red Amber , a silver fox whose hair pigments are not black, but cream-brown. This makes it look like a light brown silver fox.
Amber Frost , a brown-gray color variant of the frost fox. For this purpose, male amber foxes are mated with blue foxes. - The bluefrost fox is the better known color variant of the amber frost fox.
Golden Amber , a very deep, rich shade of brown. In 1958, the first breeding of pure brown foxes in various color nuances was reported by the large American fur farm Fromm Bros., Hamburg (Wisc.). They were sold under the collective name Golden Spectrum . A coat was shown at the Brussels World's Fair. This was followed by the golden amber color . In all of these hues, except the mole-colored, there is a striking contrast between the white and brown hair.
Red Platina , or Red Platinum, a platinum fox that is not gray-white, but orange-white.
Golden Island Shadow , a variant that, unlike the Golden Island Fox, has clear white markings on the face and neck. The legs and tail are very light to completely white.
Golden Island Shadow Fox Fur
Smokey

Over the years fox breeders have divided the mutation colors into four groups:

  • Recessive mutant ("not appearing" mutation)
Silver, Pearl, Burgundy, Amber, Fawn Glow, Sapphire, Pearl Amber and possibly Dawn Glow.
  • Dominant mutant
White face (white-faced), Georgian White, Platinum and Arctic Marble (red is also a dominant color, but not a mutation)
  • Combinations of recessive and dominant mutant (in the case of mixed occurrence, the dominant hereditary factor prevails over the recessive in the characteristic expression)
Smokey Red, Gold Fox, Dakota Gold, Autumn Gold, Platinum Red, Glacier, Red White Face, Sun Glow, Burgundy Marble and more
  • Fire types that are created by a combination of recessive colors and have a recessive gene for silver and a recessive gene for Colicott brown
Wild Fire, Fire & Ice, Snow Glow, Moon Glow and more
Kit or Swift fox fur

Kitfuchs and Swiftfuchs

The traditional in the fur industry as a Kit Fox traded furs come from two closely related North American species, the swift fox or steppe fox and the Kit Fox (formerly often Kittfuchs), and long-eared fox (not to be confused with the African Großohrfüchen ). Kit fox skins are similar to red foxes in many ways, the main difference being in size and color.

Also those in the auction catalogs of Hudson's Bay and Annings Ltd. The Mongolian kit foxes offered are not kit fox skins, but corsair fox skins .

The IUCN assesses the kit fox as not endangered (Least Concern), in Mexico as endangered (Vulnerable). The swift fox is not considered endangered.

Gris fox skins

Gris fox or gray fox

In the wholesale and retail trade, the fur of the North American gray fox or gris fox is usually offered as gris fox fur ; in the past, the term gray fox was often used for gray-colored foxes from other origins, in particular for South American foxes.

For the skins of the South American battle fox see → red fox fur , for skins of the North American kit fox and the swift fox see → kit fox fur .

Tibetan fox

The fur of the Tibetan fox is used to a small extent for fur purposes. It is ocher yellow with a white speckled back, the sides are pale rusty yellow, the tail gray. The sides of the neck are iron gray, mixed with white and black. The tip of the tail is white; the ears are short.

Due to its large distribution area and the current lack of serious threats, the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) classifies the Tibetan fox as "Least Concern".

Sea fox skins

Sea fox, tanuki, raccoon dog or enok

In the fur trade, raccoon dog fur has always been traded under many names, just not raccoon dog fur . The common names are actually sea ​​fox or tanuki . Not only to the tobacco products, the sale, but also in the wholesale and retail trade, which is Seefuchsfell continue because of his raccoon-like in parts of appearance with the misleading name Finnraccoon (from Finland), Russian Raccoon or Chinese Raccoon offered (raccoon = Engl. Raccoon). These names are based on the fact that the raccoon dog is also called raccoon dog .

Originally only native to eastern Siberia, northeastern China and Japan, the raccoon dog has now penetrated through expatriation in 1934 to the Ukraine as far as Finland and also to Germany (first raccoon dog shot in the Federal Republic of Germany in 1962). Due to the expatriations, the amount of fur had increased four to six times by 1986. The IUCN accordingly assesses the raccoon dog as not endangered (Least Concern).

Wild dog

Australian dingoes , a feral domestic dog breed, can be used for the production of fur, but they are usually of little value, in some states dingoes are protected. The color is often yellow-red, dark brown to black, sometimes piebald. The pelts are not found in the actual tobacco shop.

Domestic dog

Dog fur was also used in Central Europe until the beginning of the 20th century. Since 2009, like the fur of domestic cats , they have been subject to a trade and commercial import ban in the states of the European Union .

Asian pelts have always come to the world market almost exclusively, mostly from China, Mongolia and Korea . The products made from the skins, known in the tobacco shops as Chinese dogs, were offered as Gae Wolf pelts, previously also known as Sobaki, both Eastern names for dogs. Asiatic jackal was also one of the earlier names for pet fur that avoided the word dog.

Coyote (coyote)

The North American coyote (coyote), also known as the North American prairie wolf or steppe wolf, is the type of wolf and jackal mainly used for fur. Up until the 1970s, fur was mostly not differentiated from the actual wolf in retail; it was also offered as wolf fur. The Mexican word coyote, the common spelling in the fur trade, means something like mixed breed. It is native to much of North America from Alaska to Costa Rica, with the greatest population density in the south-central United States, including Texas. After the entry into force of the Washington Convention on the Protection of Species with its different levels of protection, a differentiation between coyotes and closely related wolves became necessary and important in trade (in the Federal Republic of Germany since June 20, 1976, in Austria since January 27, 1982).

jackal

Jackals include three wild dog species, the golden jackal, the black-backed jackal and the striped jackal. Jackal skins are usually only made into blankets because of their not quite as appealing hair structure, skins from mountainous areas are occasionally also used for trimmings and hats. As a rule, only the golden jackal's skins come on the market.

wolf

Terms are used such as gray wolf, the fur trade for the different varieties of the wolf skins Timber Wolf and White Wolf or Polar Wolf . Until the introduction of the Washington Convention on the Protection of Species, with its different levels of protection, no distinction was made in retail between wolf skins and skins of the closely related and probably more important coyote (in the Federal Republic of Germany since June 20, 1976, Austria January 27, 1982), clothing made from coyote fur was also traded as wolf's fur. At the time when wolves were very common in Central Europe and elsewhere, the skins were used as underlays in beds and for lining clothes. Now they are used for sporty clothing, for trimmings on fabric jackets, but also for jackets and coats as well as for fur blankets and carpets. In the national costumes, the Eskimos in particular use the fur as a trim, often as a hood lining.

Skunks

Skunk (skunk)

The coat of the American skunk or the Skunks belong to the 1940s to the essential materials of the fur fashion. Skunk fur has been on the market in Germany since around 1860.

The trade differentiates between strip skunks or Canada skunks, the spot skunks and the Zorrino or South American skunks, which belong to the piglet kunks. The skunks inhabit the American continent from the north to the extreme south in different species.

The fur is usually also referred to in the singular as the skunks (the skunks, sometimes also the "skunks fur").

Marten-like

Charsamard skins, the lower one colored

Charsa (marten)

Commons : Charsa (marten) felle  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

The Charsa or Buntmarder , which is widespread in Eastern Asia, has a particularly pretty coat. The front part of the back is colored light golden yellow, towards the tail the color gradually darkens. Head, legs, neck and tail are black-brown, the underside of the neck is whitish with a golden yellow throat spot. The sides of the fur are yellowish-brown, the undercoat is woolly, the hair is medium-length, fine and shiny, soft and dense; southern qualities are somewhat flat. The fur length is 60 to 70 cm, and the tail is 45 cm.

The fur has always only been traded in small numbers, in 1925 the value was 10 to 20 marks. The Charsamarder is under protection in the Soviet Union, although 200 skins were once offered there in 1987. The fur comes in very small numbers mainly from China under the name Huang yao , exact numbers were not known in 1988.

Badger

As roof skins , the skins of a plurality of designated part zoological not closer related species. The fur of the silver badger , also known as the American badger or prairie badger , is sold in tobacco shops and processed into furs by furriers. This is hardly true of the European badger and the other tradition, which because of their coarser and less dense hair for fur purposes are usually regarded today as unsuitable. Honey badger skins are rarely offered.

Sun canopy see below

Spruce marten (American "sable")

The fur of the spruce sable is usually traded in tobacco shops as "American sable" or "Canadian sable". The structure of the fur is similar to the sable, the spruce marten also belongs to the genus of the real marten, but it is more like the European pine marten in shape, color and way of life. Because of its similarity to the valued Russian sable, fur is one of the most sought-after types of fur. The spruce marten lives in wooded areas of Newfoundland, Canada and Alaska, and also in the western United States south to New Mexico and the Sierra Nevada.

Fishing marten, “Virginian polecat” or pecan

The fishing marten, also called pecan, is a North American, forest-dwelling predatory animal from the genus of the real marten. The fisherman's marten skin has always been sold as a Virginian polecat, although it is neither a polecat nor does it occur in Virginia. The term fisher for fur, which is now also in use in German trade, comes from the Indians, who said that the animal would rob the fish traps without getting into them. He is a typical forest dweller, his home extends from the northern area of ​​the Cassiar Mountains to the Great Slave Lake and the south shore of Hudson Bay, as well as from Labrador to the Anticosti Peninsula. He also lives in the Rocky Mountains to the Great Salt Lake, as well as in South and North Dakota, Indiana and Kentucky. The fur is one of the more durable and higher quality furs, at times it was particularly in demand as a collar trim on men's coats.

Grison

The large grison has a head body length of 47.5 to 55 centimeters, the tail is about 16 centimeters long. His homeland ranges from southern Mexico to Peru and Brazil. The fur is dark to light gray, the back is a little lighter. The head and neck are yellowish.

The small rison is 40 to 45 centimeters long, and the tail 15 to 19 centimeters. The body is slim with short legs. The back is yellowish-brown, the lower part of the face below the forehead, the lower part of the neck and the belly are colored black. Between these two areas, a light line runs along the head and neck down to the shoulders. The color is similar to that of large grison, slightly more brownish in the back. It lives from Central America to Patagonia at an altitude of over 1000 meters.

The fur of the small rison did not appear in the fur trade until 1925, the large grison is not even mentioned as a commercial article. At the beginning of the 20th century, the tobacco merchant Brass had received around 30 small rison furs and thought that they could make a very valuable piece of fur, which at its time would be worth around 20 marks each. In 1988 a specialist book noted, “Felle only little in the trade”.

Ermine, weasel (mouse weasel), long-tailed weasel

Ermine fur has been used since the earliest Middle Ages as part of clothing reserved for the knightly class and doctors. 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) .

Polecats

In earlier times, the polecat skin was supposedly only used by the “most common” people, but old paintings seem to refute this. The polecat, known as stink marten, “stinker”, “ratz”, was often afflicted with an unpleasant odor. “Like the polecat, they stink badly and strongly”, it says in an old hunting book. Today's dressing has succeeded in completely eliminating this smell from the fur.

The fur trade uses the fur of the European polecat, steppe ilti and tiger ilti. The ferret has a certain meaning only in the wild form of New Zealand, it resembles the European polecat. In addition, the trade knows the Virginian polecat fur, the fur of the American spruce marten not treated here. The skunk-like zorilla or bandiltis is a species of predator from the marten family that lives in Africa. The North American black-footed polecat, which has always been quite rare and only occurs in very small numbers, is completely protected; skins of this type were not previously recorded by trade.

European polecat

The black polecat, European polecat, forest iltis or land iltis is distributed all over Europe, with the exception of Ireland, northern Scandinavia and Russia. The species was introduced in New Zealand. The best Landiltis skins come or came from Eastern Europe, as well as from Northern Germany, Bavaria, Austria (Styria), Switzerland, Holland and Denmark.

The white or steppe iltis

The fur of the steppe polecat or Eversmann polecat is sold as Russian or white polecat. The steppe iltis inhabits large parts of Asia. The homeland of the steppe ice cream extends from the northern Urals through Siberia to the Amur, south through Manchuria to the upper reaches of the Yangtze and west over the Himalayas, Kashmir and the Altai valley to the Caspian Sea. The best, silky, almost white skins come from Siberia.

Bandiltis or Zorilla

Bandiltis or Zorilla

The skunk-like band Iltis or Zorilla, sometimes called Kapskunk or Kapiltis is a living in Africa carnivore species also from the marten family. In 1895 the names "Civette" or "Civetkatze", English "Civit cats", were used for the bandiltis skins, but it was already correctly noted that the name is only correct for the civet cat skins.

Like the Skunk, it has a stink gland. The fur is long-haired, glossy black with ribbon-like stripes like the Skunk's fur . Unlike the North American Skunk, it has four (unclear, always?) Instead of two continuous longitudinal stripes in the back. The head body length is 28.5 to 38.5 centimeters, the predominantly white, long and bushy tail 20.5 to 31 centimeters. It is widespread from Senegal, Sudan and Abyssinia to South Africa (Cape Country).

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists the bandits in the Red List of Endangered Species as "Least Concern".

The few pelts that arise are usually made into blankets. As early as 1895 it was said that the fur only comes on the market in small batches, but that it is a “valuable fur for men and women”.

The Perwitzky (skin name) or Tigeriltis

The distribution of the Tiger Tilt extends over southeast Europe and Poland and the countries on the coasts of the Caspian and Black Sea to Mongolia and northern China, i.e. over Asia Minor, Kazakhstan, Iran, Afghanistan, Turkmenia and Tajikistan. As a Perwitzky in the tobacco shop, he would be more aptly referred to as "Fleckeniltis" or "Pantheriltis" instead of a Tigeriltis because of its spots. The fur has no tiger stripes, but is rather spotted like a leopard.

Kolinsky or Kolonok, Feuerwiesel and Altaiwiesel

As Kolinskyfell skins are of Kolinsky (Kolinski) or Kolonok and Solongoi or Altai Wiesel designated. Since April 15, 1967, according to the RAL regulations, in addition to Kolinsky, only the names Chinese weasel and Japanese weasel are permitted.

Pine marten fur on the left, stone marten fur on the right
(the pine marten's throat patch is more reddish than the color-changed photo shows)

Real martens

The fur trade means with marten fur primarily the fur of the pine marten, also known as the noble marten, as well as that of the stone marten, two animals from the genus of the real marten. He follows the colloquial language, in fact both types of fur are traded under their generic names. As the name suggests, the silky noble marten fur is regarded as particularly noble and valuable, the coarser and less dense stone marten fur is rated lower. Other, more or less common names, such as gold or yellow throats or gold neck, in Russian "soft silky marten", indicate the different hairs.

The main distinguishing features of the two martens are the silky, finer hair of the pine marten, its darker, richer color, the hairless paws of the stone marten and the throat patches that differ in shape and color. The latter, however, are not an absolutely certain characteristic of one species or the other; they vary too much for both martens.

The occurrence of tree marten and stone marten is largely the same, the pine marten lives a little less south, but more north than the stone marten. Most of the Russian marten pelts come from northern Russia, followed by the Caucasus and the Urals, while the stone marten are mainly found in the Caucasus and are otherwise still found in large numbers in Central Asia.

Tree or noble marten

Except in Europe, pine marten are widespread as forest dwellers from the White Sea to the Caucasus and east to the Ob and Irtysh, also in Asia Minor and Iran. The limit of their northern occurrence is about 40 degrees north latitude.

Beech marten

The distribution area of ​​the stone marten largely corresponds to that of the pine marten. It occurs a little less north, but more south than the pine marten, especially in the warmer countries of the Mediterranean and Asia Minor. It does not exist in England and Ireland, not even in Scandinavia, the Balearic Islands, Corsica, Sardinia and Sicily. In Asia it only inhabits certain areas, including the Crimea, the Altai Mountains and in the Caucasus mainly the Don and Volga lower reaches, northern India, Mongolia, Manchuria and Tibet.

Scandinavian mink colors (2008)

Mink, mink

The fur of the descendants of the American mink is now traded as mink fur in the tobacco trade ; the descendants of the European mink are strictly protected by the Federal Species Protection Ordinance. Animals taken from nature may no longer be imported for trade. Wildner pelts traded in Germany continue to come from North America, although the mink has also been naturalized in Europe, especially in Eastern Europe.

otter

Otter pelts are considered to be the most durable of the furs, and they are at the top of the shelf life tables for furs. They are differentiated in the tobacco trade according to their origin. Originally at home all over the world, the otter has now become rare in most areas. Except in the polar regions, it is only absent in Australia and Polynesia. The trade has almost completely come to a standstill, essentially only North American otter skins are left in trade, most of the traditions are subject to the trade restrictions or absolute trade bans of the Washington Convention.

Sea otter fur

Sea otters

In addition to the ariranhas, the largest of the river otters, the sea otters also stand out as sea creatures and because of their special size from the other varieties. The sea otter fur was once one of the most valuable types of fur, it was considered to have an almost unlimited shelf life (which can only be seen in relative terms, however, after a few decades the pelts disintegrate through natural aging in the leather, like all other types of fur. If you want to keep them, they will applied to a textile substrate). In the past, due to their rarity, Chinese sea otter skirts (mandarin fur) up to 100 years old were often offered at the London tobacco auctions. They were still good in the hair, only the leather threatened to crumble when wet.

Pahmi or sun canopy

Pahmi is the trade name for the skin of the sun badger, usually only the skin of the Chinese sun badger is traded.

There are four to five types of sun canopy, see the main article sun canopy . Their distribution area extends from eastern India and central China over the Malay Peninsula to Borneo and Bali. The pahmis or sun badgers are slimmer than the badger, more like the marten. The legs are relatively short. The animals reach a head body length of 33 to 43 centimeters, in addition there is the bushy tail with 15 to 23 centimeters. A special feature is the badger-like face mask, which is made up of black and white or yellowish patterns and is continued by light central stripes across the brown back.

Little panda

The little panda , also known as the red panda , cat bear , bear cat , fire fox or gold dog , is native to the eastern Himalayas and southwestern China. Since 2008, the little panda on is the Red List of Threatened Species of the World Conservation Union as "vulnerable" ( English vulnerable ) out. It is estimated that fewer than 10,000 adult specimens live in the wild.

Small pandas are about 70 to 80 centimeters long, the tail about 55 to 60 centimeters. They resemble raccoons in shape, but are slimmer. Their fur is long and soft, on the top reddish-brown to copper-red, sometimes with a tinge of yellowish, on the underside it is shiny black. The face can be colored individually, it is mainly reddish brown with white tear streaks, the muzzle is short and the nasal mirror naked and pitch black, the paws are black. The head is rounded, the ears are medium-sized and tapered. The tail is bushy, ringed six times indistinctly, alternating yellowish-red and ocher.

In the Chinese distribution area, the fur of the animals is traditionally worn by the groom at weddings; it is also used for other local cultural ceremonies. The tail is used to make hats, brushes and feather dusters.

In 1952, the tobacco shop Richard König gave a lecture on the little panda, but incorrectly mentions the even rarer bamboo bear ( giant panda ) as a second name , although nothing worth mentioning is known about its international fur usage. At the time, he said about the skins of the little panda that they are relatively rare in the trade, that you have to collect for a long time to bring beautiful skins together, but then they are already something extravagant.

Tayra or Hyrare

The predator species the Tayra or Hyrare , which lived in southern Mexico as far as Paraguay and northern Argentina, was hardly ever in trade. Tayras are reminiscent of weasels in their physique , but they are significantly larger. The trunk is elongated and slender, the limbs are relatively short. The short and dense fur is dark brown; the head is somewhat lighter than the rest of the body, and there is usually a yellow or white spot on the throat. There is also a light morph, with this the fur is grayish in color and the head is darker. The tail is long and bushy. These animals reach a head body length of 56 to 68 centimeters, to which a tail length of 38 to 47 centimeters comes.

  • Protection status:
Eira barbara , protected under the Washington Convention, Appendix III; according to the EC regulation 750/2013 Appendix C (trade only with export license or certificate of origin).
Detailed protection data: first listing since October 22, 1987.
Left Siberian wolverine, right from Alaska

wolverine

Wolverine skins are sold in the world tobacco shop and processed into furs by furriers. Wolverines are protected in the Federal Republic of Germany according to the Federal Species Protection Ordinance, and skins from other origins may not be imported for trade. Because the name "wolverine" seems unsuitable, the animal was often given its Scandinavian name Järv or called "bear marten" because of its bear-like shape. In English the animal is called Wolverine (erroneously suggesting a relationship to the wolf) or Glutton. [1] The durability coefficient for wolverine fur is one of the highest among the fur types, it is given as 90 to 100 percent. [Note 1] [2] When the fur types are divided into the hair fineness classes silky, fine, medium-fine, coarse and hard, the wolverine hair becomes classified as coarser

Barguzin sable

sable

Sable fur has been traded as a treasure for over a thousand years . Just as the development of the American continent was largely due to the desire for beaver fur, which was valued at the time for making hat felts, so Siberia was conquered through the hunt for sable and other fur-bearing animals for clothing purposes. Particularly beautiful sable skins had to be delivered as tribute to the Russian crown by the local residents. For centuries, these crown sables were a popular gift from the tsars to foreign dignitaries. Even today, the sable is the most highly rated fur.

Feline

Cat skins can usually be recognized by the comb-like protruding grunt (the middle of the coat) by bending the coat across the direction of the hair.

Domestic cats

Domestic cat

Until after World War II, pelts made from domestic cat skins were relatively common. Until the First World War, in addition to being used for rheumatic diseases (see also body warmers), cat skins were almost exclusively used for inner lining in so-called “furs”; it was only later that they were used to a greater extent for women's outer furs. In 1970 it was said: "In contrast to the dogs, our cats, the Pussis and Peters and whatever their names are, are quite respected fur animals."

In 2002, the German fur trade associations signed a voluntary declaration of renunciation of trade in dog fur and domestic cat fur for their members (together with the world umbrella organization IFTF - International Fur Federation ), taking into account the discussion that had arisen in Western countries . Regulation (EC) No. 1523/2007 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 December 2007 regulates the placing on the market, import and export of cat and dog fur and products containing such fur into and out of the Community forbidden; Exceptions are imports without a commercial character. The ordinance came into force on December 31, 2008 with immediate effect; The implementation in Germany is regulated by the Animal Products Trade Prohibition Act with powers to intervene for police authorities and threats of fines.

Small cats ("leopard cat"), wild

Since many species of small cats are threatened with extinction, all cats were included in Appendix I or II of the Washington Convention on Endangered Species (with the exception of the domestic cat).

In the fur industry, small cats are often grouped under the term leopard cat because of their fur pattern , which zoologically only the Bengal cat is entitled to. The term tiger cat is also misleading from the point of view of the coat markings, because the skins usually do not have tiger- like stripes but rather spots, see southern tiger cat and northern tiger cat .

The hairs of all types are evenly distributed. The hair is finer to coarser, sometimes hard, brittle, mostly shiny. They are single-colored and multicolored piebald.

Wildcats, Asia

Bengal cat

With the considerable confusion that prevailed in the classification of small cats, some geographic breeds have been given special names. The fur name of the Bengal cat is usually leopard cat, also Chinese wild cat. Further zoological or fur names are jewelry cat, dwarf tiger cat, Chinese cat, Chinese tiger cat, small spotted wild cat.

Occurrence: Southeast Asia , in the Amur region , Korea and China as far as India's front and rear . In the Greater Sunda Islands , Hainan , Formosa ( Taiwan ) and the Philippines .

Due to the occurrence in different areas - some subspecies are distinguished - the color and density of the coat vary considerably. The color ranges from pale yellow to gray-yellow with red and brown to black spots, some of which are arranged in longitudinal rows. The chin and throat are whitish, there is a white spot on the ears. The front paws are webbed. The length of the head body shows considerable differences in size between northern and southern subspecies, it is 36 to 85 centimeters, the tail length 15 to 44 centimeters.

Borneo golden cat

Occurrence: Borneo . The very rare Borneo golden cat , also Borneo cat , is a dwarf island shape, it is closely related to the Temminck cat .

There are two color variants, a more common reddish-brown and a dark gray, sometimes almost black. There is no pattern except for a black stripe on the cheek. The belly side is lighter, as is the underside of the tail. Borneo golden cats reach a head body length of 53 to 70 centimeters, a tail length of 32 to 39 centimeters.

Fish cat

Also spotted cat or pike cat.

Occurrence: South of the Himalayas from Nepal to Assam , rear India , including Tanintharyi Division , Thailand , Ceylon , Sumatra , Jawa Barat (West Java) and Middle Java .

The coat of the fish cat is shaggy and without shine, earth gray, brownish on the back, the dewlap is a little lighter. The trunk is covered with black spots of different sizes, has darker stripes over the shoulders and in the neck, which merge into elongated spots on the sides and legs. The relatively short tail has several rings. The length of the head body ranges from 57 to 78 centimeters, making it about twice as large as that of the house cat . The head is long and narrow. The fish cat has less webbed feet than the bengal cat. Their tail is relatively short at 20 to 30 centimeters.

Gobi cat

Also gray cat.

Occurrence: Northwest China Border .

The Gobi cat has long, thick hair, the tail is also densely hairy with four or five black rings and a black tail tip. The fur color is brown-yellow, the underside of the belly is lighter. There is a pale red-brown area of ​​fur under the ears. The body is very compact, the legs are relatively short. The undersides of the paws are very hairy. The trunk is about 80 centimeters long, the tail 35 centimeters.

Manul
Manul

Also manul cat, pallas cat.

Occurrence: From Transcaucasia and northern Iran via Afghanistan , Kazakhstan , Uzbekistan , Turkmenistan , Tajikistan , Kyrgyzstan , northern Pakistan , Ladakh , Tibet and Xinjiang to southern Siberia and Mongolia (often), the eastern borders of the settlement are not known .

The manul has a different color and markings from all cats, it is not like any other species. The hair color is brown to grayish, sometimes reddish, the underside is lighter. A reddish and a gray color phase are distinguished. The dewlap and the paws are orange. It has some black horizontal stripes that are not always easy to see in thick hair. The ringed tail is black on the top and brown on the underside. The head body length is 50 to 65 centimeters, the tail length 21 to 31 centimeters.

Marble cat

Also Marmelkatze.

Occurrence: mountain forests in the back of India from Sikkim , Bhutan , Assam , Burma , Thailand , Malacca to Sumatra and Borneo .

The coat of the marble cat is similar to the clouded leopard fur . It varies from lively ocher brown to gray brown, the ventral side from light to dark gray. The coat pattern has ozelotähnliche on dots whose inner surface is as bright when Ozelot. The ears have a white spot. The marble cat is slightly larger than the house cat, the head body length is about 45 to 62 centimeters, in addition there is a 36 to 55 centimeter long, bushy tail.

Rust cat

Occurrence: South India and the Middle East , Ceylon .

The color of the rust cat is dirty gray to brownish, it got its name from the rust-brown patches of fur. It looks very similar to the Bengal cat, but its spots are less clear and make a more blurred impression. The spots are arranged in longitudinal rows on the flanks, some of them also distributed over the whole body. The head body length is 35 to 48 centimeters, the tail length 15 to 30 centimeters, making it one of the smallest wild cats.

Asiatic golden cat

Also Temminck cat, Indian golden cat.

Occurrence: Tibet , Nepal , Sikkim , Assam , back India , Malay Peninsula , South China , Sumatra .

The hair of the Asiatic golden cat is long and dense, sometimes reddish or slate gray, generally without spots, only occasionally with small black spots on the always darker back. In some regions, Asian golden cats have more or less visible spots or stripes. There are two black stripes on the cheeks that reach over the eyes, each bordered by a white stripe. The ears are black behind with a central gray spot. The Asian golden cat is more than twice as big as the house cat, its head body length is 66 to 105 centimeters, the tail is about 40 to 57 centimeters long.

Indian steppe cat
Asiatic wild cat

Also steppe cat, desert cat.

The fur of the Asiatic wildcat is occasionally sold as a lynx cat .

Occurrence: Trans Caspia ( Turkestan , up to the Gobi ), East Persia, Afghanistan , northern India ( Punjab , Rajasthan up to Naypur ). Occasionally west of the lower Volga (south of the Astrakhan area ). The exact limits are unknown. The limit of distribution between the European wildcat and the Asian wildcat is formed by the Caucasus.

The hair of the Asiatic wildcat is gray-yellow to brown, the dewlap is light gray or white. It differs from the similar African wildcat in its dotted rather than striped fur pattern. The different sized, round black spots are spread over the whole body. The very long tail has a black tip; the undersides of the paws are black. The hair of the steppe cat is shorter than that of the forest wildcat, but varies depending on its individual age and season. The guard hair is 51 millimeters long in summer, the wool hair with a length of 35 millimeters is about 20 millimeters shorter than that of the wild cat. Similar to the lynx, it has a small, fine brush on the tips of the ears.

Wildcats, Africa

The skins, known as the African tiger cats, were rarely on the market, they were mostly consumed in the countries themselves.

African golden cats
African golden cat

Occurrence: Guinea , Sierra Leone , Madingoland (= Kenya , from the Atlantic Ocean to Lake Chad ), Liberia , Gold Coast , Cameroon , Congo to the Ituri rainforest . More details about the living area of ​​the African golden cat, which is native to the African rainforest , are not known.

The basic color of the fur is very different, from chestnut brown, fox red, fawn brown, gray brown, silver gray, deep slate gray to black, the most common are red gold and silver gray. The pattern is a little darker and blurred. The inside of the legs, abdomen, cheeks, and chin are white, and the throat and underside are lightly stained. On the top and bottom of the body there are dark brown to black spots, the tail is often clearly curled. The cheeks have two blackish stripes, the face has black spots above the eyes. It is not uncommon for black specimens to appear. Compared to the serval and caracal , the tail is relatively long, the ears smaller and round. The head body length is 65 to 90 centimeters, the tail length 30 to 45 centimeters, males are larger than females.

The hair is either short, close-fitting and almost coarse or quite long, loose and soft. The undercoat is dense and fine, usually it is completely covered by the upper hair. The base of the awns and the undercoat are light to white, only the tips are dark. The guard hairs are 16 to 23 millimeters in length, the undercoat from 10 to 16 millimeters.

Serval

Also African bush cat, serval cat, sometimes Abyssinian mountain cat. The skins of the Asian civet cat , the gorse cat and the fish cat were also wrongly traded as servals and servals . They were also wrongly marketed as African tiger cats. The serval gorse cat is a separate species from the family of crawling cats , the skins are shown here, but they are not described here.

Occurrence: Steppe areas in West Africa , South Africa and East Africa as well as in Algeria .

The basic color of the serval is very variable. Skins from dry steppe areas have a lighter color with large spots, from more humid forest areas a dark base color with small, point-like spots, which are even strongly reduced in places (for example the subspecies liposticta ). On the back, the brown to black-brown spots converge to form a wide strip. There are also black spots. The body is slim. The head body length is 70 to 100 centimeters, the tail length 35 to 40 centimeters. The legs are very long; no other species in the cat family has longer legs. The head is small, the ears are large and round.

The serval skin is a bit rough and dry. It is considered less valuable. The number of skins traded supraregionally was low, also because they are an attribute of the chief's dignity in East Africa.

Black-footed cat
Black-footed cat

Also Karrookatze.

Occurrence: Only known from the Kalahari , Bechuanaland and Karoo .

The contrasting coloration of the black-footed cat varies between sand-colored, dark ocher yellow to brown-red, in winter paler and grayer. The belly is light gray to white. The drawing consists of pale, brown to deep black spots arranged in longitudinal rows. The name black-footed cat is a bit misleading, because only the soles of the feet with hair pads are black along their entire length. The tail is thin, tapering to a point with transverse rings and a black tip. The black-footed cat is one of the smallest wild cat species in the world. Males grow from head to trunk about 37 to 50 centimeters with a 15 to 20 centimeter long tail; females are smaller, their head body length is 34 to 37 centimeters, the tail 15 to 20 centimeters.

The fur of this very rare animal cannot be used for fur farming.

Wildcats, Central and South America

Of all the cat species, South American coats were in demand, especially those with an ocelot-like pattern. A distinction was made between a brown variety with medium-length hair and a blue, flatter, particularly well-marked variety.

At the fur market in Buenos Aires , the following origins were differentiated with regard to the Argentine fur market:

a) Patagonia : very large, the best variety
b) Buenos Aires : good in quality
c) Province of Mendoza : small variety
San Luis , San Juan , Cordoba , Northern Territories.
Chilean forest cat

Also Kodkod or night cat.

Occurrence: Forests of central and southern Chile and the adjacent part of Argentina . Also on the islands off the Chilean coast, for example Chiloé .

The color of the Chilean Forest Cat is gray to beige in color , with small black dots and spots. The back of the ears is black with a noticeable white spot. Pure blacklings are more common in this species, in Chiloé and on the Islas Guaitecas blacklings are the main form. Compared to the closely related small spotted cat, it has a significantly narrower face. The Chilean forest cat is - next to the African black-footed cat - one of the smallest of all wild cat species, it has a head body length of 40 to 50 centimeters. The tail is rather bushy and about 20 to 25 centimeters long.

Mountain cat, Andean cat

Also mountain cat.

Occurrence: In the high Andes from the south of Peru over the southwest of Bolivia , in the northeast of Chile and in the north of Argentina .

The fur of the mountain cat is thick and long-haired, the color silver-gray, on the back ash-gray. The drawing shows irregularly distributed ocher-brown to orange-yellow spots. The tail is very long with wide rings. The Andean cat is about the size of a large house cat, with a head body length of 70 to 75 centimeters and a tail length of about 43 centimeters. It is very similar to the Pampas cat that lives in the same region.

Spotted cats, left Chaco, right Mendoza
Little spotted cat

Also bush cat, geoffroy cat (geoffrey cat), salt cat, chaco cat, mendoza cat.

Occurrence: In South America in the northern Chaco ( Bolivia , Paraguay ), Argentina to Tierra del Fuego .

The head body length of the small spotted cat or salt cat is 45 to 70 centimeters, the tail length 26 to 35 centimeters. Pelts from the southern, colder areas are larger than those from the north of the range. The coat is different, similar to the ocelot and the ocelot cat: very long and fine; silver-gray, covered with small, irregularly distributed black spots and elongated stripes on the neck. In the more northern subspecies, rosettes are often found in the shoulder area. On the head, rows of black spots merge into stripes. The basic shade of the northern forms is ocher, to the south it changes from gray to silver-gray in the small spotted cats of Patagonia. The tail is cross-banded. There are black spots. In terms of size, the small spotted cat corresponds to a large male house cat. The head body length is 60 centimeters, plus 30 centimeters of tail.

Peludo, left Colombia, right Brazil
Long-tailed cat, peludo

Also tree ocelot, small ocelot, margay, tiger cat (wrongly). The skins of the long-tailed cat were sold as peludos, also as mountain goatelot.

Occurrence: Mexico to Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil) and northern Paraguay , but mainly in Brazil . The exact limits of the occurrence are not known.

The skins are very similar to the larger ocelot, including that of the smaller ocelot cats . A clear distinguishing feature is the one neck vertebra in contrast to the ocelot with two vertebrae. As a rule, the hair is less tightly attached than in the ocelot.

They reach a head body length of 46 to 79 centimeters, the tail is between 33 and 51 centimeters long. The dark patches of the young only get the light inner courtyards characteristic of old animals later. The basic color is light to sandock-colored, very bright, more gray in northern forms. The middle of the fur shows blackish to black ring spots in the longitudinal direction, the underside with black spots in a horizontal pattern. The abdomen, chin and throat, and the inside of the legs are white. The elongated spots on the sides of the body can merge into longitudinal bands.

The coat quality is similar to that of the ocelot.

ocelot

The fur fashion became interested in the ocelot fur very late, not only among the small cat species one of the most attractive furs. In the 1920s it was hardly noticed. In the beginning it only served its purpose as a car cover, it was already said in 1934 that it worked alone as well as in combination such as beaver, nutria or fox and raccoon and now forms the longing of women as the most beautiful piece of clothing. Until the time after the Second World War, ocelot was so popular for women's clothing that there was a risk of extinction. Today the ocelot is strictly protected.

Tiger cats, left type Mato Grosso , right Ceara
Ocelot cat, tiger cat

Also Ceara, Tigrillo, Oncilla. A distinction is made between southern and northern tiger cats .

Occurrence: Forests from Costa Rica to Peru and southeast Brazil .

The basic color of the ocelot or tiger cats is light to sattocker colored, very bright. The top is patterned lengthways, consisting of blackish or black ring spots. The underside is lighter with black spots in a horizontal pattern. Black specimens are more common. They are slightly larger than a house cat, but one of the smallest South American cats, the head body length is 40 to 50 centimeters, the tail is 30 to 40 centimeters long.

They can be easily distinguished from the skins of the long-tailed cat and the ocelot in that they have no vertebrae in the neck.

Pampas cat, Colocolo

The new name of the Pampas cat is Colocolo. Other names are straw cat, mountain cat, Bergozelot, pajonal cat.

Occurrence: Peru , Bolivia , Chile , Argentina (up to the Strait of Magellan ). Declining everywhere.

The hair of the Colocolo is tight, without shine. On the backbone, the hair is longer and forms a mane. The basic color is light gray (silver-gray), it changes depending on the area of ​​distribution to light yellowish-white, sometimes dark brown, gray-brown or gray-yellow. The tail is thick and bushy hairy with reddish brown rings. Sometimes the fur has stippling distributed over the whole body, sometimes only on the sides or underside. The pampas cat has a head body length of about 70 centimeters and a tail length of about 30 centimeters.

Jaguarundi

Occurrence: Texas to Paraguay and northern Argentina .

The fur of the jaguarundi or the weasel cat is short-haired; the coloration is dark red, dark and gray brown (Jaguarundi) and fox red (Eyra). The Mexican species is slightly lighter in color. The markings of other cats are in the Jaguarundi in each hair, which is divided into ring zones of changing colors (banded). The young animals have spots at birth that disappear over time. Both color phases can be found next to each other in the same litter. The animal is slender, the head body length is about 50 to 60 centimeters, the tail is about 50 centimeters long.

Only a few skins came on the market.

Wildcats, distributed over several continents

Black cat

Also African wildcat, boot lynx.

Occurrence: In Europe on Sardinia , Sicily , Crete and on the Balearic Islands . In Africa in Algeria to the Cape , except in full deserts and rain forests.

According to the large area of ​​distribution, the basic color varies very strongly. The color tones that give the "Falf" cat its name range from pale light cream to light sand yellow. The ventral side is lighter. The spotting is like that of the Asiatic wildcat , sometimes it also has a stripe pattern, but very faded, so that the pattern is sometimes not visible on the fur. The midline of the back is significantly darker. The length from head to the base of the tail is about 50 cm, the tail length 25 cm. In contrast to the European wildcat, the stripe pattern is less clear.

Cane cats, right with leopard print
Pipe cat

Also swamp curse, swamp cat, jungle cat, Chaus. Was partly in the fur trade as "Samacha".

Occurrence: In Africa on the lower Nile . In Asia in the Near East , Transcaucasia , Turkmenia to India , Burma , Siam , Ceylon .

According to H ALTENORTH , the tube cat differs externally from the wildcats in the narrower sense of the word in that it is more significant, taller legs, a relatively shorter tail and around four to eight black rings on the tail, open on the underside, and a black tail tip. The hair of the pipe or jungle cat is yellowish-brown, sometimes grayish. Except for the legs and the rings on the tail, she has no stains. The light brown children's fur is more similar to the wild cats, it is drawn with contrasting black stripes and spots until it fades so far that the drawing in the adult animal is only clearly visible on the extremities. In India and Pakistan there are sometimes very black animals. At the end of the ears there are black tufts of hair that are reminiscent of a lynx, hence the name swamp curse. The body size of tube cats in the west and east of their range varies considerably.

The upper hair is long, relatively hard and not very dense. The undercoat is soft and dense. There are around 4000 hairs on a square centimeter of the back in winter fur, and only 1700 hairs on the stomach. For every guard hair there are 12 wool hairs on the back and 4 to 5 wool hairs on the stomach. The guard hair on the back is up to 60 millimeters long, on the belly 50 millimeters, the wool hair 30 or 20 millimeters. The hair is changed twice a year, in Transcaucasia, for example, from February to mid-April and September to early November.

Sand cat
Sand cat

Also Sahara cat, desert cat.

Occurrence: In Africa in the Sahara. In Asia in the Arabian desert.

According to its name, the sand cat has sand-yellow hair with a gray veil. The yellow to gray-brown markings are very weak, almost blurred, somewhat stronger on the head, legs and thighs. The throat and chest are white. The underside of the tail, which is ringed two or three times dark brown to black, is lighter, the tip of the tail black. A reddish-orange stripe runs from the eyes over the cheeks. The front legs are banded slightly dark brown to black at the base, the paws are covered with thick, wiry and matted black tufts of hair. The body hair is of medium length. With a head body length of 45 to 55 centimeters, the sand cat is significantly smaller than the falcon cat or the house cat. The tail length is 30 to 35 centimeters.

Wild cat

Forest wildcat too. The fur of the Russian forest cat was sold as a wooden cat.

Occurrence:

In Europe: Atlantic to Caucasus , Scotland , Corsica , Germany, Russia .
In Asia: In the transition from Russia to Central Asia to the Gobi Desert , Iran , Afghanistan , Balochistan , West Pakistan , Northwest to Central India , here transition to the steppe wildcat.

Forest wildcats and steppe wildcats can be distinguished by their color. Forest wildcats are gray with black-brown to black patterns. The ventral side is yellowish to lightly loose with spots that sometimes combine to form horizontal stripes. Characteristic for all forms of the wild cat are striped patterns on the top of the head and the curling of the tail as well as a lighter underside of the body. There is a narrow, clear eel line on the back. Faint dark longitudinal stripes emanate from the back and the flanks. The rounded tip of the tail is black.

The characteristic of the steppe wildcats is that instead of the tiger-like pattern of the forest wildcat, they have dark spots irregularly distributed over the body. The basic color of forest wildcats is white-gray, cream, sand-colored to straw-yellow, yellow-red or gray-brown on the upper side of the body. The underside is lighter with spots in transverse rows. According to the large distribution area, both subspecies vary considerably. Sometimes the pattern is blurred, sometimes the banding is more prominent. Black colorations are known from different areas of the distribution area.

lynx

Lynx skins are usually not traded under the species name, but only as lynx, depending on their origin Canadian, North American, Russian or Mongolian lynx and bobcats (bobcats). The economic importance of the skins for the fur trade is very different depending on the origin and thus the appearance, the skins of the most beautiful lynx species have always been among the most valuable types of fur. The pattern of spots and stripes also varies greatly within the populations. Lynx are one of the few furs in which the peritoneum is considered more valuable than that of the back. The soft-haired lynx fur is also characterized by the long legs with impressively large paws, the stumpy tail and the eye-catching hairbrushes up to four centimeters long over the large ears and the pronounced whiskers, especially in the American species. The front legs are longer than the rear legs, depending on the species.

Most lynx species are subject to the trade restrictions of the Washington Convention, Section II.

Arctic lynx

The fur of the common lynx is about 1.00 to 1.30 m long, the tail about 15 to 24 cm. The color varies according to the large number of occurrences, the basic color is usually a whitish interspersed reddish gray. The red and gray-brown dot markings alternate strongly. The sides of the fur, the inside of the legs and the front neck are white. Almost the rear half of the tail is black, with black bands towards the roots. The guard hairs are more often white-gray or very dark, tipped black. The summer pelts are more reddish, the winter pelts more gray-white. In addition to heavily spotted lynxes, there are also almost unpatterned lynxes on the back and sides.

Canadian lynx cat skins
Bobcat, lynx cat or bobcat

The size of the bobcat decreases too significantly to the south, the bobcat living in the United States (southernmost Canada to occasionally Mexico) is smaller than the northern lynx of Canada. The fur is 65 to 95 centimeters long, the tail 13 to 19 centimeters, males are larger than females. The largest pelts are as big as a small lynx, the smallest hardly bigger than a wild cat pelt. The fur designation in the trade is usually lynx cat or bobcat , even if there are no lynx "cats" in the zoological system.

Iberian lynx fur
Iberian lynx

The on the Pyrenees -Halbinsel to Asia Minor, about to the Caucasus, living Iberian lynx is protected in almost all countries. In 1973 and 1974 the hunting of Iberian lynx was banned in Spain and Portugal, now the species seems to be recovering easily. The fur attack was described as extremely low in 1988 . In 1925 it was said: "In Spain, the hide of the hunted lynx, the 'Lobo verval', is mostly used locally, especially by bullfighters, and coachmen, grooms, to decorate their clothes"; elsewhere the gypsies were also mentioned with the same use.

Caracal fur
Desert lynx or caracal (caracal)

The Turkish name Caracal , German black ear , describes a striking feature of the animal, also known as the desert lynx , probably more related to the golden cat than to the lynx. As a steppe inhabitant, he lives in large areas of Africa and large parts of Asia. The fur is about 65 to 80 cm long, the tail length is 25 cm, the extremities are longer than that of lynxes. The back color is cinnamon red to pale yellow, the underside reddish white. The upper lip is characterized by a black spot and a cheek strip that extends from the edge of the nose to the eye; the ears and the tufts of ears are black; completely black specimens are also known. The youth dress is first spotted, later without spots.

Crawling cats

Furs from the stealthy cat family are rarely on the market, sometimes they were or are perhaps still used locally, and sometimes they were found in the assortments of other types of fur.

Left African civet cat, right Indian civet cat
Civet cat

Civet cat skins are a commodity in the tobacco industry to a comparatively small extent. However, the civet has become popular thanks to the civet, which is once more important for the trade, a raw material for perfume production obtained from the cat's glands, which has now been largely replaced by synthetic materials. In the fur industry they are best known for the fact that the furrier often wrongly called them servals or serval cats, although they have nothing in common with this real cat, apart from a superficial resemblance of the fur pattern. Other incorrect names are Civetcat or Zivetkatze; In the movement of goods, this is generally understood to mean the fur of the stain or lyric barn. Of the other species belonging to the crawling cats, only the skins of the gorse cats for fur purposes are on the market.

Gorse cats Liberia , 1907 (from left to right):
   1 and 2: Liberia-Genette
   3: West African Linsang
   4: King 's Genette (possibly extinct)
Gorse Cat or Genette

Gorse cat skins were traded as genets (not to be confused with genotte cats, a term for the fur of the blackened form of the house cat, see under cat fur). Zoologically, the gorse cat belongs to the civet family. In the tobacco trade, a distinction was not always made between the individual types of civet; other types were also traded as Genetten at the beginning of the 20th century.

The gorse cat is still found in Europe in some areas of the Mediterranean, including southern France, the Pyrenees Peninsula and Syria, and also in Africa from Senegambia and Abyssinia to Cape Country. The body is very elongated, the head is small and pointed. The ears are shell-shaped; the legs are quite short for a cat. The head body length is about 50 to 60 centimeters, the tail is 40 to 50 centimeters long. The hair is of medium length, dense and smooth, but mostly brittle and somewhat flat. The color is yellowish-gray or brownish-gray with mostly four to five rows of dark, chestnut brown or red-yellow spots (rosettes) along the sides. The head and neck are also drawn similarly by spots and stripes. Some species have an erect back mane. The tail is alternately ringed light and dark (white to black). Some subspecies differ in individual characteristics from this general description. Details about the hair change do not seem to be known. The skins, which have always been in small quantities compared to other types of fur, were usually processed into trimmings and accessories before the species was placed under protection, or jackets, coats and trimmings as well as blankets if there were enough skins.

The Kleinfleck gorse cat is now strictly protected as a European species under the Federal Species Protection Ordinance.

Palm roller

Until 1935, the skin of the palm roller, also known as “palm civet”, played no or only a minor role. Around this time, however, a large amount was first marketed. Mostly dyed in sable or silver fox color, it was mainly used for trimmings on textile clothing , and it also goes very well on foal coats . The price of fur was between 4 and 7 marks, depending on the size and condition of the hair. Before 1988 came from China under the name Hsiang Yao again hides a Palm Scooter Style (lat. Pardoxus hermaphroditus) in the Frankfurter fur market, hides the larvae Rollers were (Palm Civet, lat.Paguma Lavata) in 1988 under the name Chin (g) Yao offered. The palm roller occurs in southern Asia and on the offshore islands.

The animals are about 45 to 52 centimeters tall as a house cat, and the tail is about 41 to 51 centimeters; in shape they resemble the civet cat .

Mongooses

In the years before 1925, Ichneumon pelts from the mongoose family probably only came onto the market for a short time . Brass wrote about the cat species that lived in North Africa and was common at the time: “The fur, which is primarily of interest to the tobacco shop, has a dense, yellow-gray undercoat and long, dense, black and gray curled guard hairs with a white tip. Unfortunately the hair is a bit coarse. ”The fur of the white-tailed Ichneumon would“ do better than fur animals ”because of its softer hair. The short-tailed Ichneumon ( marsh mongoose ) would also have a very usable, soft upper hair. The best skins came from the mountainous areas. At that time, about 1000 skins of the zebra mongooses came into the trade each year, and several thousand of the various ichneumon species (in the broader sense, besides the ichneumon, other African species of the mongoose are sometimes referred to as ichneumons).

Big cats

Prepared tiger skin (around 1900)

Since the Washington Convention on Endangered Species came into force, big cats are no longer traded for fur purposes, they still come to Europe as hunting trophies from approved shots for personal use.

Durability coefficient for tiger, lion, jaguar, leopard, snow leopard, puma, clouded leopard and cheetah: 50 to 60%
Snow leopard fur

Snow leopard or Irbis

Snow leopard skins were an even less important item in the tobacco trade than skins of other big cats, if only because of their low occurrence. While they were initially only used as blankets, rugs and wall hangings, in addition to being used in the area of ​​origin, they were also used for a short time in modern fur fashion for women's clothing.

The habitat of the snow leopard , also called Irbis , is Central Asia, from East Turkestan to Kashmir and Sikkim , from the Altai and Pamir Mountains to East Tibet , at altitudes of up to over 4000 meters.

According to the Washington Convention on the Protection of Species of March 3, 1973, the snow leopard is one of the animal species threatened with total extinction and is therefore listed as absolutely protected in Appendix I of the agreement.

Clouded leopard

Clouded leopard or turtle leopard

The clouded leopard is a rare big cat native to southeast Asia. The clouded leopard fur was also traded as a turtle leopard or turtle leopard based on the fur pattern. The clouded leopard's homeland are the southern foothills of the Himalayas: Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan and Assam; southern China, rear India, the Malay Peninsulas and the Sunda Islands Sumatra and Borneo. The species used to be found in Taiwan and Hainan.

In the period after the Second World War, the eye-catching fur was processed into jackets and coats, albeit only to a limited extent because of its limited occurrence.

In 1971 the International Fur Trade Federation recommended that retailers refrain from processing clouded leopard skins entirely. [1] In the Washington Convention, the clouded leopard (Neofelis nebulosa) is now in List 1 (absolute trade ban), in the EC Regulation 750/2013 in Appendix A. The initial listing and maximum protection took place on June 20, 1976. According to the Federal Nature Conservation Act, the Clouded leopard since August 31, 1980

leopard

leopard

The leopard and leopard skin already played a major role in their countries of origin in the earliest antiquity, see the article → panther skin. As a garment of modern times, the leopard fur was particularly popular around the middle of the 20th century, along with the fur of other conspicuously patterned cat species.

The leopard or panther, formerly also called the leopard lion, is the same animal, the second name is common especially for the black panther, a total blackness (melanism).

jaguar

The jaguar is the largest cat on the American continent. The use of the jaguar fur for clothing and jewelry purposes is already known for the time before the arrival of the Europeans. It was expensive as a commercial article of the modern age, but played no essential role even when fashion favored spotted furs. This was not because the jaguar is less attractive than the leopard, which is native to Asia and Africa. The fur attack was very low, due to its shy way of life the jaguar is difficult to hunt and the pelts were often so badly damaged, not only from the hunt, but above all from bites, that they could not be used for processing into fur clothing . It was also difficult to get a sufficient number of matching skins for a piece of clothing from the few that had accumulated and that could be used.

Today the jaguar is completely protected. Although it is not acutely threatened with extinction, it is nevertheless exposed to a constantly increasing threat, so that a decline in the population can be observed. The World Conservation Union ( IUCN ) classifies the jaguar as "low risk" ("Near Threatenend").

Sumatran tiger skin

tiger

The tiger is the largest of all living cats; in individual cases, male tigers can reach a head body length of over three meters. Their distribution area covers parts of Asia south of 52 ° north latitude.

The basic color of the tiger skin is yellowish red with black stripes at irregular intervals. The tone of the basic color and the density of the stripes vary in the area of ​​distribution. Pelts from southern occurrences are more pigmented than those from the north. In the winter fur, the stripes on some tigers even only appear brownish. The spots behind the ear are light to whitish, as are areas around the eyes, the underside of the body and the tail. Very light specimens ("white tigers") and almost black tigers appear rarely. The hair length decreases to the south in the distribution area. On the nape of the neck the hair is elongated, up to a slight mane formation. The fur is coarse and not very dense. The hair change takes place twice a year, in the tropical forms it is only slightly pronounced.

Tiger skins were only used for clothing purposes in western fashion for a short time, mostly as trophies for carpets and wall hangings.

The remaining occurrences are severely decimated, the species is classified by the IUCN as endangered ("Endangered"). According to the Washington Convention on the Protection of Species of March 3, 1973, the tiger is one of the animals threatened by total annihilation, it is listed in Appendix I of the agreement (absolute protection). Tiger skins and other parts of the animal may no longer be traded.

Cheetah fur

cheetah

At first, cheetah skins were only made into blankets, rugs and trophies, later also into fur clothing. In his standard work from 1911, the tobacco merchant Emil Brass did not mention anything about the use of fur; in 1925 he wrote: “Cheetah skins, as far as they are available in stores, are now a popular material for making women's coats, and are therefore well paid. because it is precisely the smallness of the densely distributed round spots on a lighter shade that results in very pretty patterns ”. Compared to the leopard, it was generally used less, only occasionally there were images in the fashion magazines. The interest of the fashion industry in the fur, which is still only supplied in small numbers, lasted until the retail trade gave it up.

In 1971 the International Fur Trade Federation recommended that its members refrain from trading, and on March 3, 1973 the cheetah was included in Appendix I of the Washington Convention. Only individual hunting trophies may be imported from Namibia; trade is prohibited.

lion

Lion skins are used almost exclusively as hunting trophies or as tapestries. They are not very attractive for modern clothing and are unsuitable due to the coarse and thick hair and the lack of undercoat.

puma

The puma fur , the American cat species also known as the mountain lion, silver lion, South American lion and cougar , was almost always only available in very small quantities. Puma skins were mainly used to make blankets and rugs. In a time of major seizures, they were also used to a lesser extent for clothing purposes, as trimmings and also sheared on an experimental basis and provided with a leopard print.

In the meantime, several subspecies of the puma have been included in Appendix I of the Washington Convention , the remaining subspecies in Appendix II.

hyena

The skins of today's strictly protected hyena species , the spotted or spotted hyena and the black hyena (both in Africa) were only rarely used, as was the striped hyena (Middle and Middle Asia, India, Arabia and North Africa to Kenya). The coat is tight and coarse, not very appealing in terms of color, and sometimes uneven in length.

In 301 AD, Diocletian issued the maximum price edict , the violation of which was punishable by the death penalty. It also lists prices for hyena fur. Raw skins were allowed to cost up to XL denarii, prepared up to LX denarii (see marten fur, facts and figures ).

In 1930 it is mentioned that North African musicians, who formed their own caste, attached it to the head in an almost raw state in order to achieve an adventurous appearance.

  • The coat of the zoological to the hyenas belonging aardwolf it was used by tribes of southern Africa to as bodies designated processed cloaks. About 16 skins were needed for one body.
Greenland Seal

Seals (harbor seal, blueback, whitecoat, Lakoda, Sealskin)

When it comes to sealskin, the tobacco industry differentiates between sealskin, sealskin, fur seal (outdated: beaver seal), fur seal with its fine, soft undercoat and (hairy) seal (outdated: suitcase sea dog) with only awn and no special undercoat.

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.

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.

ruminant

bison

Indian women with buffalo skins (ca.1936)
Mandan - Chief Mató Tópe with a decorated buffalo hide cloak (1833)

The skins of the bison are recognizable in old depictions mainly as garments that have not been cut to size. For example, in the Three Brothers Cave in southern France you can see a wall painting from the end of the last Ice Age with a dancing magician or a hunter camouflaged with fur, wearing a bison skin with a head that was used as a mask and hat.

Buffalo fur was very popular in North America in the 18th and 19th centuries as a material for blankets for carriages, trains and sleds. The demand was so great that it contributed to the dramatic exhaustion of the previously huge herds of bison .

Gazelle, antelope, wildebeest

When it comes to fur processing, antelope skins are usually of minor importance, as the hair of the antelope species breaks very easily due to a lack of elasticity. Various antelopes are also kept on farms. The fur is mainly used for bags, trimmings and other small parts.

The non-scientific term antelope is generally understood to mean all horn-carriers that do not belong to the goat-like, which mainly includes sheep and goats, or to the cattle. Antelopes are therefore the duiker, the bovinae without the cattle, the hartebeest, the horse buck, the reduncinae (reedbuck, waterbuck and deer antelopes), the impala and the gazelle-like. The skins of the species-rich animal family from Africa and Southwest Asia are almost without exception referred to as antelope or gazelle in the tobacco trade, including the skins of the springbok. The antelope species that are mainly used for fur processing are the duiker and the smaller species, the dwarf antelopes, the most important of which is the greyhound antelope. Most Arabian antelope species are not suppliers of fur.

The number of species is so large that the differences in coat size and color are also quite significant. Some of the skins are almost one color, some with colorful stripes. Some species are vividly colored with pretty drawings, sometimes black to silver-gray mottled. The predominant colors are dark to light brown, reddish gray to yellowish gray, resembling roe deer or guinea fowl. The underside and the inside of the legs are often lighter than the body, light reddish or white to white-gray.

The hair is coarse, stiff and mostly very short. It lies close to the body, so that the fur often appears quite flat. The tubular hair has only a very thin layer of bark over the thicker marrow layer. The under hair is either completely absent or only sparsely developed. The durability coefficient for antelope skins is given as 5 to 10 percent.

deer

Vest made from summer deer and red fox
Commons : Deer skins  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Deer skins, also called deer blankets, average 4 to 7 square feet in size. The distinction between summer, autumn (transition) and winter coats is essential in trade. Northern European summer skins can be recognized by their reddish brown color and by their “relatively good strength”. Winter coats have thick and dense hair and are very thin leather, often paper thin.

The fur of the fawns is red-brown and initially has white dots on the back and on the flanks. These white spots gradually become indistinct from the age of one month and disappear by the age of two months due to the overgrowth of red summer hair. Under the long red hair, the white and brown fawn hair are still present until the winter coat changes.

Today, deer skins are only used in negligibly small numbers, mostly only for decorative purposes. It was not very different in the middle of the 19th century. They were not used for clothing, but, as described at the time, “for the colorful decoration of shops and all kinds of blankets, e. B. on foot blankets in front of beds, sofas, etc., to sledge and horse blankets and more: The hair that is shed by the tanners is used to stuff pillows and cushions, but they are mostly used by the smaller and by the Damaged deer skins won, insofar as one prefers to select the large and flawless ones for skinning, while tanning them chamois and selling them to the Beutler ”. At that time, 4,000 furs called deer skins (deer skins?) Came to the London tobacco market every year from English North America and Canada. Deer skins were also an important trade factor in the seaports of Russia and Prussia, but mainly for the preparation of leather. In Germany, Bavaria and the Harz supplied large skins, while smaller ones came from the Saxon region.

Around 1900 a specialist furrier book writes that the deer supplies “the well-known skins used for rugs”. The most beautiful pelts fall in winter, but it is precisely then that the hair, which is not hard-wearing anyway, is particularly brittle. Deer skins with good hair were also placed in hospital beds at the time to prevent bedsores: “For this purpose, they are placed under the sheet upside down so that the head lies on the legs of the patient, the trunk under the armpits of the patient. In this way, the patient lies against the grain and the stiff hair prevents slipping and thus lying down ”. The saddlers also used "deer pieces" to fill the harness to prevent the horses from getting sore. Autumn pelts are much more durable than winter pelts, but have shorter hair and thicker leather and are therefore less beautiful, but they were paid better for tanning purposes because of the better leather.

Only a small part is suitable for use as fur, apart from the low breaking strength of the deer hair and thick-leather skins, very many are unusable because of leaking horsefly stings, scars from scratches and gunshot holes.

Elk skin

Moose

The elk skin, the elk skin or moose blanket, the peeled skin of the elk, is a commercial article. It is mainly used as leather when it is dehaired and tanned. The hard elk skin can be processed into fur, but the durability is limited due to the high fragility of the hair. The elk is the largest species of deer found today. Its habitat extends across northern Europe, northern Asia and North America. It is classified as “not at risk” by the IUCN.

Elk hunting is now practiced in Sweden, Norway, the Baltic States, Russia, Canada and the United States, among others. The reason given is nature conservation, in particular forest protection. The elk meat is eaten.

deer

Deer Skins Buyer, San Antonio , Texas (1973)
Commons : Deer Skins  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Deer skins were once a very popular fur, but until the time of the Crusades only princes were allowed to wear it. Today they no longer play an essential role as clothing and no longer as a commercial article. As a status symbol, the deer skin has been replaced by the ermine and the miscarriage. Today's use is like deer skins .

Scandinavian reindeer fur

Reindeer (North America = "caribou") or pijiki

The reindeer or reindeer live almost everywhere around the Arctic Circle, in summer in the tundras and in winter in the taiga of Northern Europe and North America as well as on Greenland and other Arctic islands. Of the various subspecies, including the deer species, only the northern European reindeer has become a real farm animal. The tobacco trade was at times interested in the light-leather, soft, shiny brown, sometimes moiré reindeer skin of European-Asiatic young animals, which was sold under the name Pijiki. Adult reindeer skins are a popular souvenir from Nordland journeys, and are also exported for interior decoration and rugs. The skins of the North American reindeer, known in America as caribou, are also used to an even lesser extent as decorative skins and not for clothing purposes. Only the indigenous population sewed outer garments made from the skins of adult, long-haired reindeer, often combined with seal skin or arctic fox skin, traditional costumes that are still worn today on special occasions.

The durability coefficient for reindeer fur is given as 20 to 30 percent. In a division of the fur types into the hair fineness classes silky, fine, medium-fine, coarse and hard, the hair of the young reindeer (Pijiki) is classified as fine.

There are different landscape protection and hunting regulations for wild reindeer, and the indigenous population is usually allowed to hunt them. Reindeer are considered a non-endangered species.

Veal and beef

The hairy skins of the various domestic and wild cattle races are referred to as cattle skin, while calf skins are the hairy skins of young animals. As a by-product of the meat industry, they are a commodity in the tobacco trade. Cattle hides are preferably used to make bags, boots and home accessories, and calfskins are preferably used for transition clothing. The vast majority of the hides are tanned into hairless leather (→ main article cowhide ).

The skins of adult animals are coarse and stiff and are therefore rarely used for fur purposes. For some time, African bull skins refined in Spain were used to make coats. Buffalo blankets were part of the traditional equipment of the North American natives.

Calfskins are mainly used for fur clothing, but this use in modern times did not begin until the 1920s. The skin trade also differentiates between tame and wild skin. Tame skins are the skins of European domestic cattle that are obtained from slaughter for meat use.

Rhön sheep

Lamb and sheep

Domestic sheep have been kept for lamb, sheep's milk and hide production for around 10,000 years, making them probably the oldest farm animals. The use of sheep's wool began around 3000 years ago. With millions of pelts produced annually, they are the most important domesticated fur suppliers. The world sheep population is estimated by the FAO, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, at around 1.8 billion. Most skins are not used for fur purposes, but go into the leather industry. The skins of wild sheep are practically not used.

The sheepskin was always above all the warming clothing for the common strata of the population. Even in the early Middle Ages, despite or perhaps because of the great durability of the hair, it was regarded as less valuable fur "only for the lower clergy and the peasant class". In general, the lambskin was particularly widespread among the rural population. Because of the great durability and the various possibilities of fur finishing (shearing, dyeing, printing, velouting, napping), lambskins are one of the most popular types of fur for clothing today.

Sourire colored Indian lamb

Indian lamb and Pakistani lamb

The first Indian and Pakistani lambskins , initially as Himalayan skins, later simply called “Indians” in technical terms, only came into trade via the Leipzig fur trade center since the mid-1920s. The region of origin is north-west India and north Pakistan.

The skins are smaller than Persian skins, as big as Shiras skins and larger than Syrian or Shantafoo lambskins. The Persian-like fur is moiré or curly, sometimes wavy (flamed). Good skins have a silky sheen, others are sometimes wiry (straw-like).

The closeness of the curl does not match that of the karakul, but it has its own quality. The low weight should be emphasized, even the coarser, heavier varieties are usually lighter than Persians. The skins come from one to three day old lambs, the skins of adult animals are not suitable for fur purposes because of the loosened curl.

Chekianglamb

East Asian lambskins

Deliveries are mainly made from the eastern and north-eastern parts of China and Mongolia.

Chekiang lamb, Kalgan lamb, Mongolin, Sinkiang lamb, Slink, Tibetan lamb, Tientsin lamb (Silklamm) and others

Colored Afghan Persian

Karakul or Persian

Today the skins, also known as karakul, come not only from the probable original home of Bukhara or Arabia, but above all from Namibia, the area of ​​the former USSR and Afghanistan. Namibia mainly supplies the flat, moirated, broad-tail-like skins, Russia the classic, more curly goods and Afghanistan the mostly slightly lower valued Karakul, which is slightly more open in hair appearance.

The skins come from animals that are a few hours to a few days old, before the curls dissolve and become strands. Skins from premature or stillbirths are referred to as broad-tailed or, more precisely, as Persian broad-tailed or Karakul-broad-tailed; broad-tailed skins with very little pattern and thin leather are called galjak. The flat skins of normally born Namibian Karakuls are either traded as Swakara, sometimes with the old name Broad-Tailed Persian.

Napped merino lamb coat

Merino lamb and Schmaschen

The skins are one to two day old, also prematurely or stillborn lambs. They are small to medium in size; the hairiness varies depending on the breed, but mostly short and flat, curly and thin. The skins of a few days old animals have a drawing similar to the Caloyos, they are called researcher.

Merinos are the skins of lambs up to one year old. They do not necessarily have to come from pure-bred Merino sheep, in some cases skins from crossbreeds or from other woolen sheep are also traded under the name.

Beaver lamb , Borrego, Borrequito, Bueno , Lincoln and others

Baghdad lamb, colored black

Half-Persians and Oriental lambskins

Skins from crosses of Karakul sheep with native sheep are more or less Persian-like, therefore they were traded as Karakul-Metis and Half-Karakul.

Baghdad lamb, Bessaraber, Indian lamb, Iranian lamb, Krimmer, Metis-Persian, Saltskin, Shiraz and others

Kidfelle (Zickel)
Astrakhan (lamb)

Astrachan, a term from the fur industry, is another name in German-speaking countries for the → Persian, the fur of the → Karakul sheep (in French and Spanish also next to karakul, astrakan or astracano) and for the fur of a so-called half-Persian breed. There is also the term Astrakhan Kid for the skins of Chinese kids.

In common parlance, Astrakhan was the last name, but rarely used, often the Persian.

Silk lamb, coat and jacket

East Asian lamb and sheepskins

Deliveries are mainly made from the eastern and north-eastern parts of China and Mongolia.

Chekiang lamb, Shantafoo lamb, Tsining moiré lamb, Peking moiré lambskin, Tientsin (Tianjin) lamb (Silklamm), Shantung lamb, Kalgan lamb, Sinkiang lamb, Black Chinese broadtail, Tibetan lamb (the Skins of adult Chekiang lamb), slink lambskin, tseo-ko (Chinese) and sheepskin, Mongolin, Kalgan.

Tibetan lamb jacket
Tibetan lamb

Tibetan lamb, also known as “Tibet” for short, Chinese Tan-Pih (Pih = fur), American also Tibetan, is the fur of the six-week to two-month-old lambs of the young Shanghai mouflon. Contrary to the trade name, it does not come from Tibet, but from northern China. Characteristic of the coat is its corkscrew-like curly structure. The fur length is about 80 to 110 centimeters; the silky hair is white to yellowish.

The fur is used for blankets and clothing purposes, especially for trimmings, smaller fur parts and accessories. Tibet is considered to be extraordinarily subject to fashion.

Mouflon bolster
European mouflon

The European mouflon, or mouflon for short, is the westernmost and smallest subspecies of the mouflon. Originally it was only widespread on the Mediterranean islands of Corsica and Sardinia, but has now been introduced in numerous areas of Europe.

Goatskin

Kid and goat

The skins of young domestic goats are mainly used for fur processing; they are sold as kid skins. The goat is kept mainly for the goat meat, an additional use is the fur or leather, goat milk and hair (angora goat; mohair). Wild goat skins are only occasionally used as decorative skins (hunting trophies).

Gamsfell, Austria

Chamois skin

The chamois fur, also chamois fur, chamois blanket or chamois fur, of the chamois occurring in the mountains of Europe and the Middle East, has no economic significance as fur. The so-called chamois beards are made from the long hair on the spine .

The homeland of the chamois is from the west of the Pyrenees to Asia Minor (Anatolia) and in the east of the Caucasus.

Odd-toed ungulates

White foal

Foal and steed (horse)

The heavy, thick-leather skins of adult horses, so-called horse skins, have always been made almost exclusively into leather. The skins of young foals are mainly used for fur processing. Most of them come from semi-wild herds in the former Soviet Union and South America.

Foal skins are currently hardly used for fur purposes and only traded to a limited extent. On the one hand, this is due to a change in fur fashion. On the other hand, in terms of quantity, a return of the fashion to foal pelts is not to be expected in the future either, since the pelts are a by-product of the continuously reduced foal meat production in the past. In addition, there has been a change in social attitudes since then, from horses as agricultural animals to mounts for city dwellers (compare horse meat, cat fur, dog fur).

Old trade names that are no longer in use today and are no longer permitted are Fohlon, Fohlette or Gaulette.

ass

You can find more fox skins than donkey skins in a furrier shop (Dutch proverb)

The Encyclopedia of Krünitz Although from 1794 leaves the lack of use of the donkey Fells realize it, but they do call an unexpected use in the fur trade: "The Forest Donkey hides one takes only the shields and signs of large smoke shops (Skinner stalls) on the trade fairs. "

In 1935 it was reported in the fur press that for some time, Chinese donkey skins had been on the market together with foal skins : “They are smaller than foals, but have the advantage of being thin and light-leather and have good patterns. After manipulation they are used for light jackets ”.

zebra

Zebra skin (partial view)

Originally, zebra skins with their characteristic stripes were used exclusively for wall decorations, rugs, stools and the like. When it became possible to make the leather soft and light, in the second half of the 20th century it was occasionally used for sports coats, jackets and other items. In 1988 nothing was known about the number of pelts produced, the number was estimated to "barely exceed a few hundred and therefore irrelevant for the fur industry".

The home of the zebra is southern Africa. Three species from the genus of horses are called zebra: Grevy's zebra, mountain zebra and the plains zebra. The two subspecies of the mountain zebra are strictly protected under the Washington Convention. The Hartmann mountain zebra may be imported into the European Union as a hunting trophy under certain conditions.

Artifacts

wild boar

Wild boar skin bag

The rather thinly haired skin of the wild boar , called by the hunter rind, has not been made into fur clothing, at least in modern times. In winter the fur is dark gray to brown-black with long bristly outer hairs and short, fine woolen hairs. Newly born wild boars have a light yellow-brown fur that usually has four to five yellowish longitudinal stripes that extend from the shoulder blades to the hind legs. The animals are spotted on the shoulders as well as on the hind legs.

The thick, firm leather probably prevented further processing in earlier times. In 1798, the use of wild pigskins is stated to be the fogging of suitcases and the like, and that they are "spread out in front of the room doors to keep the house clean". As hunting trophies, the rinds are still occasionally used as wall decorations or, as in the past, as rugs .

Musk deer, musk deer

One type of musk deer lives in the Himalayas, the others in different mountains and ridges of Korea, China, Siberia, Kazakhstan and Mongolia (e.g. in the Altai Mountains). The animal was also called Bisamtier, but with the muskrat from North America and its heavily used Bisamfell nothing to do.

The coat color is predominantly dark brown, but also varies within the species. The fur has white spots on the chin, sides of the throat, and the inside of the legs. The fur of the young is spotted. The ears are long in relation to the body and head size. The head-trunk length is 70 to 100 centimeters, the tail is between 1.8 and six centimeters long. The hind legs are well developed in all species.

In 1852 a certain use of the fur is mentioned. It was colored dark and used "to represent cheaper articles of fur". "Attack, smokiness and shine leave a lot to be desired".

giraffe

Jagd & Hund, February 3, 2018 - (57) .jpg
Giraffe skin as a floor covering at a hunting fair
The fur pattern of all nine Giraffa camelopardalis subspecies.jpg
Fur drawing of the nine subspecies (according to the old scheme)


The fur of the giraffe with its distinctive drawing is not one of the types of fur used for clothing. The author of the “fur lexicon” wrote in 1949: “[…] currently no fur animals, but you don't try the gods”. Occasionally it has actually been attempted, especially in the 1960s, usually as an eye catcher at a fashion show. More often the fur was imitated, especially by shorn and then printed calfskin. However, giraffe skins are used to a lesser extent for decorative purposes or for seat furniture covers.

However, the skins were considered status symbols for many peoples in their home countries. It was not until the pleasure hunt by white settlers and big game hunters endangered the population of the animals. The International Union for Conservation of Nature IUCN has included all giraffe species in the Red List as "endangered" since December 2016 . (As of December 2017)

Modern systematics usually differentiate between six and nine subspecies of the giraffe. The spots of the reticulated giraffe , which represent dark polygons between which very narrow white bands run, so that the impression of a net is created, are unique . The fur is cream to ocher in color, the spots are separated from each other by thin white joints. The color of the spots ranges from dark brown to black. The ventral side is lighter and not stained. With increasing age, the color of the coat pattern is darker.

Callous soles

Guanaco blanket

Guanaco or Guanaquito

Commons : Guanaco Furs  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
Commons : Guanaco Skin Blankets and Garments  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

The guanaco, one of the humpless camels, lives exclusively in the Andes of South America up to an altitude of 4000 m (95% in Argentina). Almost only the pelts of the young animals are traded, in their home country and occasionally in the international tobacco trade under the name of Guanaquitos. In addition to the fur, the meat is also used, as well as the wool from animals that join herds of llama or alpaca.

Emil Brass wrote in 1911 of the other two llama species, alpaca and vicuna , that vicuna skin is made into very high-quality blankets, but that it is only rarely found in tobacco shops. Only the wool of the alpaca is used.

The guanaco is listed in Appendix II of the Washington Convention on Endangered Species, the fur may only be traded with an export permit from the country of origin.

Alpaca blanket

alpaca

Commons : Alpaca fur-skins  - collection of images, videos and audio files
Commons : Alpaca (clothing)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

The alpaca (Vicugna pacos), also Pako, is a domesticated form of camel from the South American Andes that was bred primarily for its wool. In Europe, alpaca wool has so far been used very little. Due to the house and companion animal character of the calm and peaceful alpacas, they are used in animal-assisted therapy in Germany. There are two types of alpaca, the Huacaya and the Suri. They differ in the structure of their fibers: The Huacaya alpaca has a fine, evenly crimped fiber (crimp) and some guard hairs (outer hairs), which should be as fine as possible. The Suri alpaca, on the other hand, has no crimp in the fiber, the hair forms curly, straight strands that hang down on the animal. As a result, Suris often appear narrower than Huacayas.

Vicuna

The vicuna (Vicugna vicugna) is the only species of the genus Vicugna and belongs to the camel family. It is similar to the guanaco, but is smaller and slimmer. The fur is much finer than that of related species and so dense that it acts as an insulating layer against the cold.

The dancing and singing Kessler twins (born August 20, 1936), Alice and Ellen, said before 1973: “Our most beautiful fur is not a piece of clothing at all, but a blanket - four square meters in size and yet only weighs 2000 grams (in the cited source stands 200 grams, either the twins or the authors made a mistake). It is made of vicuña skins, relatives of the lamas from South America. "

Rodents

Canadian beaver pelts

beaver

Formerly, the beaver was considered the "king of fur animals" because of its fur. Until the middle of the last century, beaver fur was even used as a means of payment in North America, and all goods in trade with the Indians were based on the value of a beaver fur. The beaver was the main object of the fur trade there. For many years it was only the soft undercoat of the beaver from which the tall, broad-brimmed, so-called castor hats were made, and less so than the overall fur. Apart from the various uses by the indigenous population, the skins have been used for clothing purposes since around 1830, where they found their way into the European fur industry. Bibergeil is extracted from the animal's glandular sacs, a common and dearly paid drug around 1850, and today mainly a component of some perfumes.

Dormouse, dormouse

The fur of the dormouse from the dormouse family is no longer used.

In 1762 it was said: Bilchmäuse are eaten from Hamburg and the sea coasts. You feed your clothes [...] with it. They have the same size and color as the common house rats. But because the skins do not lose their ugly smell, they have largely come out of demand .

Around 1840 the skins came almost exclusively from Carniola in present-day Slovenia . As early as 1900 it was said that “the skins are mostly used in the production countries” and only “rarely and then in small quantities on the market”. Twelve years later, a textbook confirms that skins are not generally used in skinning, although they make good fur. They went to Hungary and Turkey a lot and were sold as tablets of 20 or 30 pieces sewn together. In 1922 a daily newspaper for the fur industry points out that 58 furs were stolen from a Frankfurt trader during a break-in, including a particularly noticeable dormouse cloth with a broad brown silk fringe.

Pechanik (yellow or pale squirrel)

The yellow or pale ground squirrel, also called ground squirrel, yellow ground squirrel, yellow ground squirrel or sand ground squirrel, is the most important fur supplier for this rodent group. These skins, which come from Central Asia, are the largest of their kind at 25 to 38 cm. The short hair is of medium length and fine; sometimes silky smooth. The upper hair is usually weaker, while the undercoat is more pronounced. In England and Germany the skins are referred to as pechaniki in trade, sometimes also as peschaniki or pechaniki.

Suslik and Perlsuslik

Suslik (ground squirrel)

The skins of the remaining types of ground squirrel from Asia are sold as suzliki. In addition to other types, these are:

Pearl pebbles, long-tailed pebbles, have the greatest fur economic importance after the yellow pebbles, red-yellow pebbles, dwarf pebbles, Tienschan pebbles, Parry pebbles, Franklin pebbles, thirteen-lined pizzas or leopard pebbles, gold-coated pizzas. Nothing is known about a fur attack of the European ground squirrel, which is protected under the Federal Species Protection Ordinance.

Marmot)

The fur of the marmots is called marmot. Marmots are distributed across Europe, North America and Asia; they differ in typical characteristics depending on their habitat. Most of the skins on the market come from the steppe marble. In addition to the fur, the fat and meat were also used in the past.

The Himalayan marmot and the long-tailed marmot are protected under the Washington Convention, Appendix III and EC Regulation 1332/05 Appendix C, first listing since October 13, 1977.

From left: Eastern Chipmunk, Indian Palm Squirrel , Burunduk

Burunduk, American chipmunk, jungle palm squirrel

The Asian chipmunk, the Burunduk, plural Burunduki, is one of the smallest animals made into fur clothing. The Burunduk fur is about 8 to 16 centimeters in length, similar in size to a mole's fur, and the tail is 6 to 14 centimeters. The middle of the fur is gray, with 5 black vertical stripes, of which the middle one is the longest. The spaces between the dark stripes are yellowish to whitish. The weaker hairy belly and the insides of the legs are grayish white to yellowish white. The top of the bushy tail is blackish, the underside of the tail yellowish. There is a white line from the nose under the eyes to the ears and also above the eye. The short, thick hair is very fine and lies against the skin. The hair change that starts from the back takes place only once a year, from June to September.

The American chipmunk and the jungle palm squirrel have similar skins .

Atlas squirrel

In 1843, Ch. H. Schmitz wrote about the Turkish mouse or the livery squirrel (sciurus getulus), this noble fur does not come from barbarism in large quantities (barbarism = the areas between Morocco and Libya, inhabited by Berber peoples (Kabylen ), Arabs, etc.) The Atlas squirrel , North African bristle squirrel or barber squirrel (Atlantoxerus getulus) is a common type of bristle squirrel in Morocco and Algeria. It is similar to the African bristle squirrel, but its fur is not quite as bristly. The head body length is 20 centimeters, plus 20 centimeters of tail. The fur is yellow-brown; a clearly visible white stripe runs along each flank. Badly visible and usually completely absent is another light stripe that runs along the back. They are similar to the chipmunks but belong to a different genus.

Feh

Feh (Asian squirrel)

Feh refers to the gray winter coat with a white belly of the eastern (Siberian) subspecies of the Eurasian squirrel .

Depending on the model and fashion, a simple Fehmantel takes about 80 furs, but mostly the back fur and the peritoneum are processed separately. In earlier times clothing made from Feh served as a status symbol; in the Middle Ages, only the nobility and high dignitaries were allowed to wear Feh.

Gray squirrel

The gray squirrels are native to parts of the United States and Canada south of Ottawa. It was naturalized in England (1889), Scotland, Ireland and Italy.

The fur is gray on the upper side, tinted yellow-brown in summer, the belly is white. The tail is rimmed white in summer. It differs from the reddish squirrel, among other things, in that the ears do not have the brush hairs typical of the squirrel. In some parts of its range, melanistic forms are quite common.

The fur is considered to be less valuable than that of the squirrel. If the term Feh is used commercially for non-Russian squirrel skins, the origin should also be indicated, e.g. B. American Feh for skins of the North American gray squirrel.

Gliding squirrel or flying squirrel, fur designation "flying dog"

The skins of the squirrel or flying squirrels were as flying foxes or Molenda traded, which led to some confusion in the fur trade. Because these are bats and do not wear fur, they must not be traded. The skins of the Australian glide bags are also not on the market.

The hair of all types is fluttering. The hair is quite long, but the undercoat is sparse. In 1844 it was said: “The fur of the striped and flying squirrel are soft, but not nearly as warm as those of the common one; french le polatouche. “Mostly only the skins of the Bantori ( Java ) were used for fur farming, but almost only as trimmings, as the leather is very thin.

The New World flying squirrel , the Assapan or North American dwarf flying squirrel with a body length of 13 to 15 cm and a tail length of 8 to 11 cm and the northern flying squirrel with a body length of about 15 cm and a tail of the same length were hardly used for the fur industry.

Tobacco dealer Emil Brass wrote in 1911 about the gray-yellow flying oak horn that lives in eastern Siberia as far as the Okhotskiy Sea and also on Sakhalin : “I do not remember having seen furs of this type, whereas the related species that occur in China are often used by the Chinese it becomes trimmings. In Hankow , Shanghai and Tientsin there are barely 1000 pieces on the market every year , but recently larger quantities have been delivered which have also entered world trade. ”At the time, toppings with fur tails were very fashionable, and so Brass continues : “Lately, larger quantities of tails have come onto the market under the name 'flying dog tails' and have been processed into twisted tails . However, regular supplies cannot be expected. "

The fine-haired pelts that played in the hair were dyed in many colors, from the lightest brown to the darkest shade, also slate-colored and blue-gray, light and dark. The fur processed for trimmings with its elegant effect was relatively expensive. Since the silky hair was easily matted, sales declined after a few years until the trade finally gave up this item entirely.

For 1926 the rabbit fur is mentioned as an imitation for the flying dog. The average quality coat of the flying dog cost 22 marks, the rabbit imitation 6 marks.

Javanese flying squirrel

The Javanese flying squirrel reaches a size of 40 to 45 cm with a tail of the same length. The slate-gray, silver-coated skins are used to a greater extent in Java itself, but because of their fluttering hair and thin leather, they are very sensitive, so that they are usually only used as trimmings.

Taguan

The largest representative of its kind is the Taguan living in the forest areas of India, Burma and Ceylon . He becomes 60 cm tall, the tail is also that long. The upper side is gray-black, the head and neck sides are maroon brown, the underside dirty gray.

Common flying squirrel or Ljutaga

The occurrence of the common flying squirrel is northern and eastern Europe, Siberia and northern east Asia. The body length is 14 to 20 cm, the tail is 9 to 14 cm long. The hair is silky soft, the back is silver gray.

Stumptail squirrel

The North American Chinook - Indians used the fur of the mountain beaver make it to clothing. A supra-regional use of the grayish-brown to red-brown, short-haired, not particularly attractive fur has certainly not taken place.

hamster

hamster

Hamster skins of the European hamster are mainly used for lining textile coats or jackets. The European hamster is one of the most colorful European fur animals. With the exception of the Hungarian hamster, wild populations have been strictly protected by the Fauna-Flora-Habitat Directive of the European Union since March 31, 1980; these skins may not be traded. An exemption from the prohibition of possession and marketing is required for imports from third countries.

Alpine marble
Breeding chinchillas

chinchilla

The chinchilla skin with the supposedly finest hair of all fur animals has been one of the most valuable furs in the tobacco trade alongside the sable since its first national use . This fineness of the hair also makes the fur comparatively sensitive and therefore particularly suitable for luxury furs in addition to its use as a trimming material.

This extraordinarily high appreciation of the fur of the member of the zoological family of guinea pig relatives, which occurs only in a relatively small area, the Andes , very quickly led to its almost extinction, so that after its absolute protection, only the fur of bred animals has long been traded.

The skins of the long-tailed chinchillas and the short-tailed chinchillas are processed, both of which belong to the genus of the real chinchillas .

The tobacco industry always means the real chinchillas by chinchilla. The skins of the two other chinchilla species Viscacha and Bergviscacha are dealt with in a separate main article → Viscachafell .

Pointed Nutria

Nutria or marsh beaver

The fur of the swamp beaver, also known as the beaver rat or nutria , is always traded as nutria in the tobacco industry. The original home of the swamp beaver is South America, after being released from breeding and deliberately released into the wild to obtain fur in the first half of the 20th century, it is now at home in Germany and large parts of Europe, Asia and North America. In Spanish, “nutria” refers to the fur of the otter.

As a rule, nutria pelts are plucked and / or sheared (without the bristly guard hair).

Porcupine

Christoph Wilhelm Gatterer reported in 1794 that the porcupine, which is common in North America, supplies the Canadians and North Americans with fur after they have pulled out the spines.

Viscacha

Trug rats

The Trug rats are a rodent family living in South America from the suborder of the porcupine relatives. Viscacha was at times a little more important in the fur industry.

Viscacha

The skins of the Viscacha and the Mountain Viscacha , which live in Bolivia , western Paraguay and in the northern and central regions of Argentina , are offered in trade and as Viscacha . To what extent they are still traded today is unclear ..

Otter shrews

Around 1900 the skins of the otter shrews (Potamogale velox) were in trade as "baby otters" . Her home is in West Africa, the Congo area and Angola. The otter shrews are a subfamily of the Tenreks . As the only representatives of the Tenreks, they are not found in Madagascar , but on the African mainland. The group includes three species in two genera, the large otter shrew and the two species of the small otter shrew , the dwarf and the Ruwenzori otter shrew .

Otter shrews, as the name suggests, have a distant resemblance to otters. Its body is streamlined, its muzzle broad and flattened. The body is covered by a thick undercoat, overlaid with rough outer hair. The fur is dark brown on the top and whitish on the underside. The tail is flattened. The legs are short and, with the exception of the Ruwenzori otter shrew, have no webbed feet. Large otter shrews reach a head body length of 29 to 35 centimeters, the tail is 24 to 29 centimeters long. Small otter shrews, with a total length of 22 to 35 centimeters, only reach half the size.

Since the occurrence is very limited, the seizure was low. In 1960 it was said that no skins had been sent to the world market for a long time.

Guinea pig

An investigation into the trade in raw fur skins in the GDR mentions guinea pigs as a fur supplier in 1967. Although, in addition to cat fur, it was stated that pets were kept as a result, it can be assumed that the fur was obtained from animal experiments. No further mention of the recovery of guinea pig skins seems to be known.

Pampashase or Mara

The thick and shiny, brown-gray fur of the Patagonian pampas rabbit from the guinea pig family was "used for saddlecloths and carpets", but was "still rarely on the market" around 1900.

House mouse and color mice

House mouse and white-footed mouse skins in the Natural History Museum

The fur of the house mouse and the resulting color variants of the color mice has probably only rarely been used, despite the large number of attacks in animal research institutes at times. In 1938 a fur breeders' magazine reported about an English mouse breeder who, as a suggestion, had a London furrier make a cape made of mouse skin, which attracted attention in London society and was sold at a profit .

The French hairdresser and wig maker Charlie Le Mindu used the skins of common rats and mice for a burka-like headgear for a special show at London Fashion Week in 2009 . He also caused quite a stir.

vole

At an auction of the animal hair recycling company Mucrena in Leipzig in April 1922 (time of inflation ), "voles and rats" earned 2.30 marks each.

(So-called) fur rats

(belonging to different zoological groups)

Among other things, rat skins were temporarily shipped from Asia in very large quantities to Europe. They were a little larger than a large mole's skin , "not particularly qualitative, but not bad in color".

Bamboo rat

In 1935, bamboo rat skins were presented under the name “Bambo Rat” (elsewhere, more correctly “Bambou Rat”) at the Leipzig fur market as a fur novelty with the following description: “The Bamboo rat has long, silky and soft hair and reaches the size of the American possums . The hair structure resembles the chinchillona , the color is light bluish and resembles the color of the muskrat ”. At the beginning of the year, a tobacco wholesaler in Leipzig had imported a few hundred pieces of this type of fur from China, in the expectation that they would make good trimming material. Larger quantities were expected. In 1952, the tobacco merchant Richard König also described the fur, which is still seldom on the market: It "is the size of a large northern muskrat , is made like that and has a reddish-purple color".

Chinchilla rats

The fur industry uses the term chinchilla rats to summarize the small skins of several species of so-called fur rats, which in their natural state look like chinchillas, but their value is much lower. Almost all of them belong to the genera of the comb rats and the silkworms . The best known among them are the Patagonian crested rat and the little silk mouse . Not all "rat" skins used as fur are known about their zoological origin.

Patagonian crested rat, the Tukotuko

The Patagonian crested rat is found in the southern parts of Argentina, the provinces of Chubut and Rio Negro, and in Chile. The most important item of clothing of the Selk'nam was a fur coat, which consisted of guanaco fur or comb rat skins sewn together and which was worn with the fur facing outwards.

The animal resembles the half-grown hamster; the length of the head is 15 to 20 cm; the ears are hidden in the fur. The legs have long claws, they are short, the front legs a little shorter than the rear legs. The fur is usually thick; the undercoat is short, thin, light blue-gray to ash-gray, usually lighter than the upper hair; the awns brownish-gray to blue-gray or almost black with distributed individual guide hairs with black tips. The sides and the dewlap are whitish-gray to white. Some species can have a light-colored collar, some other species have light or dark spots behind the ears or on other parts of the body. On the abdomen, there may be bright spots in the armpits or lumbar region. The 6 to 11 cm long tail is covered with short, thick light gray hair. The color is similar to that of the chinchilla, but with a greasy sheen. Body sizes and coat colors also vary greatly within the species. In contrast to the chinchilla, the fur is of little value.

The skins are traded assembled into bars and were mostly dyed mink or chinchilla-like blue, or blended (after-dyed from the hair), made into women's coats, jackets, capes and scarves.

lemming

In the fur trade, the skins of the lemmings played no role despite the proverbial, at times massive occurrence, the fur lexicon noted in 1950, “at least not at the moment”.

Water rat

The fur of the Eurasian water rats was once a cheap coat material that was dyed black and brown. In 1960 it was stated that "the article is no longer - at least no longer regularly - to be seen on the export list".

The yellow water rat was mentioned in 1988: "In Argentina a few decades ago a small, short-haired fur was traded under the above name." South American tobacco merchants reported that the pelts come from a large number of rodents that are classified as pests in their homeland. The skins were processed into coats and capes. In 1920 a shipment is said to have come to Leipzig, the last time they were on the market in Argentina around 1928/1929.

The best known and most widespread type of swimming rat is the gold-belly swimming rat , which was previously used for fur purposes. A coat made of around 100 furs was included in the collection of the Museum of Applied Arts & Sciences . The story of the coat, made by furrier Sam Press in Sydney in the 1940s and shown on the museum's website, is described there.

Black rat, brown rat

The house rat cannot be counted among the real fur rats. In the war year 1944, successful attempts were made in Hungary to make shoes from rat leather. In Denmark at the time, rat skins were dyed in muskrat color to make coats. In 1944, Copenhagen's Pelzzentrale offered 1000 rats for which up to 1.90 Danish kroner were paid, while before that the price was between 60 ore and 1.45 kroner.

A list of New York fur fur prices listed in January 1922 listed "black rats", "winter goods, medium, $ 1.50 to $ 2".

In 1960 it was said: In the Soviet Union a land rat, the barn rat , is used for fur purposes , "but it is more consumed domestically and is of little importance for exports".

Nothing seems to be known about the use of brown rat skins either, although the zoologist Alexander Sokolowsky writes that the skins are more beautiful than those of the house rat. Among other things, Sokolowski worked as a zoo gardener, where he learned "to know and hate rats". He had some house and brown rat skins tanned and stated: “If I put the brown rat skins in my possession next to each other, a splendidly colored fur emerges from it and I am sure that if this fur would be worked under skilful furrier's hand, it would become numerous Humans have no idea which fur animal it comes from. In addition, the hair is silky smooth and stands very close ”. The fur of the brown rat is decidedly more colorful than that of the house rat. The body hair is brownish-gray, the underside, on the other hand, sharply defined, gray-white in color. The center line of the back is almost always darker than the yellowish-gray sides of the fur. The hairline is brown-gray, below pale gray. In contrast, the fur of the house rat is dark brown-black on the top and a little lighter gray-black on the underside.

Rabbit-like

German hare

European hare, snowshoe hare (polar hare), mountain hare

Pelts from the pigeon family are not used for fur purposes. The fur of the South American pampas hare (Mara), which is quite appealing in terms of color, has a very low shelf life, it is almost only used by the inhabitants to make blankets.

In the tobacco shop, hare skins or hare hides have always been less in demand than the similar skins of the related genus of rabbits, especially domestic rabbits. Certainly the short shelf life plays an important role, the hare's skin tends to shed as much as that of the wild rabbit.

In addition to the recovery of the fur, the use of the hair (sheared goods) was more important. Fine hat felts and yarns were made from hare or rabbit hair. Spun together with cotton or silk, they made threads mainly for velvet fabrics and for the hosiery weavers. Glue was boiled from the hides that fell off.

Rabbit

Rabbit (domestic rabbit, wild rabbit)

Rabbits are not part of a systematic zoological group (Taxon), because there are still some not next to wild and domestic rabbits other closely related species within the family of rabbit called Rabbit.

The Middle Low German name Kanin , which is still in use in the fur industry, is the original name for the rabbit. It comes from the old French conin from the Latin word cuniculus and is ultimately probably of Iberian origin.

As an inexpensive fur, rabbit fur, together with sheepskin, is one of the most processed raw materials in skinning.

Marsupials

Almost all skins from Australian marsupials are traded under names that are in no way reminiscent of the names of those who once wore them. The fur of the ring-tailed butler is available in the fur trade as a ringtail or ringtail opossum , that of the spotted marten as a native cat . Both see below under "Opossum", Australian, Tasmanian and New Zealand . The skins of the small kangaroo species and the actual wallabies come solely as a Wallaby in the trade.

Bush wallaby fur, zoologically Bennett's kangaroo

Wallaby, kangaroo

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

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

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

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

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

American opossum

Opossum, American

In the tobacco and fur industry , other types of fur from the marsupial family are traded as possums: the fur of the Australian fox cus or possum, depending on its origin and color, as an Australian, Tasmanian and New Zealand possum (possum). Conversely, in common parlance in its homeland, the American opossum is also referred to as a possum. In the times of long-haired fur fashion, American opossum fur was the most widely used marsupial for fur purposes and a main item in the fur industry; it is available in large numbers and can be easily refined in imitations of more valuable types of fur .

There are two types of fur from the American opossum :

  • the North American opossum ( USA , from southern Canada to the states of the East and Central; exposed in California , Oregon and Washington at the beginning of the 20th century ; then spread to the Pacific coast of California to the mountain range and the Canadian border in the north). It also inhabits Central America to Costa Rica.
  • the South American opossum lives from Mexico to the Rio Negro in Argentina.

Other names of the northern opossum were Virginian opossum and Russian marten, the southern opossum Paraguayan opossum and Casaca.

Possum (zoological fox kusu), trade names also Australian, Tasmanian and New Zealand opossum

The most important and valuable marsupial in Australia and New Zealand for the fur industry is a tree animal, the marten-sized fox kusu, also known as the possum. The fur of the possum is processed into clothing and fur blankets, and the hair has been commercially spun into wool since the beginning of this millennium.

The yellow-gray possum fur was sold as an Australian opossum, the brown variety as a Tasmanian opossum. According to the current main occurrence and today's zoological name, it is only referred to as New Zealand possum, or better still New Zealand possum, according to the country of origin (regardless of the color), since the English name Possum is now used for the animal instead of possum. This means it can no longer be confused linguistically with America's vastly different-looking opossum.

The fur known as ringtail or ringtail opossum (the largest were initially traded as "rock opossums") of the ring-tailed climbing butler was rarely in the trade, the animal is now protected.

Couscous

The Kuskus (Phalanger), living on some of the large Sunda Islands , have a body length of 27 to 65 cm, and the tail is 24 to 60 cm. The very dense, woolly fur is strikingly colorful. The countless color deviations are white, yellow, red-brown, sometimes black, spotted in a wide variety of patterns. The meat is eaten by the Papuans and the fur is made into hats and cloaks; in contrast to possum fur (zoologically fox kusu), it is Australian, Tasmanian and New Zealand, which is often confused with it, but not in trade.

Ringtail, Ringtail Opossum, zoological: Ringeltailbeutler

The ring -tailed pooch, which is close to the opossums, must not be confused with the Ringtail-Katzenfrett, in the Bassarisk fur trade.

The prehensile tail is not hairy, the various species that live in Australia are protected. The fur is 19 to 45 cm long. The hair is short, fine and dense. The color is light gray, dark gray or black-brown, often they have a dark eel line, rarely three dark longitudinal stripes. The dewlap is white-gray-yellow. The best qualities are intense blue. Light blue skins were traded as "Sydney's". The fur deliveries were insignificant, mostly they were sorted into the possum parts.

Native cat, zoological: bag marten

Prussian General Ziethen with a Native Cat trimmed Pelisse (around 1870)

The soft and dense fur , formerly traded as a native cat , of the spotted sacred marten , which lived in Tasmania and formerly in South Australia, is 40 to 65 cm long, the bushy, hairy tail 20 to 30 cm. In one of the two color variants that occur, the fur back is yellow-brown to light olive-gray, in the second dark black-brown. Similar to the Lyraskunk , both variants have numerous smaller and larger round white spots on the back and adjacent to it , but dots instead of stripes. The outer fur sides, the legs and the tip of the tail are white-gray. The awns are brown with blackish tips. The dense hair is about 18 mm long.

Durability coefficient: 30 to 40%

Mainly inner linings were made from the skins, which were sold under the name “Chickerickfutter”. Today the spotted marten is protected.

The fur lexicon of 1949 says that the fur of the long-tailed bag marten, also known as native cat , was sold annually at that time 20,000 pieces, their value was low.

Giant pouch marten or spotted tail marten

Spotted-tailed martens live with two subspecies in the east and south-east of Australia (Queensland, east New South Wales, Victoria) and on Tasmania. The length of the head body is 35 to 75 centimeters, the tail length 25 to 35 centimeters, males are smaller than females.

The top of the fur is yellow-brown to black-brown with numerous spots that are also distributed on the tail. The underside and tip of the bushy, hairy tail are whitish. As the largest of its genus, it also differs from other species in the genus by its spotted tail. Details about the hair change are probably not known.

The quality of the fur is less fine and soft compared to the spotted marten.

The spotted-tailed marten, which was once frequent, has become rare due to strong persecution by humans.

Koala bear

The koala's thick, woolly fur is soft and durable, with a durability coefficient of 30 to 40%. The upper side is light to dark gray, on the croup there is sometimes a light spot, the fur sides are whitish. The numerous guide and guard hairs are light-tipped.

In the past, the koala was so common that it was hunted in large numbers for fur purposes. In 1924, Eastern Australia exported over 2 million skins.

The koala is completely protected today.

Wombat

The skins of the wombats once played an important role in the tobacco trade. While the coat of the common wombat and of low quality poorly suited for fur purposes, therefore, the matted fur is acting the lasiorhinus been for trimmings and jacket lining used. The durability coefficient is 30 to 40%.

The hair is long and soft, the undercoat is thick. The colors vary between gray and brown, depending on the subspecies, with the undersides of the limbs, throat and chest being almost white. The tail is hairless.

In 1906 more than 250,000 skins were exported annually. Today the hair-nosed wombat is one of the endangered species.

Large rabbit nasal bucket, ear bucket, rabbit bandicoot

The length of the fur of the large rabbit nasal bucket is 20 to 44 centimeters, the tail is 12 to 22 centimeters long. The kangaroo-like hind legs are long. The hair is long, silky and soft, the undercoat is weak. The color is light silver-gray, blue-gray-brownish, the underside is white. The front half of the tail is black and the back half, with a white tassel on the end, is colored white. The ears are particularly long, similar to the rabbit, but longer in relation to the body size.

According to Brass, 30,000 to 40,000 pelts were delivered to Europe annually around 1900; 20 years earlier the pelt was not yet known in the trade. The value was 50 pfennigs to 1 mark the fur. In 1925 the volume and value were higher. The Australian aborigines used the brush tail as jewelry.

Lantern rat or lamp rat, Yapok

Commons : Yapokfelle  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

The skins sold under the names Yapok , Lantern or Lamp rat are rarely offered, despite the pretty pattern , they come from a South American swimming buoy.

The fur is about 40 to 45 cm long. The hair is very soft, the hair thick, woolly, short; light brownish, interspersed with white. Characteristic are the four dark brown round spots on the back, which are more oval on the neck and trunk and continue the brown into the paws, in the grunt they are connected by a narrow brown line.

Four-eye pouch rat

In 1883 Didelphis philander, the South American four- eyed rat , was named as the supplier of the Faras fur . The soft-haired fur was valued at 50 to 60 pfennigs.

The fur has been described as eight inches long or slightly above; on the neck, on the back and on the upper side of the tail reddish-brown, around each eye a brownish border, in the middle of the nose and forehead a yellow-brown stripe, the upper lip, the cheeks, the chest, the throat and the belly are white. The wound tail is longer than the body, mostly scaly and hairy at the root.

Thylacine

The thylacine , and Tasmanian wolf , bags Tiger or Tasmanian tiger called, was the largest carnivorous marsupial that lived in historical times on the entire Australian continent. The last known specimen died in a zoo in 1936. In 1998, a fur was auctioned in Sydney, Australia , for which, converted, they wanted to fetch 30,000 Swiss francs.

Pouch wolves reached a head body length of 85 to 130 centimeters and a tail length of 38 to 65 centimeters. Their fur was short and rough, colored gray or yellowish gray. The 13 to 19 zebra-like black-brown horizontal stripes on the rear part of the body and on the base of the tail, to which they owe their name "marsupial tiger", were characteristic. The front part was completely free of stripes. The thylacine wolf had white markings around the eyes and ears. In terms of physique, it was strikingly similar to some of the carnivores of the canine family (Canidae). The limbs were rather short, the legs each ended in five toes.

A drawing on the rock formation Ubirr on the edge of the Nadab floodplain in Arnhem Land in northern Australia indicates an earlier use of the animals by the natives . In 1830 the government put a pound bounty on every bagwolf that was hunted, as they had, arguably wrongly, got the reputation of bloodthirsty sheep hunters. In the 1860s, the species was restricted to the more inaccessible mountain regions in the southwest of the island, but hunting with traps and dogs continued unabated. Around 1910 the species was considered rare. The skins did not go on sale.

Other fur animals

Below are some fur animals of little importance for the tobacco trade.

Monkeys and monkeys

The term monkey pelts in the fur trade, suitable for processing fur, dense hairy skins were monkeys as well as the lemurs summarized. However, they were of no greater importance there, apart from the fur of the Guereza at times and, to a much lesser extent, the fur of individual species of monkey . The long-haired Guereza mane was used in the African countries of origin at festivities for the locals as head, body and leg decoration. In western fashion, it was mainly used for eye-catching trimmings and trimmings on jackets and coats of other types of fur, as well as on textile clothing.

Guereza

Guereza or parrot

Abyssinian guereza

also coat monkey, bishop monkey, king monkey, silk monkey, tail monkey, monkey for as well as other animal names and fur names.

The home of the Guereza or silky monkey is Central Africa. One of their most beautiful species is the northern or Abyssinian guereza with fine, soft, deep black hair. The back hair reaches a length of 10 centimeters. From the neck on there is a mane of about 20 centimeters long white hair on both sides of the flanks, which converge at about hip height. A forehead band, cheeks and throat as well as a fringe of long hair at the end of the otherwise short-haired tail are also white.

White-tailed Guereza

The fur of the white-tailed Guereza is almost even more impressive . Its white mane is even more pronounced and the tail is reminiscent of a horse's tail. The animals reach a head body length of 50 to 80 centimeters, the tail can be up to 70 centimeters long. The black, silky coat, which is parted from the middle of the coat to both sides, measures about 5 to 10 centimeters.

The smaller black and white colobus monkeys are only 30 to 50 centimeters tall. They live in the forest areas of the west coast of Africa. The black hair is silky smooth, about 7 to 15 centimeters long and along a parting the back line, the trading name of the skins was therefore usually Scheitelaffe , unlike the colobus monkeys, which have been traded under that name or as marmosets. The lower hair is only slightly developed. The dewlap and the inside of the extremities are gray-white, the cheeks and chest patch are partly white, partly gray-white. The tail is about 50 centimeters long and thinly haired.

Gelada

Jeladas only inhabit the highlands of Ethiopia. The head body length is 50 to 75 centimeters, the tail is just as long as the body and ends in a tassel. Males are much larger than females, with their tail ending in an impressive tassel. Djeladas have a brown fur that is lighter colored on the underside.

Lemurs

Under the term lemurs summarized lemurs come only on Madagascar before. They differ significantly in size (rat to cat size), in body structure, in hair, in color and in tail length. They are usually dense and hairy, sometimes very silky. They are divided into makis ( lemurs , dwarf mouse lemurs ; half lemurs , brown lemurs , white-headed lemurs and others), indri-like lemurs and finger animals . Only a few skins came on the market. On the one hand, some species had already been greatly reduced, and on the other hand, they were difficult to capture as nocturnal animals. They are also revered by the inhabitants and were therefore rarely hunted.

Diana monkey
Monkeys

From the vervet monkey family , larger quantities were occasionally delivered. They are primarily found in western Africa, but also in the forest areas of East Africa. The hair is often silky and not very dense; it differs greatly between species in terms of color and pattern. The mostly black and white ringed hair with a light tip create a pearly gray impression, so that the skins were often referred to as "pearl monkeys" . These were mainly the fur of the Diana monkey.

Satan monkeys and howler monkeys

For South America, the Satan monkeys and the red howler monkeys are worth mentioning in connection with the history of the fur trade , from which, however, fur was rarely delivered.

The long beard and head of hair are characteristic of the Satan monkeys from northeastern Brazil. The fur is short and very dark, it is mostly black, it can only be dark brown on the shoulders and back. The tail is long and very bushy.

The howler monkeys from Central and South America are among the largest New World monkeys after the spider monkeys. The red howler monkeys live in northwestern South America. The coat color varies from red to orange, the sexes are colored the same, the males are slightly larger. The length of the head body varies between 46 and 57 centimeters, the tail is around 65 centimeters long. The face is hairless except for a beard.

Tooth arms

In 1910 a specialist fur book stated that two types of skins from the toothed arm family were occasionally on the market, that of the sloth and the anteater.

Sloth hair

sloth

Sloths reach a total length of 42 to 80 cm. The head is very short, the face rather round. The ears are small and hidden in the fur, the tail is stubby. The limbs are very long, the front longer than the rear, which is particularly pronounced in the three-toed sloth . The genera differ in the number of visible fingers. Both groups have three toes each on their hind legs. The fingers and toes have large, crescent-shaped, curved claws and are about the same length.

The hair has a feather-like appearance that is different from all other species. The awns are about 8 centimeters long, yellowish and "look like dry grass". Only the tips are brown in color. Two layers can be clearly distinguished in the fur of the three-toed sloth: The short and very dense undercoat and the long, straw-like outer coat . The two-toed sloths, on the other hand, only have the top coat. A special characteristic of the hair of the sloth is the lack of the medulla. The hairline runs from the belly to the back and thus opposite to that of other mammals. Furthermore, the hair of the two-toed sloth has 3 to 9 longitudinal ribs and grooves on the outer surface, which run along the entire length. This is unique among mammals. This does not occur in the three-toed sloths, whose hair has small air spaces under the cuticle .

Anteater muff and collar

ant-eater

The anteater's habitat stretches across Central and South America. The Paraguayan anteater is the largest of its kind. Measured by the tail, it can reach a length of up to 2.50 meters. The anteater's tail is at least as long as the rest of its body, sometimes more. The fur consists of dense, stiff guard hair about 10 centimeters long; the tail hairs are up to 40 centimeters long.

The skins were mostly made into carpets. A prospectus from the Vienna studio Bachwitz from 1908/1910 shows a watercolor of a lady with a wide collar and a muff, the fur material was given as "fourmilier", anteater (see illustration).

The fur of the little anteater ( Tamandua ) is 47 to 88 centimeters long; at 40 to 67 centimeters in relation to the body, the tail is somewhat shorter than that of the other species. The hair is hard and short and consists of black awns with a little yellow-gray undercoat, the basic color of the coat is beige to light brown. On it is a black vest pattern that begins at the shoulder and encloses the torso behind the front legs; This drawing is more pronounced in the Northern Tamandua and stands out clearly from the basic color, in the Southern Tamandua it is more indistinct and can also be missing. Like all anteaters, they are characterized by their long, narrow snouts, the mouth of which is only the thickness of a pencil. Tamanduas have four toes on their front feet that are equipped with long, sharp claws, of which the third claw is greatly enlarged; the fifth toe is only rudimentarily developed. The hind feet have five toes with much smaller claws. The tail end is scaled.

The dwarf anteater is much smaller, the body length is about 20 centimeters, the tail is at least body length, usually it is longer. The hair is soft, dense and shiny; yellowish in color. The appearance is somewhat similar to the opossum fur , with some subspecies it is often lighter on the legs. Occasionally, there are smaller, dark stripes on the stomach and back. Sometimes a chocolate-colored eel line appears, which is more pronounced in animals in the Amazon basin than in Central American representatives. The head becomes around 5 cm long, the ears are very small and only reach around 0.7 to 1.3 cm in length. In contrast to the other anteater species, the snout is markedly shorter and significantly thicker. In the hands, the second and third toes are the longest, the first and fourth are stunted, and the fifth is completely absent. The two long toes of the hands have strong claws, the claws of the feet, which have four toes, are shortened. The rear foot is about 3.5 cm long.

Mountain forest tree hyrax

Hyrax or rock badger

Commons : Hyrax skins  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

The occurrence of the hyrax is limited to Africa. The fur is quite similar to the marble fur . The fur length is about 28 to 32 centimeters. The light, soft hair has almost no undercoat and is adapted to the environment depending on the occurrence, with brown and gray speckles. In the fur trade, however, the animals were always "almost unknown".

Cape hyrax, Johnston hyrax, Abyssinian hyrax, Sudan or Sahara hyrax

The fur of these four hyrax species is long-haired, dense and soft and varies depending on the occurrence between dark nut brown, light brown or brownish gray with light awning tips. The fur length is about 40 to 55 cm. The skins have two characteristics, they have no underhair and the individual hairs are arranged in groups of 15. An additional feature is a spot on the back near the lumbar vertebra. It consists of whitish, light yellow or black hair, depending on its origin. The approximately 30 mm long bald spot in the middle of the spot comes from a gland from which the animals secrete a strongly smelling liquid during the mating season.

It was not until 1900 that the hyrax skin was sold annually with around 10,000 pieces, where it was processed into fur lining.

In 1988 the deliveries were judged to be insignificant and no figures could be determined.

The hides of the tree or forest hyrax , skin length about 45 to 55 cm, are traded even less than that of the rock hyrax. Apparently nothing is known about the fur use of the other hybrids.

Monotremes / platypus

Platypus fur cape (1890)

Since 1905, the stands platypus under complete conservation.

The characteristic of the platypus is its mouth, which is unique to mammals and resembles a duck's bill. The coat length is around 30 to 40 centimeters, the comparatively flattened tail is 10 to 15 centimeters long. The under hair is dense, soft and silky, of a mousy color. The guard hair protruding from the undercoat is black-brown on the back, yellowish on the belly, and quite tight and bristle-like on the tail. On the legs the color turns gray and white; it rests tightly here and is not cylindrical on the front legs, but rather pressed flat. The toes are hairless on the front feet and covered with hair up to the claws on the back. The hind legs are about 6.5 centimeters long, the front legs slightly shorter, and webbed feet are located between the toes.

The fur was used by Australian furriers for hats and blankets before it was put into protection. Around 1900 the maximum export was 100 pieces a year, at a very low price. In Europe around 1840 "some platypus skins" were only traded by natural food dealers via England, but at a very high price at the time.

At the time the fur was used, the quality was judged to be extremely good; they “provide a fur in their skins that is equal to or even surpasses that of otters in terms of quality”. The use also corresponded to that of otter skins. In the later literature only a durability coefficient of 50 to 60 percent is assumed compared with the sea otter skin.

Men parka the Eskimos from ungerupftem eiders fur

Birds

In addition to the skins of mammals, the fur industry also uses the hides of some species of birds. In the last few decades, bird skins were no longer used for clothing purposes, at least to a negligible extent. In 1970 the material is mentioned as "only relatively seldom as a set for dressing gowns or party clothes for teenagers". The peeled, feathered skin of the birds is usually referred to as bird hide , only in the fur industry the term fur is also used for the peeled, tanned bird skin.

The overwhelming main use of the bird hides consisted of the use of down feathers, down or down, for duvet and pillow inlets. Before the invention of the metal nib, quills were used as writing utensils for ink. The meat of the farmed geese and ducks was eaten, regionally also that of the wild birds.

The bird skins formed "a little permanent fur". Only those species come into question that have a full and well-developed chest and stomach plumage, "it keeps you warm, is supple, light and silky-soft and is also very appealing with its white or light colors full of high gloss". In the colder areas, mainly in coastal areas and on the islands of the far north, the hides of the birds found there were used for clothing in addition to the fur of seals, arctic foxes, polar bears and other mammals. Eider ducks, grebes, geese, gulls and swans were mainly used for this.

Bird hides are made durable by tanning and taxidermy is used by taxidermists to make animal bodies for study, teaching or decorative purposes. Between 1840 and 1890 in particular, the skins of some bird species were made into clothing by furriers to a significant extent. At that time, the great fashion of young women was a set consisting of a beret, a matching small muff and a narrow fur tie made of the shiny white chest and belly plumage of the grebe or the crested buttfoot that turned to the sides into blue-gray or reddish brown.

In contrast to almost all hairy types of fur, the bird hide is cut open in the back for use as fur in order to protect the better belly side.

Eider

King eider

kingfisher

Goose (domestic goose)

vulture

Grebes (grebes)

cormorant

pelican

gull

penguin

swan

Ostrich and other large birds

Guendjen

In some old reference works, a fur animal is mentioned in different spellings, the guendjen . The Crimean peninsula is mentioned a few times as home, but it is also said to occur in Russia and Poland. It may no longer be possible to determine with certainty which animal was meant. It also seems uncertain whether the different names and name variants are actually the same animal or fur type. The descriptions of the designation “Guendjen”, which are very similar to names, suggest that this is Feh , the fur of the Russian or Siberian squirrel.

In Johann Christian Schedel's new and complete general encyclopedia of goods from 1814 it says: “The Guendjens von der Krimm are almost always of the genus called Orta-Guendjen. They are caught on the peninsula; the greater part comes from Prekop and Oczakow. These animals are driven out of their caves and holes by letting water run into them until they are forced to come out. Their skins are of various types. A perfect fur is usually made up of 60 pieces of fur and costs 3 to 12 piastres. These animals, too, are only hunted in winter; in summer the skins are no good. The beautiful black Guendjen skins are supplied by Russia and Poland ”.

Similar, old names are next to Guendjen:

Gueudjen (squirrel),

Gwedjen ("Russian squirrels are of dreyerley genus, namely black, Siah-Gwedjen, Orta-Gwedjen, and Beiaz-Gwedjen or white variety"),

guendjon (French = ecureuil = squirrel) and gandjen (in the same work, described as Guendjen),

Less similar names are göçen , güçän , güçen or küzen . What is certain is that small fur animals were named that way. Above all, squirrel-like, especially the squirrel (Fehfell), marten-like, especially the polecat, but also small rabbits with the designation Gundjen or similar spelling.

Whappernocker

Under the common name Whappernocker , a possibly non-existent animal is mentioned for the first time in the 18th century, with a beautiful coat from the northern American Free States; it is mentioned separately for Connecticut. Gottfried Christian Bohn's warehousing from 1806 notes that it makes an excellent fur, but that the animal was not yet properly described at the time. The coat has a beautiful, shiny reddish brown color and thick, soft hair. With Samuel Peters it is a little bigger, with Brockhaus not quite as big as a weasel. They are used to make sleeves for women, which are worth 30 to 40 guineas, and thus make a proud, precious fur .

Georgie D. Runyan wrote about the Whappernocker in an ironic, doubtful way in 1892 that it could well be questionable that the proof of its existence was ever offered. It is possible that, despite the descriptions in the reference works, this is just a fantasy creature similar to Wolpertinger .

annotation

  1. a b c d e f g h The specified 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 classification was made in steps of 10% each, only the weakest species received the value class from 5% to 10%. The most durable types of fur according to practical experience were set to 100%.

See also

Commons : Furskins  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
Commons : World map of the geographic distribution of fur animals  - collection of images, videos and audio files
Commons : Fur Clothing  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
Commons : Kürschner (with a summary of redirects relating to fur)  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. Paul Larisch , Josef Schmid: The furrier craft. 1st year, No. 12, 3rd part, p. 72, chapter mosaic , Paris June 1903.
  2. Scientific information system for international species protection www.wisia.de
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  5. ^ Ernst dancers: hair and fur studies. The Rauchwarenmarkt, Leipzig 1932, p. 11.
  6. Without an author's name: Do you already know…. In: The fur industry. Publishing house Die Pelzwirtschaft, Frankfurt am Main / Berlin, October 1949.
  7. FF Aljew, Baku: The protection of fur-bearing animals in the USSR. In: The fur trade. Hermelin-Verlag Dr. Paul Schöps, Berlin / Frankfurt am Main / Leipzig / Vienna, Volume XIX, No. 3, 1968, p. 28 (primary source: S. Lebenglatz 1956)
  8. Henning Zeumer: The international position of the German tobacco industry with special consideration of the Frankfurt am Main location. Diploma thesis Chair of Economic Geography, University of Mannheim, 1985, pp. 5–6.
  9. ↑ Tobacco goods (skins for fur) and products made from them (fur). Designation regulations. RAL 075 A 2 . RAL, Frankfurt am Main, Beuth Vertrieb, Berlin and others, 1968 edition.
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  12. Fur animals and tobacco products. In: The Kürschnerfibel. Verlag Alexander Duncker, Leipzig, August 21, 1937, p. 91.
  13. Abraham Gottlieb: Fur Truth. Harper & Brothers Publishers, New York / London 1927, p. 36 (Eng.)
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