Ground squirrel

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Susliki and perlsuslik fur

Ground squirrels come from ground squirrels , earth-dwelling squirrels that are spread across Europe and Asia. The previous North American sub-genera of the ground squirrel have now been raised to several separate genera. Squirrel skins are mainly traded from Asia, especially from the successor states of the Soviet Union .

The skins of the yellow or Fahlziesels be in the tobacco products sector as Petschaniki traded that of all other species as Susliki (almost always in the plural; singular = Petschanik and Suslik ).

According to PW Saring (1948), of the fourteen types, only seven are of commercial importance.

General

The European ground squirrel is protected under the Federal Species Protection Ordinance. In contrast, around 1911 only European ground squirrels were used for fur purposes. By 1930 mostly Siberian goods were already on the market. The best qualities of the European ground squirrel were caught in April and May.

The Swiss naturalist Conrad Gesner (1516–1565), son of a furrier , describes the Lassitz mouse (lat. Mus lassicius), whose delicious mouse hides are called Lassitz . The color should range from ash-colored to white, and the fur should not be more than a little finger wide. Quite a few furriers believe that it is the skins of the little weasel, others that they come from an animal that is called “Harnball” in German.

At the time, Emil Brass wrote about the American ground squirrel species , which are still rarely used or not used at all :

“So far, the animal has not been marketed anywhere, but for two years the American government has launched a war of extermination against these animals because they stand in the way of the more intensive cultivation of the prairies, which are now being converted into wheat land. Since that time over 3 million have fallen victim to the deadly strychnine. But it is a pity that the skins are not used at all and should be worked towards by American interested parties that the killed animals are stripped off and then the skins are made available to the trade, for which they are well suited. "

Baja California ground squirrel fur, little or no fur industry, Baja California

The fur length of the slender animals is 15 to 38 cm, depending on the species. The tail can be stubby, but also like a squirrel, long and bushy in two rows. The not very thick hair is short with tight, other colors ringed in the middle awns . The coat color shows significant differences.

a) gray to yellowish gray, pale yellowish to reddish brown, the upper side darker with lighter spots.
b) a similar color, but the spots are absent or only very weak.
c) brownish gray with light stripes and a number of white spots in between. The lower parts of the body yellowish white.
d) abundantly drawn in olive-brown, yellow-red and black-and-white (American gold-coated ground squirrel).

As pure herbivores and grain pests , the ground squirrel is stubbornly fought in Asia. In terms of the fur industry, they are considered to be of secondary importance in the USSR, but the number of fur attacks temporarily reached millions.

In 1957, it was stated that "for women's coats, jackets, capes, trimmings, and also for linings for men's fur , either made from whole skins or from pages."

Pechaniki

Old pechaniki muff
Suslikifelle (table remains)
Suslikifelltafeln (printed)

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 . Around 1926, pechaniki came on the market in large quantities for the first time. Dyed brown by the "Hempelfarbe" they were immediately a great market success, at least for a short time, the master dyer could barely manage the many orders. 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 in the trade as are Petschaniki referred to sometimes as Peschaniki or Pechaniki . The more correct term Pestschaniki (= sandstone) has not caught on. Until about 1930 they were still falsely traded as marbles . The fur is roughly the same as that of small to medium-sized (Orenburg) marbles. But Pechaniki are much narrower and they are much shorter-haired than the Beisky marbles.

The fur is grayish to yellowish, covered by the tips of the guard hair with dark veils, occasionally also yellow with brown back awns or evenly light sand-colored.

Compared to the Susliki, the Pechaniki have much larger skins.

The Russian Smoking Products Standard distinguishes between the following classes:
Kirghiz: great
New Kazakhstan: smaller and flatter
according to size ( raw fur range ):
small: 22 to 25 cm
medium size: 25 to 36 cm
large: about 36 cm

The best qualities come from the Aqtobian area and neighboring Kazakhstan, the lowest from South Central Asia.

The hunting season falls in the first month after hibernation.

Pechaniki skins have a relatively good shelf life; they are processed into fur clothing in natural or dyed colors. They are assembled into tablets in the wholesale trade. As with hamster skins you made earlier for a lining of a jacket material prepared, so-called feed on. In the last step it was sewn around like a bag; These semi-finished products from Russia were called Kaluga sacks after the production facility . The price for a sack in 1911 was 5 to 12 marks. For a time, pechaniki were dyed mink, sable or marten as an inexpensive mass-produced item for all types of fur clothing, or they were bleached beige. In 1928 a German fur processing company succeeded in bleaching Petschanikis "snow-white" so "that a layman can no longer distinguish a Peshaniki fur from a real ermine".

The durability coefficient of the pale gray sandstone is 50 to 60 percent. When the fur animals are divided into the hair fineness classes silky, fine, medium-fine, coarse and hard, the pechanik hair is classified as coarser.

Suzliki

Suslikifell
Pearl pebbles, Ukrainian varieties. No information on fur utilization.
Susliki dress (Emmendingen, 1981)

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

  • Europe

Nothing is known about a fur attack of the European ground squirrel, which is protected under the Federal Species Protection Ordinance.

  • Asia
Pearly pebbles with gray-brown fur with noticeably light spots. Considered one of the strongest grain pests among the ground squirrel species, it was heavily fought and also used to a large extent as a source of fur.
Mongolian ground squirrel , also from theTransbaikal area ofthe USSR. Yellow-brown. The skins are mostly preprocessed in Mongolia and China. They are then soldto the intermediate tradeasyellow ratin tablet form.
Long-tailed squirrel skins are the most important fur industry after the yellow squirrels. They come from the southern and eastern parts ofSiberia, theAmur region,Mongoliaand China.
Red and yellow ground squirrel , yellowish brown. It is a definite pest on grain, but it is only of secondary importance as a fur supplier.
Small pebbles , gray-brown to yellowish-brown fur coloration. Although they are also strong crop pests, they were only rarely used due to their small size.
Red-eared pigs were also rarely used for fur purposes.
Tienschan ground squirrel , also of little importance as a fur supplier.
  • America

Although the ground squirrel in America is more abundant than elsewhere, the fur was rarely used, only the Indians used the fur of the larger northern species.

Parry ground squirrel , Arctic ground squirrel : from Alaska and North America, also northeastern Siberia. They are yellow-brown to reddish-brown in color with irregular pale white spots, the belly is white. The fur length is 33 to 49 centimeters, the males are slightly larger than the females.
Franklin Ground Squirrel ; from the prairies of southern Canada to Arkansas and West India. The hallmark is the particularly long tail; the color is yellow-brown to reddish-brown; it has no streaks or spots.
Thirteen-lined ground squirrel or leopard ground squirrel; a resident of the prairies of Canada to the mid-southern United States. The medium brown fur has seven light vertical stripes that are bordered by six inner rows of dots.
Gold-coated ground burrow ; from the forests of the western mountains of southwest Canada to the southern rocky mountains. In its drawing it is more similar to thechipmunk. The back is brown-gray with white, black side stripes. The head is copper-colored with a light yellow-brown underside; the tail is hairy and has a stripe.

The fur of the ground squirrel was made into the "Muysenmantell", or mouse coat, as early as the Middle Ages . The Russian explorer Peter Simon Pallas was apparently not aware of any significant use of the fur at the time. He wrote at the beginning of the 1770s: “Of all of them, however, the most common steppes here is the so-called Ziselmauß or Suslik (Mus Citillus), which has an extremely cute, spotted fur in all free, wild regions between the Volga and the Don up to about 53 degrees latitude For which reason it deserves to be caught in larger quantities, since it can be obtained very easily anyway.However, this animal falls in all regions both south and east from the Volga to Siberia, not only much larger, but also a completely different one , dreadful fur, a bushy tail and the complete appearance of a marmot, which it also compares in its manners ”.

According to information in Russian literature, greater numbers of ground squirrels are also used in fur in Mongolia and China (JM Gromov et al.). A lighter variety is said to be produced in China, but it probably did not make it onto the world markets.

In the Mongolian People's Republic , according to a specialist article published in 1971, the long-tailed ground squirrel was caught by schoolchildren during the school holidays due to state planning requirements. The animals were viewed as serious food competitors for the herds in times of high population density . The mean catch results per catcher and season were between 300 and 400 skins. 20 Möngo = 15 Pfennig of the value at that time were paid for one skin. The annual volume was 650,000 pelts, most of which came from the north-western parts of Mongolia. A substantial increase was believed possible for the mass population years.

Susliki hair is very short and fine; the lower hair weak. In contrast to the pechaniki, the hair cannot be brushed back. The color is yellow to reddish brown with a blackish sheen, the dewlap is reddish gray.

Suzliki belong to the lowest rated fur types, especially the durability of the thin leather was very low, at least with the tanning methods of the time. In the first quarter of the 20th century, the demand for the better pechaniki also stimulated sales of the cheaper substitute material. Usually the price in the Soviet Union, the main source area, was so low that it did not cover the cost of fur finishing and transport of the pelts. That is why they were already prepared (tanned) there, put together into bars and exported when there was enough demand. Schedels Warren-Lexikon wrote as early as 1814, “Ziselmaus, Kazan Erdmaus (muscitillus), Russian suzlik, one of the meanest steppe animals in Russia, from which the skins are sold ... At Orenburg , the sack of these skins is 9 rubles; at Kjachta the spotty (Evrashki) cost 5 rubles ”.

The durability coefficient for Suslikifelle is given as 20 to 30%, for Perlziesel at Dathe / Schöps with 10 to 20%. If the fur animals are divided into the hair fineness classes silky, fine, medium-fine, coarse and hard, the suzlik hair is classified as medium-fine.

Nothing was known about the fur attack in 1988. In 1986 and 1987 there were no offers at the Russian auctions. Dathe / Schöps write in 1986 that in Mongolia "around 650,000 individuals are captured for fur purposes every year", although the number of attacks can decrease significantly, especially in the case of prolonged cold and especially wet weather periods in the winter and spring months.

Smaller varieties, qualitatively lower especially in terms of hairiness, are offered as peschliki .

The raw hides are delivered open, not peeled off round.

A master furrier stretches a suzliki coat because of the large width on the floor (1987)

The use is mainly as a lightweight fur lining in textile parts, partly dyed or printed. As early as 1928 it was stated in a specialist furrier book: “The use of fur for a fur costume should be mentioned in particular, for which the fur is excellently suited due to its delicacy and softness as well as lightness. The summer fur fashion has instructed the proper place the Suslik. This is where the fur comes into its own, because it again has those advantages that are expected from a summer model. ”Just 29 years later, another colleague from the industry wrote again:“ Natural utilization for food; Recently, summer coats and jackets have also been made from bleached and dyed suzliki or pearl suzliki. "

In the main epoch of muffle fashion, it was also used to feed cheap muffle. In times when fashion favored so-called summer fur, the light fur was also increasingly processed. In 1936 an American textbook stated that the skins were dyed and used exclusively for feed. Arthur Samet, on the other hand, reports fourteen years later that a few years earlier attempts to pluck Susliki skin (the guard hair) and to dye it in the USA were quickly abandoned because the result was all too poor. Instead, the skins would be dyed in attractive shades of mink and made into coats with the haircut down. Very beautiful qualities and skillful processing would not allow even the most experienced fur buyer to recognize at first glance what nature the fur is.

Tail lathe
(approx. 1900)

With the "democratization" of furs through the abolition of dress codes and the newly developed clothing industry, the fur of emperors and kings, the ermine fur , also reached the bourgeoisie. With the imitation by sheared white rabbit fur , the fur refiner tried to create a similar, cheaper item of clothing for an even wider range of buyers. The trimmings with fur tails were characteristic of ermine fur. To do this, suzliki tails were dyed black and made into the dark tips of the imitation ermine tails made of rabbit fur. At the time, Hans Werner wrote about it, "... a fur technical work of art that some fur man needs to purchase, while others see it as an aberration of taste." In recent times, the tails have no longer been used for the fur industry.

Even during the First World War , many bales of Suslikitafeln stored in what was then the World Fur Trade Center in Leipzig were sold well despite their poor quality. During the Second World War (1939–1945) large numbers of Suzliki came to Leipzig from the Soviet Union. At that time there were many fur dressing shops and refiners in and around Leipzig, and as early as 1895 suzliki were dyed black here. The skins were trimmed here during the war and mostly exported to Hungary and the Balkan countries, where they were prefabricated into panels, among other things. The hair and leather quality of the goods was very poor. - In the second European fur trading center, in Garlick Hill in London, ground squares were only occasionally offered. Although these were very large, in times of the lowest prices only £ 1, sometimes less, was achieved for them per bar (according to information from tobacco dealer Richard König Sr. , 1969).

Pine Squirrel

Pine Squirrel fur board, colored and printed (detail, 2012)

As pine squirrel (pine squirrel ), some colored and printed panels made of ground squirrel skins were offered at the Frankfurt tobacco market in 2012. The natural color should roughly correspond to the fur on the back of the gray squirrel ( Feh ), but more dirty brown.

Numbers and facts

  • From the 1926/27 season 4,240,065 (previous year 5,439,407) pechaniki and 2,659,519 (previous year 275,303) raw suzliki were exported from the USSR. The price of a Pechanikifell is said to have increased from 45 American cents to 69 cents between 1923 and 1927 as part of a general rise in the price of fur.
In 1927 the trade journal Rauchwarenhandel wrote under the heading “ Purchases of hamster skins in Russia ”: “ Hamster skins were traded here for the first time and 10,000 skins were bought by the state agency. The government commissioner for enforcement was asked for permission to start hunting ground squirrels in the spring. "
  • Before 1944 the maximum price for colored Pechaniki furs was: large RM 6; small: 3 RM
for susliki food, natural or colored: 40 RM.
  • In 1954 , 92 million ground squirrel skins were processed in the Soviet Union. The Saratov region had a volume of around 7.5 million, Volgograd 23.3 million and Rostov 13.3 million. From 1907 to 1909, however, the average production was only half a million skins.

See also

Cislik Promenade Dress Collar and Long Hair Lapel (Paris, 1900)
Commons : Suslikifelle  - collection of images, videos and audio files
Commons : Clothing made from Susliki skins  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Web links

annotation

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

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

Literature, individual references

  1. ^ A b c Fritz Schmidtt : The book of fur animals and fur , 1970, FC Mayer Verlag, Munich, pp. 127-131
  2. ^ A b c d Emil Brass: From the realm of fur , 1911, publishing house of the "Neue Pelzwaren-Zeitung and Kürschner-Zeitung", Berlin, pp. 594–597
  3. ^ Hermann Deutsch: The modern skinning. Handbook for furriers, dyers, bleachers, cutters and manufacturers , A. Hartleben's Verlag, Vienna and Leipzig, 1930. p.
  4. ↑ a b c d Prof. Dr. sc. nat. Dr. med vet. hc Heinrich Dathe, Berlin; Dr. rer. pole. Paul Schöps, Leipzig with the collaboration of 11 specialist scientists: Pelztieratlas , VEB Gustav Fischer Verlag Jena, 1986, Ziesel , pp. 100-104.
  5. ^ Conrad Gesner: Thierbuch , reprint of the 1669 edition, Schlütersche Verlagsanstalt, Hanover 1980, p. 270 ISBN 3-87706-176-1
  6. ↑ a b c d e f g h i Christian Franke / Johanna Kroll: Jury Fränkel's Rauchwaren-Handbuch 1988/89 , 10th revised and supplemented new edition, Rifra-Verlag Murrhardt
  7. ↑ a b Friedrich Lorenz: Rauchwarenkunde, 1958. Self-published, Berlin , pp. 54–55
  8. ↑ Editor: Peschaniki . In: Der Rauchwarenmarkt Heft 80, Berlin and Leipzig, June 6, 1929, S 2. Note: The fur specialist address book from 1938 lists a dressing and dyeing shop H. Hempel, Reichenbach i. V.
  9. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Author: Dr. M. Gorgas, Cologne; Kurt Häse; Dr. Paul Schöps The Ground Squirrel in The Fur Industry , Hermelin-Verlag Dr. Paul Schöps, Berlin, Frankfurt / Main, Leipzig, Vienna, year XX, 1969/1970, No. 1, pp. 3–15
  10. ↑ "er.-": Peshaniki ermine and its impact on the tobacco market . In: Der Rauchwarenmarkt No. 75, Leipzig, June 23, 1928. Quote: "Towards the middle of this month a product from a finishing company [name not mentioned] belonging to the German tobacco-dressing and dyeing works attracted a justified sensation".
  11. ↑ a b Paul Schöps, Kurt Häse: The fineness of the hair - the fineness classes . In: Das Pelzgewerbe Vol. VI / New Series, 1955 No. 2, Hermelin-Verlag Dr. Paul Schöps, Leipzig, Berlin, Frankfurt am Main, pp. 39–40.
  12. ↑ Reinhold Stephan, Bochum: On the history of the smoking goods trade in antiquity and the Middle Ages and the development of the Russian-Asian region from 16.-18. Century , Inaugural Dissertation University of Cologne, 1940. P. 68. Table of contents . Primary source Bruno Kuske: The economic beginnings of Siberia and its neighboring areas from the 16th to the 18th century , Vol. IV of the sources, p. 494. In Schmoller's yearbook , 46th year, II. Issue, Munich and Leipzig 1922, article I, p 201-250, Article II, pp. 85-116
  13. ↑ Peter Simon Pallas: Journey through the various provinces of the Russian Empire . Imperial Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg 1771-1776, first volume, pages 129-130. Reprinted by the Akademische Druck- und Verlagsanstalt, Graz, 1967.
  14. ↑ N. Dawaa, M. Not, G. Schünzel: About the fur animals of the Mongolian People's Republic (MVR) . In: Das Pelzgewerbe 1971 Jg. XXI New Series Vol. 1, pp. 6-7
  15. ↑ a b c Alexander Tuma jun: The practice of the furrier , published by Julius Springer, Vienna, 1928, page 285
  16. ↑ Prof. D. Johann Heinrich Moritz Poppe: Johann Christian Schedel's new and complete Warren Lexicon, second part M to Z, fourth thoroughly improved edition , Offenbach am Mayn, Verlag Carl Ludwig Brede, 1814. P. 601
  17. ↑ Dr. Paul Schöps; Dr. H. Brauckhoff, Stuttgart; K. Häse, Leipzig, Richard König , Frankfurt / Main; W. Straube-Daiber, Stuttgart: The durability coefficients of fur skins in Das Pelzgewerbe , Volume XV, New Series, 1964, No. 2, Hermelin Verlag Dr. Paul Schöps, Berlin, Frankfurt / Main, Leipzig, Vienna, pp. 56–58
  18. ↑ Alexander Tuma: Pelz-Lexikon. Fur and rough goods . XXI. Tape. Verlag Alexander Tuma, Vienna 1951. Ziesel , page 289
  19. ↑ Max Bachrach: Fur. A Practical Treatise. Prentice-Hall, Inc., New York, 1936. Ziesel ; Pp. 158–160 (engl.)
  20. ↑ Arthur Samet: Pictorial Encyclopedia of Furs , Arthur Samet (Book Division), New York, 1950, p. 279 (Engl.)
  21. ^ H. Werner: Die Kürschnerkunst , Verlag Bernh. Friedr. Voigt, Leipzig 1914
  22. ↑ Kurt Nestler: Tobacco and fur trade , Dr. Max Jänecke Verlagbuchhandlung, Leipzig, 1929, pp. 92–93
  23. ↑ Without the author, in: "Pelzhandel" 3rd year, Leipzig March 1927
  24. ^ Friedrich Malm, August Dietzsch: The art of the furrier. Fachbuchverlag Leipzig 1951, pp. 57, 67.