SECRETS OF THE FUR TRADE.

Auckland Star, Volume LI, Issue 73, 27 March 1920, Page 19

SECRETS OF THE FUR TRADE.

ItAT. CAT AND BABBIT DESCItrBED! AS COKEY. ■ | The wild cat coat may be th e most fash-1 .onable article in tbe su-burbau woman's ivardrobe next winter (says the "Daily :nrou!cle"j. The tame cat is likely to lie; i second favourite. Kur brokers in London are getting- ready '. 'or the big sales. Among tbe furs tv be offered are some thousands of wild and :ame cats. "What are c-atskins used for?" a Press representative asked au official ~f the, Hudson Bay Company. "Weil," he laughed, "if 1 told you I suppose 1 should be revealing one of the secrets of tbe fur trade. But I leave It ■ to you to guess that they are largely made, up into women's coats, and tiiat the eon-1 venleut word coney covers a multitude of cots and rats aud rabbits. , •Probably the rarest fur which w e are putting on the market is the sea-otter. It is found off Eastern Siberia, and shouid fetch from £l."v to £2cV) for a single skin. • It is too heavy to be made up into coats,, but is used for cuffs and collars. j "We have found no difficulty in setting furs, and we are offering musquash, otter, | squirrel, foxes, wolves, wolverines, seals, I bears, beaver." There will be no drop in prices. The demand for furs is enormous. \_ the list ccf furs to be offered for sale Sir Messrs. j A. and ~. Nesbltt. of Garllck Hill, are: •JVO w-IW cats. W.OOO house cats, 10,00u! rabbits, 52 leopards, 5700 .badgers, and j 200.000 moles. i "There will be no .heap fur coats fori women next winter," he declared. "How can there l>e? Imagine paying 16/ for a musquash skin! Very nice fur In its way.! but, after all, the musquash is only a rat. Before the war y<*i could buy a musquash coat for five guineas. To-day a coat of similar quality costs -40 guineas. "Rare skins, like silver fox and chinchilla and sable, will fetch big sums. Beaver and kolinsky and fitch and squirrel aud wolf will be in demand, too."