Few fitches sell at auction

Press, 20 June 1984, Page 26

Few fitches sell at auction

PA Dunedin Only 100 of 3200 fitches offered by Aorangi Furs, Port Chalmers, were sold at what was believed the first fitch auction in the South Island. Stock offered were the second offspring from a consignment of Scottish Highland fitches that the company imported soon after its establishment in 1982. Offered were 2400 females and 800 males. The sale was advertised throughout New Zealand and about 100 people turned up. They were mostly from Otago and Southland. “The type of fitch offered was well bred and grown, and should have satisfied all interested buyers,” said the auctioneer, Mr W. J. Townsend, for Dalgety Crown. The 100 fitches were sold to 10 buyers. Negotiations

have started to sell another 500 to a Central Otago buyer who intends setting up a fur venture, Mr Townsend said.

“Although it was a disappointing number of buyers, there was a lot of interest shown in these animals,” he said.

Prices ranged from $25 to $35 — not as high as expected — and this represented their pelt value, he said.

Mr Townsend likened the market to that for deer when that industry was in its infancy.

The chairman of directors of Aorangi Furs, Mr I. W. McMeeking, thought the sale “quite successful.”

Since the sale, prospective Auckland buyers had been in touch, he said. The company sold privately to breeders last year.