Arctic fox fur
[Note 2][5] In 1931, another diva, the actress Marlene Dietrich, caused quite a stir when she appeared at the Berlin Press Ball wearing “a fabulous evening coat made of white crêpe suéde with six white foxes as trimmings from the Max Becker model house”.
[10] Until the summer of 1915, hardly any trappers had bothered to catch the fox with the less valuable fur; only the Eskimos used it to line their pants.
The trading posts were soon so far north that the polar explorer Knud Rasmussen (1879–1933) wrote: “Along Canada's Arctic coast lies trap after trap like a single pair of steel scissors, mercilessly snapping at any unwary white fox that allows itself to be tempted by the inviting bait”.
According to the Canadian Dominion Bureau of Statistics, the annual harvest before 1970 was around 45 to 55 thousand pelts, compared to only a few hundred of the rare blue foxes.
When far-reaching hunting led to an extreme decline in populations and market prices collapsed at the same time, this had a catastrophic effect on the economic situation of the indigenous peoples of northern Canada and Alaska at the beginning of the 1930s.
In North America, blue and white fox pelts were almost a kind of fur money in a barter trade with the Eskimos.
However, until the First World War, these down-soft pelts were a sought-after item for light, but warm and durable lining, but hunting and trapping of Arctic foxes of this age is now prohibited.
[5] Pelts hunted shortly before (flat, bluish) or after the main season (“ragged shedding”) are considered practically worthless.
Scandinavia – Spitsbergen, Northern Norway (Finnmark); similar to the Russian-Siberian ones, but considerably smaller and lower in quality.
Auction assortments (from 1988):[14] a) Russian, standardized b) Hudson’s Bay and Annings Ltd., London c) The Royal Greenland Trade Department, Copenhagen The American trappers usually deliver the pelts with the skin side facing outwards because of the better protection of the hair, while in the wholesale trade white fox skins of all origins are offered with the fur side facing outwards because of the better valuation possibilities.
A technical report therefore provides detailed instructions for this: “The pelt is placed over the left upper arm, first with the head and neck: the other larger part hangs down on the outside of the forearm.
The Royal Greenlandic Trading Company brought 800 to 1000 furs to Copenhagen for auction each year, which were sorted into four categories, with only a few of the best types available.
A large white fox with somewhat coarser hair lives on the coast of the Hudson Bay and Barrengrounds.
On Kodiak Island there is a large white fox with coarse hair and a short, broad skull.
The Harmony Company in Labrador, run by the Moravian missionaries, sold around 1000 pelts a year via London.
In the finished fur, even interposed strips of leather cannot be found if they have been sewn in using the traditional furrier's technique without tearing the hair fleece.
Due to the extremely dense, matted undercoat, there is no risk of the sewn-in leather strips being visible when the fur is folded, if done professionally.
Goods intended for dyeing are also often brightened beforehand in order to achieve a clearer color and more regular assortments.
In 1928, the dyeing of the often spotty pelts into a regular blue-gray is mentioned for “the wonderfully beautiful, sought-after spring and summer fur”, as well as the colors platinum, silver-gray, beige, orange and marten-like.
They are also the classic material for festive furs, scarves, coats and jackets, and were formerly also used mostly for stoles, muffs and dress trimmings.
The maximum and minimum fur amount can result from the different sizes of the sexes of the animals, the age groups and their origin.
The main place for recycling the fur waste produced in Europe is Kastoria in Greece and the smaller town of Siatista nearby.
[19] In 1925, the annual production of white fox pelts was estimated as follows: 30.000 for North America, 25.000 for Asia and 10.000 for Europe.
[21] In 1968, the total number of wild arctic foxes in the tundras of the Soviet Union was estimated at 200.000, and between 140.000 and 160.000 in North America.
Annual production of Arctic fox pelts in Canada, average unit price (season 1945/46 to 1973/74):[22]
