What is necessary to know about fur before buying?

Part 1 "Value, beauty and durability. What is more important?"

You have bought a fur coat, have stirred it up, and it has turned into a leather coat!...
- Acceptable?
- If not then this information is for you!

Usability of fur is arbitrarily divided into five groups, first of which is the most wear-proof. Otter, beaver and raccoon furs make this group. The second group is formed of sable, mink, polar fox and silver fox furs. The third group is astrakhan fur, marten, red fox, and sheepskin. The fourth group is squirrel, ermine, and chinchilla. The fifth group is rabbit and hare.

Comparative wear resistance of various kinds of skin is given below, thus wearability of otter fur is accepted for 100 points (*).

Otter, uncut             100
Otter, cut                    95
Wolverine                 100
Bear, brown               95
Beaver Kamchatka     95
Beaver, river, uncut     85
Raccoon, natural         75
Raccoon, dyed           60
Sable, natural              80
Silver fox                    75
Silver fox, toned          65
Blue Frost fox             70
Mink, natural              70
Mink, dyed                 55
Astrakhan fur              60
Polar fox, blue             60
Wolf, natural               60
Wolf, dyed                  40
Sheepskin                   55
Muskrat                      45
Polar fox, shadow       50
Red Fox, natural         55
Red Fox, dyed            45
Nutria, uncut               40
Jackal                         25
Squirrel, natural           25
Squirrel, dyed             20
Ermine                        25
Karakul                      15
Chinchilla                    15
Rabbit                         12
Brown hare                  5

* The information given above extends to furs which have lasted all the stages of processing according to the world standards.

Thus, when buying a product made of a hare or the rabbit, you should realize that it will be strewed as a New Year's fur-tree in a month after The Christmas. Well, what if you plan to wear your kind of fur coat after half a century? Then limit the choice to an otter or a beaver.

In addition, it is necessary to remember that fur dyed by an acid method loses 5-15 % of the durability, and toning reduces durability by 5-10%. Cutting of fur, on the contrary, increases wearability of a fur product by 20-40% since short-haired fur doesn't harden.

And now, let's talk about the value and beauty of fur. On this parameter it is divided into three groups. In the first, most expensive group is the fur of a sable, chinchilla, and silver fox, the American mink, a marten, a beaver, an otter, a bear, and the white and black wolf. In the second group, which is average priced, belong furs of the polar fox, red fox, squirrel, wolverine and ferret. The fur of rabbit and hare concerns are the third group.

There is a proverb in Russia: "Whoever was warned - was armed!"
Now you are armed and can go to the seller of hare's caps! :)

To be continued…