ALASKA FISHERY AND FUE-SEAL INDUSTRIES, 1924 153 



aQ^d were delivered by the Boxer at Seattle on November 20, from 

 "whence they were shipped by freight on the same date via Oregon- 

 Washington Railroad & Navigation Co., Union Pacific, and Wabash 

 to the Fouke Fur Co. at St. Louis, delivery being made on December 1. 



SALES 



In 1924 two public auction sales of Pribilof Islands fur-seal skins 

 were held, and in addition 287 skins were disposed of at private sales. 

 The first public auction sale was held at New York City on March 

 24 and the second at St. Louis, Mo., on October 15. The tables 

 below show details of these sales. 



March 21^, 1921^. — At this sale 19,804 dressed, dyed, and machined 

 Pribilof skins sold for $514,512.50; 11 miscellaneous skins from the 

 Pribilof Islands sold for $5.50; 3 skins from seals shipped to the 

 Steinhart Aquarium at San Francisco sold for $1.50; 33 skins received 

 from the Japanese Government under treaty provisions sold for 

 $561; and 35 confiscated skins sold for $45.50; a grand total of 

 $515,126. All of the dressed, dyed, and machined skins were pre- 

 pared with the standard black dye. 



October 15, 1924. — On this date there were sold 14,136 standard 

 black-dyed sealskins for $367,016, 1,845 brown-dved (Chataigne 

 d'Or) for $95,430.50, 1,010 raw salted for $7,983, and 17 miscellaneous 

 for $17.65, ah taken at the Pribilof Islands, and 4 confiscated skins 

 for $16.50— a grand total of $470,463.65. 



The brown-dyed skins were an innovation to the trade, and keen 

 competition for them was shown. A comparative study of the prices 

 received for the three kinds is of interest. The 1,010 raw salted 

 skins brought an average price of $7.90 each, the 14,136 black-dyed 

 skins an average of $25.96, and the 1,845 brown-dyed (Chataigne 

 d'Or) skins an average of $51.72 per skin. The cost of dressing, 

 dyeing, and machining the black-dyed and the brown-dyed skins 

 ranged from $14.50 to $15.50 per skin. It will be noted that the 

 black-dyed skins commanded a good margin in price over the raw 

 salted skins, after making allowance for the cost of dressing, dyeing, 

 and machining, and that the average price for brown-dyed skins was 

 within a few cents of double that obtained for the black-dyed skins. 



Private sales. — In the interim between the sale of October 15 and 

 the end of the year 287 Pribilof fur-seal skins were disposed of at 

 private sales, all of which were authorized by the Secretary of Com- 

 merce. 



On November 1, 1924, 195 Chataigne d'Or skins were sold to 

 various dealers for the purpose of increasing the interest of the trade 

 in the new brown-dyed skins. The price received was the average 

 bid for similarly dyed skins, grade for grade, at the sale on October 15. 



On December 24, 1924, 75 Chataigne d'Or seal skins were disposed 

 of at private sale by the Fouke Fur Co. to purchasers of similarly 

 dyed skins at the October 15 sale, at the price paid by them at that 

 sale for lots of the same grade of skins. Also, on December 24, 17 

 black-dyed skins were sold for exhibition purposes. These were of 

 the 1921 and 1922 takes, and the price was determined by the average 

 which skins of those years brought at previous auction sales. 



