WHAT WOMEN FUR BUYERS SHOULD KNOW 39 



chemicals may also eat down to the skin and in course of ten years, 

 weaken it. The most beautiful collection of otter I have ever seen 

 came from an assorted lot of Labrador and Kamchatka skins. Ex- 

 cept for their size, at a glance and at a distance they might be mis- 

 taken for dark marten lacking the stripe; but they had been sil- 

 vered by chemicals and I did not order a coat made from them, which 

 would have cost me almost as much as mink or marten, because I 

 know a coat costing so much should last a lifetime ; and in a few 

 years, silvered otter would not look as well as the lustrous gold brown, 

 which retains its complexion for twenty years unimpaired if you 

 don't expose it to heat. 



Vegetable dyes do not injure a skin as much as chemical dyes. 

 Therefore a skin well cured by Indians will last the longest. 



While wolf is counterfeited for fox, it is a tougher skin than fox 

 and worth the value of a fox if bought at the price of red fox, or cross 

 fox. Wolf is never the value of silver or black fox. 



Smell Russian sable if you want to know if some stripes have 

 been hand dyed by a feather. A process of smoke fumes is some- 

 times used to give the vapory gleam to the fur. It does not injure 

 the pelt but leaves a slight odor of fumes. 



The fisher can never be faked. He is large and he is a one piece 

 fur; and his bushy tail is the stamp of his aristocracy among furs. 



Having bought your rare furs, the question is how to keep them. 

 Expensive furs should be examined by a reliable furrier every year 

 or two for signs of deterioration, the same as your teeth or jewels. 

 The scuff in fox next to the wearer's neck should be repaired every 

 year. Otherwise, it gives a shabby appearance to what is just as 

 good as new. This particularly applies to cross fox, which comes 

 next to silver fox in value. Furs like nutria and beaver, which mat, 

 can be kept as lustrous as new if you avoid exposure to damp weather 

 and have them whipped and combed and sawdust cleaned at inter- 

 vals as you would have a fine evening gown especially freshened up. 

 Seals real and imitation and all lambs should be watched for the 

 acid eating down to the skin, which can be reenforced by a false skin 



