formerly had little or 110 value as fur became popular 

 under various trade names. A comparison of the 

 highest prices paid at the October sales in St. Louis 

 in 1915 with those in 1919 illustrates the increase in 

 fur values. Beaver advanced in these four years 

 from $17 to $38.50; otter from $14 to $101; muskrat 

 from 36i/o cents to $5.10; red fox from $15.20 to 

 $64; fisher from $25.50 to $205; skunk from $3.36 to 

 $10.60; marten from $15.20 to $145. 



Highest Prices Reached 



The crest of the rising wave of fur values was 

 reached at the auction sales of February and March, 

 1920, when weasel brought $4.10; muskrat $7.50; 

 skunk, $12.25; raccoon, $30; lynx, $66; red fox, $71; 

 mink, $75; otter, $105; marten, $201, and fisher, $365. 

 The fur market has been greatly depressed recently, 

 but its recovery to normal demand and prices in the 

 near future is anticipated. 



The Biological Survey cites the case of one man 

 who bought a mink-lined coat complete in 1913 for 

 $500; after wearing the coat two years he sold the 

 lining for $1,000 and replaced it with nutria at a 

 cost of $150; in 1917 he sold the nutria lining for 

 $250 and put in a muskrat lining at a cost of $55; in 

 1919 he sold the muskrat lining for $300 and still 

 has the shell of the coat and a clear profit of $84$. 

 Two boys near Ottawa, 111., sold $1,000 worth of 

 muskrat, skunk, and mink skins during the winter of 

 1919-20. Alaskan trappers in 1918 sold furs valued 

 at $1,363,600. Skunk skins are estimated to have 

 brought $1,000,000 to New York state trappers in a 

 single year. 



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