FUR FACTS 179 



beautiful garments and is known as "Summer Ermine". It is a 

 light tan in shade and is very light in weight and matches beautifully 

 with almost any other color. 



It is said that at one time ermine fur was monopolized by the 

 royal families and nobility, and that it was never used or worn by 

 others. Today, however, it is very popular with Her Royal High- 

 ness, The American Woman, who uses it principally for evening 

 wraps and opera capes. It is not much given to street wear, for one 

 reason, on account of its white color; the principal reason probably 

 being that ermine rather calls for diamonds and low-cut gowns. 



The ermine, or white weasel, is found only in the Northern fringe 

 of states along the Canadian border, in Canada, and Alaska, the 

 finest native skins coming from Alaska. The Alaska white weasel 

 compares very favorably with the Russian ermine in size and quality. 

 However, the weasel is found in the central and southern states 

 but it is brown and does not change its color like its northern brother. 

 It evidently takes real bitter cold winter weather to cause the animal's 

 coat to change color. 



The weasel in some sections have sulphury-yellow spots on the 

 fur, and some people believe that this is characteristic only of the 

 genuine ermine and the finest skins, but this is not true. The skins 

 that command the highest prices and are the most sought after are 

 the pure snow white skins. In addition to this yellow tinge, white 

 weasel are also found sprinkled with gray or brown hairs, where the 

 transition from one color to another is not entirely complete. The 

 skins which have grey or brown hairs sprinkled through them are not 

 as valuable as the clear white skins. Weasel are also taken that are 

 about one half brown and one half white, and present a very spotted 

 appearance. These have little or no value for fur purposes. 



In the olden days the kings and queens monopolized the fur of 

 the ermine, and they still are used to adorn the state robes, the 

 black spot of the tail being used as well as the white fur. 



As stated before the finest ermine come from Russia, from the 

 Tomsky, Yakutsky, and Janiseisky sections of Siberia, the ermine 

 from the Barbizin section probably being the largest. At the 

 Russian fairs the ermine was usually offered in what were known 

 as timbres, a timbre consisting of a bundle of forty ermine skins. 



The weasel has a sharp eye and a keen sense of smell, and for this 

 reason is rather difficult to trap. Most trappers depend on artificial 

 scent such as Funsten Animal Bait to assist them in trapping this 

 blood-thirsty little furbearer. 



