THE FUR TRADERS. 



The use of skins for winter garments dates back to the 

 period when the groves were God's first temples, and a 

 man's wants were limited to his necessities. It is a long 

 call back to the time when the Patriarchs clothed them- 

 selves in the skins of the animals they had slain in the prim- 

 eval forests from the present day when furs are often 

 worn, like pearls and diamonds, for ornament rather than 

 the protection they afford the wearer, and in some cases 

 are so valuable that a fashionable woman's collection of 

 furs is often worth more than a king's ransom. All 

 through the intervening centuries peltries have formed an 

 important article of trafiSc, even though the ingenuity of 

 man, in inventing processes for the manufacture of other 

 materials from which to fashion his garments, has in many 

 cases caused the furs to become a subsidiary luxury in- 

 stead of a primary necessity. 



One of the oldest guilds in the city of London is the 

 Skinners' Company which was originally a combination of 

 fur traders, but at a later period the "Upholders" and 

 "Tawas," as the furriers and skin dealers were then 

 respectively called were admitted to membership. There 

 are no documents from which the particulars of its origin, 

 or the date of its founding, can be traced ; but it is inter- 

 esting to note that a charter granted the company on 

 March 1st, 1327, by King Edward III of England, contains 

 a provision that the members must not sell old fur for 

 new. A second charter granted by Henry VI, on February 

 24, 1437, gave the company authority to regulate the 

 exposure of furs for sale and the mixing of old and new 

 furs ; as well as the right to scrutinize the work, places of 

 business, and the wares offered for sale by the furriers 

 in London and other parts of the Kingdom. Evidently 

 even at that early day there were those who were bring- 

 ing reproach upon an honorable calling by taking advan- 

 tage of the opportunities for deception offered by the 

 fur trade. 



Charles I, seized and confiscated the lands of the 

 Skinners' Company, but they were returned to them later. 



