46 FUR FACTS 



of twenty nine hundred dollars per skin. These of course were the 

 choicest selected Imperial Barguzin sables. The average Russian sa- 

 ble is about fourteen inches long and when cut open and spread out 

 would average five inches in width so that it would contain about 

 seventy square inches of fur. The average Russian sable skin raw 

 sells for two to three hundred dollars per skin. The exceptionally 

 fine skins are very much higher, and the poorer skins somewhat less. 

 The very finest Russian sables as described above are a rich deep 

 dark brown in color, appearing almost black, with a few white hairs 

 sprinkled along the back of the pelt. The average Russian sable 

 is a rich brown, and the sables coming from the Kamchatka district 

 are the largest and most heavily furred. The fur is from three - 

 fourths to one and a half inches in depth and very dense, and a little 

 lighter in color down near the pelt than it is at the top. Some few 

 Russian sables are blended, that is just the tip of the hairs that have 

 been singed by the sun, are blended by tipping them with dye. This 

 is very hard for the inexperienced to detect, and while it is does not 

 decrease the value of the skin, skins treated in this way are not as 

 valuable as those that are naturally perfect in color. The Amur 

 sable which comes from the Amur river, vary considerably in color, 

 some of them being a light mouse color. They are very beautiful in 

 fur, and the quality of the fur is splendid, but they are not as val- 

 uable as the Barguzin or the Kamchatka sables, on account of their 

 color being very much lighter. Some of them are very heavily 

 sprinkled with white hairs, giving them a silvery gray effect, and while 

 they make up very beautifully in their natural color they are not as 

 valuable as the finer sables. 



Hudson Bay Sable 

 Hudson Bay sable belong to the same family as the Russian 

 sable and it is similar in its habits and color. They are found in the 

 forests of North America, the finest and largest skins coming from 

 Yukon Territory in the Stewart and Pelly River district. There 

 are large quantities found in the Hudson's Bay Country, and it is 

 due to this fact that they are called Hudson Bay sable. In the raw 

 fur trade, however, they are known and sold as marten and they are 

 thus distinguished from the Russian sable. Some of the finer skins 

 are very beautiful and compare favorably with some classes of Rus- 

 sian sable, but as a general rule they are not as deep in fur or as fine 

 in quality, nor have they the wonderful color and richness of the 

 fine Russian sable. They vary in color from a rich dark brown to 

 a very light yellow, the light yellow skins coming from along the 



