Hogwash^^^^
They get paid on commission,it is in their interest as well as the trappers,for them to grade and sort to the recognized professional standard.

Might have to dis-agree with you here, why do a significant amount of claims get settled when the buyer sees the bulk goods? I had 40% of the 2nd lot from the top lot of Northern red fox fall apart because they were VERY stale, this did not show in the sample. This was a lot of $$$ for a small manufacturer, over ten grand USD. At the same sale I purchased the top lot of ranch red fox and they all fell apart for the same reason, I was compensated for these, after much negotiating.

Likely the tannery.Problem with de greasing.Tannerys have about a 5% blowout ,even more when starting up training new employees.
I have never known "significant" amounts of claims to be made.Usually someone trying to back out of a deal.Not much gets by the graders.
Being good corporate citizens,the auction may well have paid the claim,even if not in the wrong,instead of dragging it out for a small amount of money.
Grease burn\stale is easy to notice.Even an amateur grader can recognize that.

The dresser sent back the goods and the auction agreed they were not as graded. 40% of the goods was absolutely a mistake.

Like I said,they likely just paid up the small amount instead of bothering with litigation.
Which auction-Nafa or FHA.I will find out.

Look for a PM on this.

Hogwash?
Not really.
As I stated, they sort it in a way they feel will be acceptable and make the most money. Which is exactly as you said


I have an idea. Why don’t you buy a sizable lot at nafa. Let’s say II grade. Then resend that lot and get back to me on how that turns out

The Canada auctions have been around for a very long time and I would think that year after year if buyers were purchasing goods that weren't as labeled we all would have heard about it by now. I know year after year the fur from my area whether it is Fha or Nafa grades the same,been that way for years. Example would be semi heavy coyote,

Mistakes get made, that just comes with the territory, they happen at all the auction houses, but I think they all do their best.
Years ago I sold a mid February, very rubbed coyote at one of the auctions, I almost didn't skin it out, it was a 2$ coyote. It sold for $52; did I complain about that mistake? Of course not.
Back to "standard grades"; "select" is not really a grade, it's just the best of the best #1s.

If there were strict grading standards, all pelts would grade the same by different people. From watching a few presentations by fur graders, I notice they use subjective as well as objective standards. Yes the grade changes. I've sent fur to both Auctions and they grade and size and color grade different.

Just to prove my point on grade changing. In the last 25 years NAFA has changed the sizing on muskrats twice. IMO sizing is part of the grading process.

So ssl, sel, I, I-II, II and etc are not grades?
Interesting

Agreed

I haven't read this entire thread and I don't intend to. And I'm not going to get into an argument with Boco or any one else. Just want to state my observation after attending NAFA sales for almost 30 years - 1984-2013.

When I first started attending NAFA sales, fur was in high fashion and Europe was the main buyer. Most fur went for fancier type garments - ski parkas, 3/4 length jackets, etc. The grade was very tight and the lot sizes were small. Lots of 75 to 100 coon were common. Very precise size/grade/section. That is the way the buyers/brokers wanted it. It was not uncommon to take an entire day to sell 250,000 Raccoon. A person could usually buy a lot of pelts based solely on the catalog description. And not have any problems at all.

When China became active in the wild fur market, things changed. And the more China became a major player, the more the auction companies changed the pelt put up to accommodate the Chinese needs. Fur was now more for utilitarian purposes, rather than strictly high fashion. Though high fashion still played a part. The Chinese buyers didn't want to buy Raccoon 100 pelts at a time. They wanted to buy 1000 pelts at a time. They were using such large quantities that it didn't matter if the pelts matched perfectly. They dealt with matching the pelts after they were tanned. In order to satisfy the Chinese buyers, NAFA started grouping sizes and colors together. It was the only way they could achieve the lot size China wanted.

It was impossible to find 1000 pelts that were size 3XLARGE, B color, # 2 clarity from a specific section. That is why you now have 3XL Raccoon lots that are B-C colors and 1-4 clarity. When you have that much variation in the lot description, it is impossible to pull a sample of 10 skins that represent the 1000 pelts in that lot. The Chinese were happy and the other buyers learned to deal with it. Some of them no longer buy at NAFA and now buy at FHA because the lot size is smaller. And some buyers now rely on trapper sales to fill there needs.

Any whereas it used to take a full day to sell 250,000 Raccoon, NAFA now does that in an hour and a half. Two hours max.

End of story.

Another example of random standards when it comes to grading.

Send some Beaver from here. Flip a coin guess where they will section. Last time I was foolish and did this, my darker beaver got sectioned Western and my lighter beaver got Eastern. You would think that those dark beaver would match up with dark eastern beaver( especially since my brown beaver matched up with easterns) and make me and the Auction more money sorted that way instead of getting the kiss of death and sectioned western.

Hey Boco,
What's this document titled, and is there a place we can get it? Looks pretty informative. Thanks.

That looks very similar to the Grading manuals you can find on the NAFA website. Most every species is covered with the exception of wild mink (unless this has changed).

Wissmiss. In all due respect. There were no lots of 1000s coon in any of last years catalogs from NAFA. As far as the Chinese wanting to buy 1000s of coon they can do that by buying the first lot in a string, then taking the rest of the string at the same price. Also the intersorting of 1 and 4 colors or clarity didn't happen until they got down to bad damaged and small sizes. Let's keep our NAFA bashing factual.

For the record - I WAS NOT NAFA BASHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm on your side in this argument.