Was at a flea market and picked up a seal skin hat for $20. Anybody have any info they could add. Thanks

I’m guessing Russian



Very well made hat

Interesting design and color. Very different from what I am accustomed to seeing.
At $20 I would say you done well, Pilgrim.

What kind of fur is that one Tatiana?

Looks like it held up well.

Both seal and sea otter make amazing hats. The absolute best looking that I have seen are seal on the outer, typically harbor seal around here, and sea otter inner lining. Very expensive.

Tatiana,
I'm assuming that sea otter populations on the pacific coast have rebounded, as they have in Alaska. Do you know if they are legally harvested? Either by Chukchi or others.

Very nice I love otter fur, looks great wears forever.

Great thread ! Thanks for pictures .

Looks to be Harbor Seal, we call Mukluk here. The skins are thick and used for the bottoms of Mukluk seal skin boots.

I have a pair made out of Mukluk. Most only use them for the soles because it's so thick to sew.

I personally like spotted seal, looks nicer especially with beaver.

When I was buying fur, I had a guy bring me a professionally tanned sea otter, of course I couldn't buy it but it was nice to see. It was about six feet long and a foot wide. The fur was so soft you could slide your hand across it and hardly feel any resistance.

My boots. I got them resoled once, cost me $20.

This post made me dig out a fur bag I found at a thrift shop. Fur looks similar to your seal hat. It has leather draw strap, and flannel lining.

Any thoughts on this?

Just for giggles; here is my seal skin story:

My mother and her siblings grew up in a second-generation Finnish household, and still spoke what might be called "Americanized" Finnish at home.

My uncle went to Finland and was shopping for seal skin hats for souvenir gifts to bring back. He wasn't having any luck. All the haberdashers told him that no one made them.

It turned out there was a bit of a language barrier. He was asking for "sealia" (my best attempt at phonetic spelling). "Sealia" means porkupine in Finnish.

Panaxman That looks like a shotgun shell bag folks use around here, defiantly Mukluk skin.

Thanks for all the answers and posting pictures of other items.

Tatiana “ spasiba”

Once the USSR opened up in '91 and allowed travel back there, I imagine there was quite a few that went back to see what they left when they came to Canada pre-post WW 2. So there was quite of bit of stuff brought back in exchange for some Levis jeans which fetched a good price in exchange.
Yes Tatiana the colour thread, or should say Fluorensence thread sure did come in after "91 as a trendy feature in many of the materials made by cottage industries ,

I know that when some were sent over to watch the elections in Ukraine they want to buy a fur hat in Kiev square....low and behold the label inside was from the MLA own town. Bootlegged label = big money as Winnipeg was know as a good fur auction house ( Dominion Sudac)