Raw fur has a much shorter shelf life than tanned fur.Also costs more to store raw fur than tanned fur.
Dealers holding big numbers of fur probably get good stuff dressed that way they have a bit more wiggle room if they decide to hold on to it for a few auction cycles waiting for the market to get better.
Buying dressed fur has some advantages for certain buyers also.

The dressed fur is coming from several sources. Mostly dealers. As a general rule, they do not accept dressed fur from individuals.

- dealers that owe FH money might send tanned goods to sell to pay back the money they owe FH.

- dealers with excess inventory that isn’t selling, send tanned goods to recover part of their investment.

- goods that grade Select and some times #1 ( called “labeled” goods) usually come with a guarantee that they will dress ok. If there are problems in dressing - like slippage or unnoticed damage - they can be returned to FH for a refund/credit. FH has already paid the shipper for the goods, then FH sells the dressed pelts to recover part of their loss.

If you are buyer with crafting customers, buying the dressed goods can be a good deal. Prices on the damaged goods tend to be reasonable and they are quick turn around because they are ready to sell rather than wait on a tannery.

Hope that explains the tanned goods.

Interesting, they told me to just send em. But looking at the prices, I think I could get more just selling them myself, one offs here and there.

Shakeyjake - selling them yourself one at a time is a smart move. Tanned wolves and wolverine MIGHT do ok at FH but I doubt other species would.

What happened with the Montreal firm lately that shut down with its inventory ?

What Montreal firm do you speak of, and what happened with them ?

w

Guessing East West? They did reasonably priced dressing, sorry to see them go

I'll tell you about my 335 dressed bobcats at FHA that are currently available for June....

I flew to NAFA a few years ago, pulled my then raw cats from the auction house (800+ I believe), watched the NAFA employees get fired, then shipped my raw cats to FHA.

Sold about half of the raw cats at FHA over a couple of auctions, then Covid hit. Things got slow.

Shipped about 350 raw cats from FHA to Greece where they were dressed and offered for sale.

Sold basically none of those 350 skins (although I did manage to sell 2000 other dressed cats)

Sales went slow after that in Greece, so I shipped the original 350 cats (now dressed) back to FHA.

Hoping the June sale goes well.

After all that shipping, CITES fees, Government fees, auction fees, withdrawal fees, dressing fees, and not to mention the cost of the raw cats in the beginning.... I only hope to re-coop a fraction of my investment.

There, now y'all know where dressed goods at FHA might come from.

I know it is not as exciting as the fur business but $$ in a S&P 500 index fund would hopefully make you more return.

Spots - those are some well traveled bobcats. Will be interesting to see how they do on the upcoming sale.

Too bad it is very difficult for small time buyers to get CITES goods back into the US. I know several people looking for tanned cats. USF&W isn’t worth the hassle for many of them.

Haha! Who said I’m selling? The black bear I’ve got are over 20 years old! The wife thinks I MIGHT sell em. She still doesn’t know that we’re stuck with this huge polar bear once we get it back from the tanner. Told her we can sell it for big bucks once we’re sick of it. I can own one here in Manitoba, but I’m stuck with it, can’t sell it….lol

Shakey you can make some great winter clothing,winter outdoor sleeping robe etc out of it when you get tired of looking at it.

If I'm still not sick of these black bear that have been hanging by the TV, I'm sure that polar be will never get old.