whatever,just go to the auction at sale time and inspect the lots and talk to the graders.

Are we taking into account that the graders are human and most likely do not see everything the same way. What is semi-heavy to one grader may be a heavy to another. I don’t care how much training a grader has or how many years of experience they have, every grader isn’t going to see every pelt the same way.

You take a group of 50 western coyotes and the best 3 coyote graders at FH and I guarantee
the end result will not match exactly!! I am willing to put money on that statement!!!

Boco???

Dirt???

Any other arm chair experts???

2X

I remember in one of the last years HE Goldberg was in business the ol' man had hired a Laotian immigrant to help, and finally had him grading as well. I was up there with a pickup load of beaver and Erwin had the new guy grade them. Very distressing to me since I'm certain he wanted to only error on the side that benefited his benefactor. Boy oh boy did he too!

Boco the grading has changed and it all depends on many factors, back in the day a xxl coon was 30-32 in now 29-32 in is the standard, The sample lot for rats at fha 2 yrs ago I can show you some lg and xl rats mixed in with what should of been xxl and 3xl only for top lot...

I never claimed graders or grades don't change. We just discussed last Auction how wolverine went from dark grade to pale? I have also talked to the fur/buyer agent and fha buyer who seem to all come to the same conclusion about Canadian expert ten second graders. It is what it is.

It is very easy to spot a pelt that is out of place in a lot.Even a half arsed grader would notice it immediately.
Many pelts are shuffelled around when they are being matched into the final lotting breakdown.
With the advancements in fur dying technology there is no need to break out XXp from XP or even pales if they all take the dye the same and wind up identical after processing.
They will all have the same value to the manufacturer so those different grades could be intersorted and sell under one lot description.
Manufacturers have input to what they want to see.
Beaver hatter market is a good example of different grades with same values/
The lowest grades are not even sectioned let alone broken down by colour or weight etc.

Yup, to put it in easier English for the newbie to understand. The grades don't change, but the graders change where they sort the fur to match the current market and offerings.

So yeah, the grades don't change, but what the fur in that grade looks like changes from auction to auction. And this isn't an FHA thing, the entire industry does it, NAFA did, Groeny does it, any auction that publishes grade sheets does it, and individual fur buyers do it.

And actual grades do change occasionally, but rarely. Kinda like language changes.

You’re all over the map here chum…….lol. Or maybe it’s because a Canadian is telling what you got for fur? If FHA won’t talk to you anymore, get someone else to ask for you.……
Some just live for drama though....

How do you and your brother Boco come up with this stuff?

| |
------------ 6 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ [ 190.00] |*** S O L D ****
110 - 30050 STR 63 1X SELECT HVY LT BRN-PL 3 | | 1||
[ 190.00] |*** S O L D **** 110-30051 END 20 ** 83 ** | |
------------ 2 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ [ 300.00] |*** S O L D ****
110 - 30052 STR 150 1X SELECT HVY LT BRN 1-2 | | 1||
[ 300.00] |*** S O L D **** 110-30053 ... 150 | | 2||
[ 300.00] |*** S O L D **** 110-30054 ... 74 | | 3||
[ 300.00] |*** S O L D **** 110-30055END 20 ** 394** | |
------------ 4 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ [ 260.00] |*** S O L D ****
110 - 30056 STR 33 1X SELECT HVY PL-XPL 1-2 | | 1||
[ 260.00] |*** S O L D **** 110-30057 END 20 ** 53 ** | |
------------ 2 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Simple fact is 3 years ago those lt brn1-2 were called pl 1-2

. It is worth noting that COLOUR is VERY important as the paler colours brought the highest prices seeing levels of $300 in even the XL size. So the sections of Alaska and NWT should receive more than the posted average.

Mark Downey

That's you grading your fur. That's why you're not an official grader. That's terrible....... You're all over the map there too......lol.

I know 3 of the graders and a coupe from GFW. They grade fur the same way all the time. How it's lotted may be different. The initial grade doesn't change.
If you're telling these graders how to do their job, that's probably why you're not getting any responses back when you reach out to them. You won't find them posting here, defending themselves as it'd be flogging a dead horse with some. Some don't accept the truth, and need turmoil & drama on the web..... so be it.....lol.

So Shakey, who does the cat grading? Just one guy or several?

The cat grader I’m not sure. If the US fur is funneled to one location before it crosses into Canada, it could even be graded there.
I know the western coyote guy (any coyotes coming through the Winnipeg depot he grades), the beaver grader and another that grades a few different species. I leave them alone a month before auctions and the following 2 weeks as it’s a complete gong show. I can get ahold of Mark easily enough, but those other fellas I leave alone…..lol

Fur goes thru a lot of hands in the sorting process before final lotting.
Sectioning sizing weighing coloring etc is like an assembly line.
The overall quality and size of the collection has bearing on the sorting process.
Species that are sold individually or in small lots take less handling overall,compared to species like marten that are sold in larger uniformly matched lots.

So the final lotting would just be taking X number of furs out of a bin and giving it a lot number right? No final look over?

Another question is I see there is a "Show date" of 5-28-26 What does that mean? At that point buyers can look at the lot samples?

From what I seen odd pelts that stick out from the bunch are pulled and put where they belong several stages along the process.The final lots will be inspected by the head grader no doubt.
A small number of skins that reflect the string are pulled after the final lotting and are strung as a sample lot for buyers to peruse and write in their catalogue before bidding.
You can identify the sample lots in the cataloge,they will be a small number of skins at the bottom of a string of uniform larger number of skins in the lots above.

Show date is the day buyers can start looking at the sample lots.

So the sample pelts are for the whole string, not from each lot then?

I seriously doubt that the entire final lots are inspected by the head grader of that species. At that point in time the grading crew is just thankful to have the job done and catalogs ready for the buyers.

They may double check the top lot but not every lot!!