With the worldwide shortage of ranch mink are shearable beaver now a viable substitute for that short nap look?

Or........


And stay with me here.......





Muskrats!

Beaver leather is too heavy to make a woman's coat. It would just be too heavy for the average woman.

Eric, do you remember back in 1978 or 79 that one time price explosion for LM and M's? I figure somebody was trying get that lighter leather beaver onto the market. I seem to remember LM's going for $60-$70

BTW, if beaver are too heavy for women's coats what are they doing with 'em? Men's coats?

Is there a shortage? When ranch mink were averaging near $100, shearable beaver were still under a buck an inch. I think manufacturers prefer to work with sheared ranch mink, even though beaver would be cheaper by the square inch at times. Sometimes considerable cheaper.

^^^We always heard that dressing costs were the big impediment for the beaver market. Supposedly the Chinese invested in machinery for beaver but then we never heard much more about it.

I'm hearing that Chinese are now starting to buy shearable grades of beaver so it all be interesting to see how it goes.

You got a source for that hearing?

I've heard of sheared beaver being heavy but know that isn't always true. I have about 20 sheared beaver I got from Wissmiss that are almost as light as coyote. I also had some black dyed sheared beaver that came from a furrier in NY that went out of business that were a tad lighter then Nancy's.
I also got some plucked hides that were pretty thick. Those where not sheared.
Guessing the amount of processing needed to thin them like Nancy's are is the killer on beaver coats or garments

Nothing more beautiful than a shaved beavah.

Yea I remember the beaver prices of the late 70s. I did not mess with many then as foxes were higher than beaver and much easer to put up. Coons were in the $50.00 range too. Beaver is used obviously for the hatter trade but in coats it is more used for trim. Possibly some for men's coats/vests.
Speaking of the 70s I spent some time then in the fur district in New York City. Was in quite a few of the old Jewish furriers' back rooms.
When mink and fox coats are made, the best coats are of only the back fur. This piece of fur is cut into 1/4 inch strips and then sewn together. This makes a (lets say) 4 inch by 12 inch piece of fur (48 square inches) double the size (96 square inches). It makes the coat lighter and also makes the coat flex a little as the leather is more like a fabric. As far as I know (at least up to a few years ago) this cutting and sewing process does not work as well with beaver due to the leather.
All that being said I could be wrong (would not be the first time)!!!

I provided the beaver for a plucked and sheared bedspread my sister had made. International did the dressing and it is very light. I think it could compete with mink.

International does a nice job on the dressing.
Beaver is their specialty,they make the leather very light,Same on Otter-leather like a fox pelt.

Nah...that's not true.

One of the graders at FHA via phone conversation a couple of days ago.

They make gorgeous sheared beaver coats for women.

So what were doing with them before.

Anything's possible with China involved. According to GFW, dyed red fox is the new Siberian Sable.......lol

Herman's story goes like this. Because it cost so much to process beaver into a fleece, the price of sheared beaver does not improve. You have tanning, plucking and/ or shearing and dying. Unless they can find a market for natural beaver, prices will remain where they are at. If the Chinese could reduce the cost of all those operations enough, they may be willing to pay more for a beaver hide.

That makes sense.

Like Steven said, I've seen some absolutely gorgeous full length beaver coats up at the Hudson Bay store in VanCouver, BC back before they closed. My little woman tried one on and it wasn't too heavy for her. But I didn't have an extra ten grand in my pocket.

2012 International Trapper