Selling Furs to Sears

My neighbor gave me some old trapping books/catalogs and this was one.
Anyone here ever sold fur to Sears?

I remember buying some traps from sears back in 67 or 68.
A number 4 vic double long spring,a number 14 jump and a 110 conibear.
Previous to that I was buying traps at the local hardware store.

I bought a dozen 1 Victor single long springs back in 1957 from Sears to run by pocket gopher "long line" with my single speed $5 bike. Could have been my most profitable trap line I ever ran, did it for 3 years and got up to about 18 traps! Got .25 cents per tail from the township and most farmers gave me a nickel or a dime. Never thought about it before but I guess I was a "GOBMENT" TRAPPER THOSE DAYS.

Bryce

Got four # 4 Victor double longs for Christmas in 1968. Picked them out of the Sears "Wish Book" and my mom & dad got them for me. Those were the first NEW traps I ever had and I still have one hanging in my shop.

I sold my first season's catch to them, 12 muskrats, I do not recall how much I got for them, but they said they were poorly handled, lol. My mother made my older brother help skin them. He did not skin the head out, he cut it off at the neck. It is a wonder I got anything for them.

A fact that many might not know is that the actual company buying the fur was Silberman's. They operated under the banner of "Sears". They ran their operation in later years out of Medford Wisconsin, well into the '80s, maybe even into the '90s.

Even though all the other major fur people operated out of NYC, Silberman's operated out of Chicago.

This is cool stuff. I like looking at the old books etc.

My dad sold townsend mole skins to Sears shorty after WWI. He got about 10 cents for them which was darn good money at the time.

One of our members donated some of his Dad's trapping books and catalogs to our Convention Auction a few years ago. The big hit at the auction was a blank Sears & Roebuck Fur Tag that was in one of the books.

Back in '57 i was selling to Sears. Either '57 or '58 was their last year buying.

Very nice that you have those notes still !! And in cursive too. : )

Sears started to publish their Tips to Trappers with the 1926-1927 season, they mailed the booklet to customers that shipped them their fur. They continued the booklet until 1958.

I sold all my rats to a local furrier in Union NJ in the 50's the rest went to sears. I saved all my paper work, heck I saved everything, but we had a fire while my parent and I were at my college graduation ceremonies. Nothing left. I still save most everything. We had a lot of rats in those days. On the firs day or two I would check my 20 traps three times a nite. Usually got one or two on the way home from setting........jk

We had a few options for selling fur here back in the 70's.
There was a local buyer at the hardware store-Ratcliff was his name.
There was the North West Company in the basement of the bay store.They would buy direct or consign your fur to NAFA.
There was a travelling buyer from out west that would come by a few times during the season and set up at the motel.
And of course we had our own- The Ontario trappers assn auction house in North Bay.

That old journal is awesome!!

Sold my first rats to Sears back in the early 50's when I was a kid. They said they were matted. Did not wash all the mud out or dry them before skinning and stretching. Received poor price.

Your rats may have been good bodycount,- matted fur is hard for a grader to evaluate properly, so they go in the poor pile.

Shipped a lot of furs to Sears back in the 1950’s,,,,here are a few of their grading sheets,,

Sears tags and a 1933 tips to trappers

After Sears i used these guys.