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Any Old Fur Traders


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Just wondering if there's any old anes on here who used to tan and sell fox pelts ect. After reading this weeks countrymans weekly, there was a article from The Warrener and his midget pal Ron and a photo of them outside there tanning shed years ago, it was a cracking pic and a good bit reading. So got me thinking how long did it take to tan a pelt, what was the best method of tanning, and how much did you get for pelts ect would love to hear some story's.

If you have any old photos ect please post. Thanks

Billy

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Billy; I sincerely doubt that anyone ever " Tanned " pelts, prior to selling them. Tanning is a hell of a process and involves skilled graft. Ask any of the Taxidermist chaps on here.

 

No, pelts were generally sent off Salted, or Air Dried. Veniards (still going, last I knew) and Horace Friend, of Wisbeech (Long since gone, I believe?) were the best known buyers, to me at least.

 

The boom time was the mid seventies. They were actually offering up to £30.00 for a top grade pelt. Believe me, in those days, that was an eye watering amount of money! :icon_eek: Foxes got scared. Then they got scarce!

 

Of course, most fetched only four or five quid and never ended up wrapped around Cilla Black. But, a fiver could still get a man out on the piss, back then.

 

Squirrels tails. Moles skins. Starlings wings. They were all pocket money providers. I imagine any serious mole catcher would set his kids the job of skinning and pinning the mole pelts though. Couple of bob a piece. Need to be a lonely man to while away the night on that job, for that pay.

 

Last thing, related, I remember is Siaco Furs. They popped up seemingly out of no where. London address. Wanted it all. Offered the moon for it. And they were after feral mink too, interestingly enough.

 

And then, the bubble burst. Any woman wearing a fur coat was liable to end up covered in under coat as the terrorists took on the fur trade.

 

That's why people now sling foxes in the wayside.

 

I haven't actually got access to my files, just now. But, I'm pretty sure I might still have a copy of an old Horace Friend price list, asking for badger, otter and wild cat skins.

 

Now, those were the days! :D

 

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I believe the starling wings were for the milliners who used them in hat making. I used to send my pelts salted

Just fox skins to veniards they had to be skinned purfect no holes or rips and then I only used to get a tenner if I was lucky,

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We used to stretch them and nailed them to old doors to air dry them ..Bloody good money in them days.When left at an earth we waited awhile so the foxes were cold huntsman used to moan as the hounds only broke a warm fox up LOL..Remember coming home after a good day with 3 brace they were soon skinned ..took me ten minutes to skin one decently that included the mask

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daft question i know lol but what did they use starling wings for pete?

 

 

Nothing daft about it, mate. They dyed them black and sold them to fishing fly tiers as substitute blackbirds wings.

 

I imagine there's some extremely popular flies that used to be made from the feathers of a blackbirds wing.

 

Doesn't bear thinking about now, does it? Killing blackbirds, just to cut their wings off. Then again, what about starlings? They're protected now, thank f**k. I f**king love starlings.

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I hate them little b*****ds :censored:

 

Always nesting in my roof tiles and strip the bird feeders in seconds

 

 

Drop by here. I'll Give you as many nest boxes as ye need to accommodate them, whilst ye fix that shabby roof. I really do specialise in making starling nest boxes. My cattle farming neighbours love to have them around. They're the Leather Jackets nemesis.

 

And ye bird feeders ....? :rolleyes: Last I knew, starlings were birds too.

 

Look; If starlings are raping your bird feeders? I, seriously, want to know about it. Because I want to replicate it. Catch them and ring them. Please tell me what you're doing there to get them coming.

 

In return, I'll happily advise you on how to feed the birds and not get taken to the cleaners, or bring in a rat infestation.

 

How the F**k has a post, on the Taxidermy board, about selling skins, morphed into This?! :lol:

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im on a fone so bear with my typing lol

starlings are my fav bird, as a kid in a big city they were everwere in flocks that was like swarmin black clouds twisting an turning like a shoal of baitfisn on a nature programme. moved to other end of thix island and the starlings were nowhere to be seen. i become a bird watcher soon after rather than going to school lol. i met a twitcher one day whilst out an got chatting and i told himi could show him some nightjars at dusk, when out watching the nightjar we spoke about starlings he offerd to take me to a place called kenfig to see starlings in there hundreds and thousands coming into roost, its something i'll remember for the rest of my life, i know im easily pleased lol sorry for takin the thread in the starling direction but as i said i like the cheeky spangly starlings lol pete get some plans of the nest boxes please

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last 3 years my poor keepers pay was helped along greatly by selling skins,wings and tails! we shot nearly 1000 crows,rooks and jackdaws in a week once and sold every wing and scalp i could! i remember it was £22 in postage for the boxes to veniards! i used to send them (and this was only last year mind)

mole skins ( up to £1.15 each!)

scrow,rook,jackdaw,starling,jays wings

magpie tails and wings

cock pheasant center tail feathers 5p each (i was sending hundreds off a week some weeks!)

and the same for hens

duck cul de canard

jackdoor scalps!

and hare masks

ive got a price list some where too

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