FUR MARKET MEMORIES
During my seven decades of watching the fur market, I’ve seen plenty of ups and downs in the price of furs. But then, the same can be said for almost every other product or service that touches our daily lives. I remember when it cost only three cents to mail a letter. Shotgun shells were a dime each at that time, and you could buy as many or as few as you needed out of an open box at most country stores.
Sears, Roebuck and Company was not only handy in the outhouse, but the company sold everything from steel traps to underwear to baby chickens, and would deliver it all to your doorstep via rural mail carrier. Sears also bought raw furs, and paid either by check or credit vouchers for future catalog purchases.
Sears got out of the fur-buying business many years ago, but the raw-fur business and the modern-day followers of the mountain men and Daniel Boone are still tenaciously hanging on — even if the trail has been pretty rocky these past few years.
SPOTS RULE – RIGHT NOW
Any discussion of today’s raw fur market must logically begin with the current darling of the furrier, the “lynx cat,” known to everybody outside the auction
