50s Coat - fur check

[terrasita]

Ahhh... fur is very confusing to me. But I have this lovely coat and really after researching I still am not quite sure. It almost seems like mole fur, but I don't think it quite fits. It's very very soft and dense and short. Feels very velvety, not soft like rabbit, but thick and luxurious. Any thoughts? Thank you!

 

[terrasita]

Hmm... I just saw a photo of a coat with fur trim that looked very similar and it said sheered beaver. Maybe?

 

[MyVintageCocktail]

I can't tell from a photo, but it's probably either sheared beaver or sheared otter. I'm not a fur expert, but I've had otter, and once you've felt it, you know it when you see it again, and you can tell it from beaver. But you pretty much have to feel it. It's the softest and most dense of the water fur-bearing mammals (actually, I think it is supposed to be the softest of any fur). It is very hard to separate it with your fingers enough to see the skin underneath. Extremely dense and ultra luxurious feeling.

 

[terrasita]

I can't tell from a photo, but it's probably either sheared beaver or sheared otter. I'm not a fur expert, but I've had otter, and once you've felt it, you know it when you see it again, and you can tell it from beaver. But you pretty much have to feel it. It's the softest and most dense of the water fur-bearing mammals (actually, I think it is supposed to be the softest of any fur). It is very hard to separate it with your fingers enough to see the skin underneath. Extremely dense and ultra luxurious feeling.

Thanks Anne! I haven't felt either, but yes it sounds like otter! It's reallllly soft.

 

[EndlessAlley]

Sheered, dyed muskrat is also wonderfully soft. One clue is older sheered, dyed muskrat will probably have a reddish cast at the base of the hairs.

 

[MyVintageCocktail]

I agree that muskrat is wonderfully soft! But, the key is, be it muskrat, beaver, otter, or something else, the density of the fur. And that's something you really can't tell without having it in hand. Here's what I found when I was researching the trim on a coat I had a few years ago, 'cuz I couldn't for the life of me figure it out:

The fur of all otters is fine, dense, and velvety.

Sea otters have the densest fur of any mammal. Hair density varies dramatically with location on the body, ranging from about 26,000 to 165,000 hairs per square centimeter (170,000-1,062,000 per square inch).

[On beavers] The hair density is 10,000 per square cm: only sea otters have denser fur.

Muskrat can be dyed and sheared to look like beaver, but I don't think it's as dense.

Check out our fur resource here: http://vintagefashionguild.org/fur-resource/

Where your collar folds over, and the fur is kind of "bumpy" it looks like the sheared beaver example in the resource. Again, can't be sure in photos. All I can say is that although I haven't handled a lot of fur, most of the time when you press it apart with your fingers at the base, you can usually see the skin without much difficulty. With otter, it's almost impossible to get "down" that far, it's so dense.