Help dating dyed (?) Mouton (?) coat 1950s?

[laurenm]

Hi again everyone,
I have been assuming this is Mouton, is this dyed to look like some other fur with the stripes up the back?
Am I right in 50s? The collar is quite large, almost shawl like...is there a better more specific term for that?
Thanks again for any help at all.
Lauren

 

[Jonathan]

Mouton was hugely popular late 40s, but I think you are right and that this one is early 50s. 'Faux' was big in the 50s - furs dyed and striped to look like other furs, rhinestones masquerading as diamonds, rayon pretending to be silk taffeta...

 

[furwise]

Hey there Lauren, It does look like a 50's coat. The fur is Phantom Sheared Beaver which is brown with lighter shades throughout. Sometimes the brown is dyed darker brown and the lighter shades are lightened or bleached to give a more dramatic affect.

 

[laurenm]

Rhinestones are girls best friend? So Caryn, is phantom sheared beaver actually beaver?

 

[furwise]

Rhinestones are girls best friend? So Caryn, is phantom sheared beaver actually beaver?

Yes, Phantom sheared beaver is really beaver.

 

[Jonathan]

Fooled me - I didn't even think it might be beaver - it didn't look shiny enough

 

[furwise]

Fooled me - I didn't even think it might be beaver - it didn't look shiny enough

I can understand why you might not connect it. Beaver fur in it's natural length has a long shiny wiry top layer of guardhair and a thick softer layer of underfur. When the fur is sheared the wiry guardhair is cut and the thick soft layer of underfur remains.

I have offered quite a few Phantom Sheared Beaver fur coats and jackets over the past several years. The words are often interchanged even by me. Sometimes I say Phantom Sheared Beaver and sometimes I say Sheared Phantom Beaver. As sheared beaver ages the fur tends to clump and develop a bit of a nap and as I mentioned previously sometimes the brown is dyed darker and the phantom areas; the lighter areas are sometimes more heavily lightened. Here are some examples of just a few of the many I have offered in the past. I really like this type of fur.

 

[Jonathan]

I have to admit I once saw a short jacket made from it and thought at first it was light fading! IS this ever naturally occurring or is it always a matter of dying and bleaching to get the look.

 

[furwise]

Haha...that's funny. I can see why you might think that though. Sometimes the coloration is natural but to make it more dramatic the brown is often dyed darker and/or the lighter color is often lightened.
Here is a Beaver with natural length guardhair and underfur who happens to exhibit some of this color contrast along with the link to which the photo came from;

http://www.onekind.org/be_inspired/animals_a_z/beaver/

 

[laurenm]

I really do learn somthing new every day here. I like that the beaver "happens' to exhibit this pattern.

This coat is actully in pretty darned good shape, but what I find is the lighter parts of the fur and the little bit of above mentioned clumping really does not photograph well. I found this with a black sheared beaver coat I had once too. It really is a soft fur.

P.S. nice jackets!