Would welcome any help with fur/date identification

Hi Guys

I wonder whether someone would be able to help me with identification of the type of fur in the attached photos?

I recently acquired the coat, and have been trying to find out more about it on the internet, but my lack of knowledge where fur is concerned has left me more confused than when I started. At first I thought it might be beaver (more due to the Canadian link than anything), but it seems to be made of many small pelts, which made me think it's more likely to be from a smaller animal. I've had a look at the fur resource section, but I'm still none the wiser.

The coat is three-quarter length, warm to wear and soft & silky to the touch. It's fully lined and, to my inexperienced eyes, looks & feels like a quality garment. I'd describe it as a dark chocolate brown, although it has a more mahogany/tone to it in certain lights. I've taken a few photos, which, hopefully, give a better idea than my descriptions. Fur is surprising difficult to photograph! (but then, my photography skills aren't much better than my fur identification skills).

The label says "The Canadian Fur Company" at Beatties, Wolverhampton. Beatties was a chain of small department stores, mainly based in the UK Midlands (out of business now). I can find very little on The Canadian Fur Company, other than a reference to it closing branches in the 1970s.

So, any help anyone can give regarding the fur type, age & makers would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

NOT a fur expert but the one collar photo looks like rabbit to me. Have you viewed our Fur Resource?

You can locate that right here:

https://vintagefashionguild.org/fur-resource/

 

Hi

Thank very much for your quick reply.

I think you might well be right - rabbit/coney is highly likely. I've had a browse through the fur resource & it certainly meets a lot of the criteria. The back of the coat especially, suggests small pelts (smaller than rabbit??) but I don't know enough about fur to make definitive identification.

Will leave the post up, and see if there's any other opinions.

Thanks again

 

Thanks for the reply!

Squirrel looks to be another strong possibility - especially the back of the coat. I've just done a bit of googling and have seen some 1950s squirrel-fur coats with a very similar "small pelt" appearance.

It's all quite intriguing and I'm learning new things at the same time (never too old to learn).

Thanks again!

 

Zigzag pelts - suggests squirrel to me too.