Fur Identification

Hello,

I recently purchased this fur coat, when I bought it, I was told it was a mink coat. I got it for a very good price so I didn't bother to verify the fur type, however, I am curious to know if it really is mink. This coat is fully lined and has a band of embroidery that goes along the lower edge of the lining. It is also has the initials "JRB" embroidered in it. The pockets are lined with corduroy. I've included some pictures that will hopefully help with identifying the fur type. Unfortunately, it doesn't have any tags so I'm not sure where/when it was made. If any of you can tell approximately when it was made, or which brand made it, i would also greatly appreciate that information!


Thank you!

 

looks like a 60's mink jacket......tailored for whom ever those initials belong to...
hard to tell from your pics.......at first i thought beaver... can I hold it ??

 

Yep. 1960s as above.

Debora

 

ya, that looks like mink..

 

Possibly dark ranch mink. The double-breasted style indicates it may be 1960s-70s. As komo stated, the initials were sewn in by the furrier at purchase, just a courtesy nice touch by the fur merchant.
I have never seen corduroy pockets in a fur coat and wonder if they may have been replaced. Without a label, almost impossible to identify who made it as even the buttons would have been purchased from a central supply.
If the lining is loose at the hem, a peek inside at the hide may offer a clue to origin.

 

Wonder if it was reworked from an earlier coat. That dark ranch mink was awful dated by the 1960s/1970s. That would explain the corduroy pockets too which was a popular material during that period.

Debora

 

I was wondering that, too. Maybe so the pocket linings would last longer than the originals?

 

I thought perhaps it was a contemporary touch on an older, reworked coat owned by an older woman. It was the era when the young were wearing fun furs, not mink.

Debora

 

Nah, not your style, Komo!!! How about a couple of tails, instead!!!! Not sure if the top is ermine or not, but believe the bottom is mink!!! (just kidding around!)

 

Thanks for posting the fun old ad, Debora! Looks like late 1960's to me. The "fun furs" were not yet all artificial fur, they were usually printed rabbit, sometimes sheared to look like seal [oh horror! Seal was since long banned for fur use then], and of course leopard, ozelot prints [repeat oh horror! twice].

And, yes, Momma's old outdated mink coat, if not too dry, was often restyled into socalled "stroller length" coats/jackets, meant to wear over pants, mini-skirts. Harkening back, the miniskirt lengths made their earliest appearance in the U.S. in c:a 1967 if memory serves.

The mink jackets were probably not intended for the younger miniskirt set, rather for the 30+ who either owned an outmoded mink or had inherited it so wanted it updated. It was cheaper than buying new, especially mink being a pricier fur, and still a step up from rabbit.

In the 1970s protests against wearing natural fur grew ever stronger so I'd estimate that the fun furs fashion in natural materials to have ended by c:a 1970-74. There are always a few stragglers in fashion and it's harder to dump a fur coat than a dress just because fashions changed...

I still own a sheared rabbit stroller I now would have very little use for in FL. Except a couple of times, like at Renninger's Extravaganza antiques market one very very cold January some years ago, see pictures. I still get comments on it, usually of the kinder sort, when I point out that it really IS rabbit. But we can throw in yet another oh horror! as my fun warm hat is genuine lynx with a Pucci-silk lining. And before anyone throws virtual paint at me, I don't have it any more!

 

Looks like mink to me too (not that I'm an expert). My aunt and uncle owned one of the largest mink ranches in the country in the 1950s-60s, believe they fled Minnesota for California after winning a judgement for the sonic booms from Air Force jets killing their baby minks.

Can still remember the barns filled with cages full of the stinky little critters, freaked me out a bit...

~Cheryl

 

Is the fur shiny? It is difficult to tell while it is laying down It looks like it may be made with female pelts. Coats made with female pelts are more expensive because the fur is considered finer, lighter weight and the pelts are naturally shinier than male pelts. It takes more female pelts to make a coat or jacket.

 

I am in possession of a coat exactly like what this one is described as: brown mink, double breasted, corduroy pockets, embroidered lining, thigh length, very likely '60s. Interested in value estimate. Can that be provided?

 

We don't do values......sorry.
you'll have to see if any thing like this has sold in your area.....to get a fair market price.
& then...the market is...small !

 

Here is a list of sold furs on ebay listed from highest to lowest.
https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_sa...ete=1&_fosrp=1&_nkw=Vintage+fur+jacket&_sop=3

These are the sold furs I searched under vintage double breasted fur. Listed highest to lowest. I did see a couple of similar looking furs for under $200

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_fr...&_sop=3&_dmd=1&_ipg=50&LH_Complete=1&_fosrp=1

 

@Mill Cove Treasures - both of your links go to the home page for eBay Motors.

 

Those make fantastic cat's toys!!!

 

It must be an ebay glitch.

 

@Lisa Issler , although the link to eBay didn't work, that would also be a place to start looking for previous sales. And welcome to Antiquers!