In the March
sales in London this year, there were only 3,094 skunks, and the demand
was greater than the supply, so that the price was as high as _7s.
2d._, which stimulated the United States collectors so much that
very likely C. M. Lampson & Co. will have about 100,000 in their
September sale, and prices will very likely fall to _1s_., or
lower. The result will be, that the skunks will live in peace, and
increase and multiply for some years to come. The skunk is the most
'disagreeable' of animals to man; but it is not, therefore, destroyed.
I have a catalogue (Row, Row, Goad & Reece, brokers) of a fur sale (by
the candle) at the London Commercial Sale Room, Mincing Lane, on the
21st and 22nd March, 1821, which I compare below with catalogues of fur
sales in London on 27th and 28th January, and 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th,
9th, and 11th March, 1863. I include January, because musquash and
beaver are sold in that month. This statement does not embrace many
other, but lesser, sales, which take place about the same time. _A
vast quantity goes direct from here to Germany, which, in past years,
went to London_.
1821 1863
---- ----
300 Musquash 1,289,773
6,380 Bears 3,962
None Beaver 95,557
8,290 Otter 12,933
3,280 Fisher 5,485
108,850 Martens 66,827
10,340 Minks 25,989
8,190 Foxes 28,369
2,500 Wolves 3,322
370 Wolverines 918
57,100 Racoons 204,888
None Skunks 3,094
None Opossums 560
None Badgers 1,370
23,000 Rabbits 46,151
5,631 Lynx 4,276
2,285 Cats 100
"Do the above data of forty-two years prove his assertion, that '_the
fur trade, by which old profits were made, is a peculiar trade, tending
to disappear_' or do they prove the reverse? The value or price of
furs has steadily advanced also.
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