Selling vintage fur coat

DKLS

linlin wrote: »

It fits a size 14 easily. Is probably what would have been called 3/4 length and is circa 1953 has a wide collar and pockets. Definitely French made.

I found it in my grandmother's house in Paris in 1983.

Sound stunning, obviously I'd prefer it to be still on the snow leopard, but as its vintage I have no objection. I object to the current fur trade as technology has moved on and there are some fabulous fake fur now available.

I used to be active in the vintage rag trade and for a time there was no demand at all, and my dog used to sleep on 14Ks worth of mink coast.

Now there is a demand for fur coats, mostly in northern europe and north america where it is still appreciated so you may still be able to sell for a good price.

Errata

I guess the old Eastern bloc countries could be an interested market, and China.

spikeage

It would be illegal to sell it from THIS COUNTRY though as it is protected!

Oldernotwiser

spikeage wrote: »

It would be illegal to sell it from THIS COUNTRY though as it is protected!

But is that from this country or in this country? I don't know - do you?

jennihen

I got a bit of stick over a seal skin coat my mother had bought in the 70's. I think its as bad to destroy such an item as it was to make it in the first place!! Why not try auction house which specialises in vintage clothes?

spikeage

From this country as the snow leopard is protected under CITES and according to ebay also illegal in this country.

Errata

DEFRA is responsible for issueing CITES permits, so a phone call to them could prove helpful. The OP isn't the first person to be stuck with something which once was perfectly legal and now isn't. And I suspect won't be the last.

Oldernotwiser

Linlin, how sure are you about the age of this item? There seems to be exemptions for "worked items" made before 1947.

linlin_3

I'm not sure at all really. Just making guesses from photos of my grandmother (who I never met) wearing it.

usignuolo

Surely the test is whether or not the ban was in place at the time the coat was made, not now. I was at a sale at Sothebys recently when several antique leopard and tiger skins rugs went for good prices. Of course it would not be permitted to make them now, but they were made in the 1920s. I think you can sell things which you can demonstrate were made before the ban was put in place, on the grounds you cannot change the past. Vintage clothing store or auction maybe?

(IN America Peta has suggested donating vintage fur coats to refugee organisations on the grounds it is a better use than burning or destroying them.)