CHINCHILLA

Perilous climbing in the cloud-capped mountains of Bolivia and Peru may reward the intrepid with a glimpse of a dainty little creature—the chinchilla. He takes fastidious care of his coat, an example which those who wear chinchilla must follow. For Chinchilla is the most delicate of all Furs, and one of the rarest. It is bought solely for its beauty and softness, even a little friction harms it. And because the chinchilla was facing extinction, these South American governments have declared a closed season.

The pelts are very light and thin, with deep piled Fur from one-half to three-quarters of an inch thick. The back is pearl gray or mottled blue-gray, changing to white underneath. The choicest skins are a cold blue shading to a dark stripe of lighter color. It is a close second to Russian sable in price—a genuine chinchilla coat often costing from twenty thousand dollars to thirty thousand dollars. “Batard” chinchilla may solve the problem by proving a beautiful but more serviceable Fur. The pelts are smaller with shorter Fur. It is gray and black in color. This is actually a sub-species coming from lower altitudes.