Rensselaer Republican, Volume 15, Number 18, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 January 1883 — Sealskin Sacques. [ARTICLE]

Sealskin Sacques.

Prof. Bobbbt ODlum, of tbe Natatorinm, this city, was cored of a severe attack of rheumatism by the use of St. Jacobs OiL — Washington, D. C., Star.

There are sealskins and sealskins. The best, as almost every one knows, are the Alaska skins, carefully selected and London-dyed. These cost to import from S4O to. SSO each. The inferior Alaska skins, technically known as “culls,” are mixed in with Copper Island, Victoria and Lobos skins, and these have been imported as low as from sl3 to sl6 a skin. Four skins are required for a sacque of fair Bize, although for small sizes three and a half will be sufficient. Twenty-five dollars is the nsxial charge for making up.* A little calculation based on these figures will enable any one to arrive at the mystery of widely varying prices that surrounds the wrap so coveted by lovely women. Men with a large'family of growing daughters may be interested in studying the future prospects of this sealskin industry, but they will find little consolation in the reports of this year’s catch. There is a decrease of several thousand from that reported last year, which again was much below that of the previous season; so that the prospect for a material advance in a few years is excellent. Indeed, the demand for sealskins has become so great that the possible extinction of the animal is a consideration already taken into account by dealers, many of whom believe that the time is not far distant when it coat of this fur will be as great a rarity as one of Russian sable. In the meantime English manufacturers have pushed invention almost to the verge of possibility in devising substitutes and imitations. The most costly of these far surpass in beauty the fur which they counterfeit, and are gradually coming into,use by reason rather of their inherent elegance than because of any resemblance to seal fur. A heavy import duty, however, renders these cloths neatly as expensive as tbe best quality of skins, and American manufacturers can not produce them because of the existing tariff on the raw material, which is principally mohair and Italian silk. —Philadelphia Record. The Boston Pilot says: St. Jacobs Oil stands without an equal.