1977 muskrat fur receipt

[JakeLand]

Wags couldn’t figure out how to post a pic of some rats he bought in 1977

[h20hunter]

That's not chump change.  Very cool.

[Norman89]

 

[wags]

Thanks for posting that for me Jake.

The back story. I was fresh out of high school (1976) and that winter 76/77 I met a couple of big time fur buyers at the Seattle fur exchange. Their company, Silberman Fur Corp where actually the guys who bought fur under the banner of "Sears", everyone thought they were selling to Sears, but it was actually these guys. This was before my time, but some old-timers are still around who remember selling to Sears.

They told me they wanted Washington muskrats, they marketed them primarily in Germany as "Fraser Valley Muskrats".

Unknown to most people is that western Washington muskrats are one of, if not the best quality 'rat there is. This is due to the good quality leather, the good color of their backs, and the exceptionally good color of their bellies.

I bought fur out here in Washington for one year for Silberman's. Then they asked me to come back to the Midwest and buy fur for them; which I did for a season. I just bought dealer lots, anywhere from  $20K to $150K at a pop. Those were the boom days of the fur business.

They then wanted me to travel to Australia to buy red foxes. That would have been during our summer, then I would have returned to Wisconsin to buy fur the following winter. I didn't want to permanently move from Washington, that's when I parted company with them.

I just found one of my receipt books from when I was buying fur back in 1977. A lot of the guys names I see in it are now long gone, I see other names I vaguely remember. And then I see Marsee. It's good to see some of the guys are still at it.
Mark     

[wags]

BTW, I remember paying 44 cents a gallon for gas that winter. That would mean one muskrat on average would buy about 10 gallons of gas. In todays dollar that would make one muskrat worth about $37 each.
I miss those days.

[wags]

A side note. I see I used to write in cursive; don't think I remember how to do that very well today.

[Norman89]

That is just awesome, I love hearing about the fur boom days! This year untill the snow hits I shouldn't have a fuel cost thank God  been running my beaver wco line with my wood burner 

[buckcanyonlodge]

I trapped enough muskrats back then to fund my yearly Montana out of state license and hunting expenses. I remember getting $7.50 for xlg rats. Fur buyers would rent a conference room at the holiday Inn or other motel and all the local trappers would line up to sell their furs. Those were the days..

[Trapper John]

BTW, I remember paying 44 cents a gallon for gas that winter. That would mean one muskrat on average would buy about 10 gallons of gas. In todays dollar that would make one muskrat worth about $37 each.
I miss those days.

Oooooooooooh do I remember those days. 
I started driving in 1968-69 ...................... I think gas was something like 25 cents a gallon 

Look at todays prices of everything including the cost of a new pickup truck.  $50-70,000 for a Ford F-150
So at todays prices a gallon of gas cost $4.00 a gallon, if you get 15 mpg you need to collect "One Muskrat" every 15 miles just to pay for the fuel you used to go after it.
There's something to think about.
JC 

[Backstrap]

I trapped enough muskrats back then to fund my yearly Montana out of state license and hunting expenses. I remember getting $7.50 for xlg rats. Fur buyers would rent a conference room at the holiday Inn or other motel and all the local trappers would line up to sell their furs. Those were the days..

Yep, I remember it the same. HE Goldberg at the Holiday Inn. Jerry used to come by the house a few times a year as well.

[lewy]

It’s a hobby and a means to keeping a tradition alive at this point guys 

[Norman89]

BTW, I remember paying 44 cents a gallon for gas that winter. That would mean one muskrat on average would buy about 10 gallons of gas. In todays dollar that would make one muskrat worth about $37 each.
I miss those days.

Oooooooooooh do I remember those days. 
I started driving in 1968-69 ...................... I think gas was something like 25 cents a gallon 

Look at todays prices of everything including the cost of a new pickup truck.  $50-70,000 for a Ford F-150
So at todays prices a gallon of gas cost $4.00 a gallon, if you get 15 mpg you need to collect "One Muskrat" every 15 miles just to pay for the fuel you used to go after it.
There's something to think about.
JC

The fuel cost is definitely a killer, running my cat line in my V10 dodge at 9mpg..... The wood burner is doing awesome for the water line though, last tank 107.7 mpg with a Chevy v8 

[idaho guy]

if you assume an average inflation rate of 5% (inflation was sky high late 70s and 80"s) I did a very rough calculation and that would be close to 1900 bucks in todays dollars  The good ole days for sure!   

[NRA4LIFE]

Cool.  If you were buying rats in WI in '78 or so, some of them may have been mine or my brothers.  That's right when we were really trapping them hard along with raccoon because of the fur prices.

[Oh Mah]

Very nice. 

[KFhunter]

Wags couldn’t figure out how to post a pic of some rats he bought in 1977

according to https://www.usinflationcalculator.com/

That is $1,057.21 in today's dollar

[AL WORRELLS KID]

I remember getting $7.50 for xlg rats. Fur buyers would rent a conference room at the holiday Inn or other motel and all the local trappers would line up to sell their furs. Those were the days..

Yep, I remember it the same. HE Goldberg at the Holiday Inn. Jerry used to come by the house a few times a year as well.

[quote author=wags 

The back story. I was fresh out of high school (1976) and that winter 76/77 I met a couple of big time fur buyers at the Seattle fur exchange. Their company, Silberman Fur Corp where actually the guys who bought fur under the banner of "Sears",
I just found one of my receipt books from when I was buying fur back in 1977. A lot of the guys names I see in it are now long gone, I see other names I vaguely remember. And then I see Marsee. It's good to see some of the guys are still at it.
Mark     
[/quote]

wags, Those were the days!
 I remember at 11 years old, selling my first seasons catch of Muskrats to Irwin Goldberg himself down at his shop on Western Ave in Seattle. ( I still have the tape measure he gave me with the H.E. Goldberg logo on it.)
The Washington State Trappers Association held its own Fur Auctions starting in the 60's, Moscow Hide and Fur and Jerry Campbell from Goldberg's were the main Buyers attending.
 Jerry was kind enough to give me $1.00 for a badly rubbed Western Washington Coyote when I was about 15 years old (the same year I was offered the job of Treasurer for the WSTA.)
I started working at the Seattle Fur Exchange in 1976 (after Trapping Season was over) and soon found that one could make out a lot better, selling to 50 Buyers coming in from around the world to compete in their Fur Auction's. 
 ( I still remember the first time I watched a group of Italian Buyers in their full length Mink Coats, walking across Southcenter Mall from the Double Tree Inn to The Auction House.) Can you say Mafioso? 
Ten years working there as Warehouse Manager certainly gave me a new perspective of the Fur Trade (but also cut into my Trapping Season as it was our busiest time of the year, preparing for our upcoming Auctions.)   

[AL WORRELLS KID]

Wag's, Those really were some of the "Hay Days" in the Fur Trade.
At the Seattle Fur Exchange had three main Auctions during the Winter and Spring with a lot of Ranch Raised Mink and Fox to put up along with all the Wild Fur from the lower 48 and Alaska. Here's what the Auction Floor looked like with all the Buyers seated, surrounded by Trappers and Ranchers (watching their furs being sold.) Even Ted Nugent would send us some of his Ranch Raised Mink every year.
 I remember we had a couple of Old School Ranchers from the Midwest who insisted on being paid in cash after each Sale.
 Our treasurer would hand me a couple of packages 4 inches thick and the same size as $100 bills and say "Now take these packages across the street to the Post Office and have them Insured for $40,000 each." (Pretty unnerving to be holding a Farm Family's hard earned wages in your own two hands, having the suspicious Postal Clerk looking cross-eyed at you.)
 This was our Warehouse Crew back in 1978 (I'm the Guy wearing the visor.)
I remember when the Tukwila Fire Department inspected our Warehouse (that was packed with Furs,) they told us if this place ever caught fire they would evacuate everyone "Downwind" and just let it burn, as all that burning Hair would produce a whole lot of Cyanide Gas. 

[Humptulips]

I don't know what year I first sent furs to SFE but it was probably about the same time as that photo.
First time I took my furs up I asked for a tour, and it was pretty impressive. I was told they had 7million dollars' worth of fur on the grading room floor and 14 million in the warehouse. It was all wild fur in the grading room and I saw furs from all over that I had never saw before.
I think that was the year they had a rack of sea otter. Lynx, wolves, marten, wolverine, silver fox even ring tailed cats.
Never see those times again.
Later when they weren't selling wild fur but were a receiving agent for North Bay I brought in the largest shipment of wild furs that year from a trapper. At the same time a shipment of 15,000 blue fox showed up. Made my catch feel pretty insignificant. Another time there was truckload of brushtailed possum from NZ when I was there.
Security was very strict in the later years.
Raw furs were one of the leading exports of WA in those days.

[Backstrap]

We sold to HE Goldberg back in the day, and I remember Jerry well. He gave me a nickel for a weasel pelt one time. He said he’d buy any fur for a fair price. I don’t think I ever caught any more weasels, but I don’t think I’d put one up for a nickel either. Those were the good old days, for sure...

[Humptulips]

We sold to HE Goldberg back in the day, and I remember Jerry well. He gave me a nickel for a weasel pelt one time. He said he’d buy any fur for a fair price. I don’t think I ever caught any more weasels, but I don’t think I’d put one up for a nickel either. Those were the good old days, for sure...

HA HA, Goldberg cheap as usual. I think it would have been 1969 I had five very small brown weasels. Of course, I put them up as I didn't catch much at the time and every fur seemed neat to me. I put them in an envelope. I'm talking a business letter sized envelope, so you know they were small. I mailed them off to F.C. Taylor Fur Company in St Louis Missouri. I had their catalogue because of course I sent off for every trap supply catalogue that was free. Kind of a wish book.
Anyway, they sent me back a check for $1.25 and a note that said, "Please don't send us anymore weasels."