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.)