UPDATED FOR 2023!!!
Dear Internet, you have asked me a LOT about how to sell a vintage fur coat. Because I love you and want to help you out, here is a follow up to my piece on Grandma’s Vintage Fur. This is for everyone who wants to sell their vintage fur coat, stole, or other item. I’m also posting public answers to some of the more interesting questions that have come my way. This was updated in February 2023!
The Step By Step Guide to Selling Your Vintage Fur
Be polite to the fur buyers/consignment store owners/possible online buyers of your fur. Don’t be crabby or greedy, don’t call a consignment store constantly to see if your item has sold – check in at the end of the consignment term.
How Much Are Vintage Furs Worth?
Most vintage furs are worth less than $750 US. This Worthpoint price list seems to be accurate. Here’s a summary of the Worthpoint list, with some notes based on reviewing furs in 2023.
What can make a fur more valuable? Furs that are labeled designer or are very pale (white, platinum, blonde, champagne) will be at the higher end of these value ranges. Sheep-based furs, persian lamb and mouton, have also held their modest value – people consider these to be the ethical equivalent of a leather jacket.
What makes a fur harder to sell? Location is a major factor, as is climate in your area. If it is a very small size, a stole or accessory, that reduces the market for it even further. Brown fur stoles, and fur accessories that include animal heads/feet are definitely harder to sell in 2023 – I recommend taking these directly to a vintage store.
I’m Sorry That Your Fur Is Not As Valuable As You Hoped, Here’s Why
Many antique items are more valuable than their modern counterparts, or have held their value well. Unfortunately fur coats are not one of these. While new fur coats are very expensive, vintage furs have value too, but it is limited. Compared to modern furs, vintage fur coats are heavier. Fur also gets damaged over time – delicate furs like beaver, chinchilla, and rabbit get damaged quickly. Lastly, vintage furs are often styled to vintage tastes – they can be strange or even distasteful (heads and feet and tails, gracious!) to the modern eye. Modern furriers often distance their furs from the killing floor by shearing them to mimic soft velvet, or dyeing them colors never seen in nature.
You may see vintage furs for sale for more money than I have listed above. The catch is that if you are seeing them for sale, in a store…the seller hosting the space is paying overhead costs. If the furs are consigned, the consignee is receiving 50 – 60% of the sale price, and the consignment shop is getting the rest. If the furs are secondhand, again, they got bought to be resold and there are still space expenses. Hopefully this explains that. Diamonds also go through value fluctuations due to sale/ownership status.
Ethically Donating or Gifting a Fur
You may have serious ethical problems with fur, and yet not like the idea of just throwing a fur garment away. It was Grandma’s. Animals died to make it. The lining is awfully pretty. Even Edward Gorey had a change of heart about whether vintage furs were ethical! Take heart, there are some ethical re-uses for your fur coat that don’t involve profit.
What Is Warmest, Fake Fur or Real Fur?
The answer is…neither. If real fur was “the warmest” they’d be wearing it in Antarctica and in Antarctica they wear goose down parkas. That said, after the late-autumn Hurricane Sandy hit the Northeast in 2012, friends of mine were getting their grandmother’s fur coats out of storage to wear for warmth.
Some Final Notes
If you are trying to sell a fur, I wish you luck and I hope that this piece was helpful.
When I first wrote this, in 2012, we thought of vintage furs as belonging to two generations back, to our grandparents. And vintage furs still had a part in fashion. Now, as member of GenX, my friends are dealing with mom’s vintage fur or furs. These furs are sleeker, they’re in better condition, and…they’ve never been less popular. They still carry an emotional weight, as this writer’s story shares.
Please note that just because a fur is “valuable” doesn’t mean it will sell. Times and morals have changed. In many communities wearing fur is simply not done anymore. Nor is keeping fur as an heirloom something that is as valued as it once was. That said, beautiful, well-made vintage items are becoming more and more rare. I have also heard from people dealing with power outages from storms, or with extreme rises in heating costs, who hauled out old furs to stay warm. If you have a choice and some suitable storage space, and you live in a cold area, you may consider keeping a fur for a time.
Rest assured that people have been disappointed by inherited fur coats for years -Dodie Smith’s novel I Capture the Castle has a classic scene, set in the 1930s, when two girls inherit some furs. The furs turn out to be, not fashionable mink or fox, but…antique, worn beaver, seal, and…collie dog! Interestingly, Dodie Smith also wrote 101 Dalmatians, where fur coats are a major plot point and a furrier’s wife, Cruella de Ville, the villain. Anyhow, read I Capture the Castle, it’s a great book. It would be a great gift to accompany a fur teddy bear.
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