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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To sell my mums fur coats??

225 replies

TheCalmingManatee · 23/09/2012 17:20

They are real fur (im not sure what they are, i think there are a couple of rabbit so less value) all vintage, she has five of them Shock I haven't a clue where she got them from, she wouldn't have bought them new, they are at least 40 years old.

Now I am categorically anti-fur, have taken part in demos etc in my past. And a rather questionable sit in in a fur department of a posh department store in my rebellious youth Blush So, i really don't want to be supporting the fur-trade in any way shape or form. But i have noticed that there seems to be a bit of a revival for vintage fur coats.

Yesterday whilst visiting a collectors fair i noticed coats similar to my mother's for £500, you could have knocked me over wiht a feather. I asked the guy if the woman selling them (she wasn't there) was interested in buying fur and he said she was. I have spoken to my mum and she is interested, well she had actually asked me to take them to the charity shop for her a couple of months back.

AIBU to think i could get a reasonable sum for these? I would never myself wear a fur coat, vintage or otherwise and i would imagine that many other people would feel the same way as i do. I would be (on my mums behalf - but actually im willing to bet she would share the pickings!) very VERY happy to get £200 each for the coats, if she is selling them for 5!!!!

I have an underlying feeling that im mad though!

OP posts:
RobotLover68 · 23/09/2012 18:18

TheCalmingManatee

can you help me too with who to contact - I've had my now deceased mother's mink (I think!) coat in the loft (at least 40 years old) for probably 10 years now and I have no idea how to go about selling it

TerraNotSoFirma · 23/09/2012 18:20

There are sometimes adverts for dealers looking to buy furs, in the back of magazines like vogue and harpers.
I'm upstairs pretending to be ironing at the moment, but when I go back downstairs (where the mags are) I'll have a look and see if I can find a number for you.

randomswitch · 23/09/2012 18:22

I absolutely would not sell them. I think the 'it is dead already and it is vintage' argument is a bit bogus to be honest. The animals are dead in brand new coats as well after all! Wearing real fur adds to the sense that fur is an acceptable and desirable thing to wear, whether it is vintage or not. The argument that not selling it doesn't help the forty year dead animal is irrelevant. It is the animals who are alive and used in the fur trade or who are going to be used in the fur trade who your concern should be for. By putting those coats back in circulation and back being worn the streets you are helping, in your own small way, to legitimise and grow the resurging fur trade. And that is at the cost of the animals to come, not the animals gone.

missymoomoomee · 23/09/2012 18:23

I would never be able to enjoy myself knowing the money came from animals suffering, they would not have been killed humanely or treated kindly back when they were made. Fair enough the animals are already dead, but it doesn't change how they died, it would be a bit like blood money to me tbh.

kilmuir · 23/09/2012 18:23

Anal electocution not pleasant, poor creatures.
If u were that passionate you should burn the horrible things

Original poster
TheCalmingManatee · 23/09/2012 18:25

XiCi - you are right about that yes, but i am sure you will agree with me that mink farming = shite!

I actually used to be a memeber of an animal rights group (not a direct action group of nutters i hasten to add) and i remember one day we were doing a jumble sale and someone had donated one of those mink scarf things, and i remember the knee jerk reaction was to chuck it away, but i remember the old dear who ran the group saying that it felt wrong just to discard it - i can't remember what the decision was i bet the old bint kept it and sold it! Grin

OP posts:
GoldShip · 23/09/2012 18:27

I'm surprised you're even considering selling them if you were a member of an animal rights group Confused

Original poster
TheCalmingManatee · 23/09/2012 18:28

I don't hold the argument "well its dead already so it doesn't matter" actually. My argument is that my selling the coats is not going to profit the fur dealers now. In fact, in my logic, it creates less demand as people prefer the vintage coats - they are not buying the new ones because of hte cruelty issues.

I can't afford to burn potentially £100s of pounds worth of coats, that would be mental

OP posts:
MordionAgenos · 23/09/2012 18:30

@Goldship Excellent couple of posts.

OP - do't sell them, bin them.

missymoomoomee · 23/09/2012 18:32

I'm with Gold on that one, is profiting from the inhumane torture of animals only wrong unless you are making a profit from it?

And you can't afford to burn £100s of pounds worth of coats? Well you can actually, its not like the money is yours just now, its not like you even knew their potential worth until yesterday. It would be a nice bonus, but I guess its a question of morals, mine are worth more than a few hundred quid but its up to you I guess.

randomswitch · 23/09/2012 18:32

Oh, and clumsymum I think there is a difference between fur and leather, simply because animals are kept in much worse conditions. Effectively kept in isolation, and in tiny wire cages (which lets face it, is physically painful as well as psychological damaging as a completely unstimulating environment). I think that is different and is worse. Just as animal kept in factory farms for food have a much more shitty life than those kept in genuinely free range farms. There is such a thing as a difference of degrees, and animals farmed for fur have a shittier life than those farmed for leather.

Original poster
TheCalmingManatee · 23/09/2012 18:38

I KNOW all the moral arguments in some detail thanks, i don't need reminding.

I am not going to bin the coats, they are not mine to bin, I AM going to sell them and im not being drawn into an animal rights argument as I am not going to argue against something i believe in, but i just think that the coats are in my mothers house, unwanted - she wont wear them, i wont wear them, my DDs definately wont wear them.

The money could make a significant difference and be the boost my DP needs to establish his business, i think i would be morally bereft if i ignored that fact and denied ourselves the opportunity to find some money to send him on the course he needs to do. Any left over, i would give to an animal charity as i think this is a great idea posted earlier and will assuage my guilt

OP posts:
GoldShip · 23/09/2012 18:40

So the point of this topic was.....?

Oh yeah, to convince yourself what you're doing is right. Hmm

missymoomoomee · 23/09/2012 18:43

So you just wanted people to say 'there there you are doing the right thing', and get angry at the people who suggest using an animals suffering to make a few quid......enjoy your blood money Confused

Original poster
TheCalmingManatee · 23/09/2012 18:43

Not at all Goldship - if you read my OP you will see the question i posed was "AIBU to think i could get a reasonable sum for them" BECAUSE there is the moral question i would have thought that i woulndn't be able to get much for them - I have already made my mind up that im going to sell them so not looking for any moral back patting.

OP posts:
randomswitch · 23/09/2012 18:43

Calming, do you genuinely think people will think, well, I was going to buy a new fur coat, but I'll get this vintage one instead? I just don't buy that argument, sorry. I suspect it is a new and different market, but one that is increasing the acceptability of fur and hence growing the fur market overall. If you decide to sell the coats, I really think you will be helping the social acceptability of the fur market. If you really meant it when you said you were against the fur trade then I think you should not put the coats back in circulation. And like missy said, you are not losing money, it is just money you until recently never even knew you had the potential to gain.

Llanbobl · 23/09/2012 18:43

Difficult one - I choose not to wear, eat or sit upon something that had a face, but I can see the argument that vintage reduces the need for new fur. Saying that we have a "vintage" market and some of the fur coats are manky beyond belief.........so I'm not sure I'd want one (others people body odour yuk). If you sell maybe give a donation to PETA or other animal charity.

PennyDead - what have blacksmiths done that is so heinous Wink? Now furriers - they're the real bastards...........

GoldShip · 23/09/2012 18:44

Exactly missy.

Original poster
TheCalmingManatee · 23/09/2012 18:44

No, i wanted people to say - yes, there will be folk who are willing to pay a fair amount for them and worth going to the effort of researchin and getting a good price for them. So yes, if i do make some blood money from them, i'll enjoy it very much thanks

OP posts:
Rowanhart · 23/09/2012 18:45

I wear vintage fur. Would never get a new fur coat but have a couple of beautiful vintage fox furs (one silver/one orange) which are from the 1920s

I thunk there should be a ban on the fur industry but getting rid of such beautiful vintage is. Travesty.

Sell them in the firm belief that this may stop someone buying a new one. It's a good thing!

And if you still feel bad give the dosh to PETA.

GoldShip · 23/09/2012 18:45

Shame on you for that last comment.

Original poster
TheCalmingManatee · 23/09/2012 18:46

Llanbobl - thankyou, that is a very sensible post.

OP posts:
CanIOfferYouAPombear · 23/09/2012 18:47

You're daft to start a topic like this on here! Grin

If you feel comfortable with it then sell them. If you felt really bad you could put some/all of the money back in to an animal charity.

Good luck, don't let this nest of vipers sway your decision to much :)

missymoomoomee · 23/09/2012 18:47

Disgusting comment

sunflowerseeds · 23/09/2012 18:47

I wouldn't have thought old furs had any value as, surely, nobody could wear them without being abused?
Charity shops won't take them as they are so controversal and unsellable.