Ermine fur comes from the stoat, a mustelid larger than the weasel but smaller than mink, otters etc. The black tail-tip is retained in the white phase and gives ermine its distinctive black spots.
On the subject of fur, I was given the sleeves of an old rabbit coat this summer, and my winter sewing project will be working out how to trim my new 17th century jacket with it. Kate Bunting Librarian & 17th century reenactor Message: 7 Date: Wed, 03 Nov 2010 18:12:31 -0500 From: "Land of Oz" <[email protected]> To: "Historical Costume" <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [h-cost] Need help identifying furs Message-ID: <[email protected]> Content-Type: text/plain;charset="utf-8"; format="flowed" Mink do not turn white in the winter and AFAIK neither do marten/sable. Ermine are considerably smaller than either mink or marten/sable and when in the white phase they have a distinctive black tip on the tail. Denise On Wed, 3 Nov 2010 18:42:14 -0400 Becky Rautine <[email protected]> wrote: > > maybe mink but sable and mink are >pretty much the same thing. The white >could be what some old heraldry >called ermine. Mink/Sable/Ermine all >go through color changes due to >winter. Dark in the spring, the white >for cold snowy times. Either way, I'd >say these are the same family of >furred critters. > > Sincerely, > Rebecca Rautine _____________________________________________________________________ The University of Derby has a published policy regarding email and reserves the right to monitor email traffic. If you believe this email was sent to you in error, please notify the sender and delete this email. Please direct any concerns to [email protected]. The policy is available here: http://www.derby.ac.uk/LIS/Email-Policy _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list [email protected] http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
