You might also look at ebay. I inherited a lovely sheared beaver coat from a great aunt. I rarely wear it (it is 50s swing style, huge, very warm) but I keep it because it is just beautiful. I was curious so went to ebay to explore and found that it isn't worth much at all--people rarely buy furs these days, at least in my part of the U.S. Anyway, I found that furs sell for surprisingly little.

I bough a sheared beaver like Emory described at an estate sale when I was in college. It was like new, owner had passed and they were selling contents of house. It was the warmest coat I ever had, including the full length down coat I have now. I drove 77 miles one way, over the winter months; that coat was like an insurance policy. Having been stranded in blizzards and coming from the upper plains states, I have no issue with fur coats. Mom bought me a fox jacket when was in high school. BF's dog peed on it...another story...

Anyway last year I again found a stupid cute, short mink jacket at an estate sale. Perfect condition, $40. I wear it with heels and jeans.

I have no idea how to evaluate used fur. If the seams are good, nothing worn and the smell is clean, I am good to go. That and I'm cheap so would have a difficult time spending over $100

I haven't bought one, but I sold a very nice Fox fur coat on eBay for about $250. It was inherited, and since I spend winters in FL, there was no need for me to keep it. I know that my mom had spent WAY more than the $250 on the coat and it was properly maintained and stored over its life so that was a good bargain for the person who bought it. If fur isn't maintained right and stored correctly, it can dry out.

I guess you'd have to be from the northern states to understand wintering in Florida. Being from Texas I like to Winter in a log cabin in the mountains in Montana for the winter... I think (:

You so seldom see women in fur anymore. Too bad. I think they're beautiful.

I lived in Italy for awhile and even though winters aren't cold by my (Minnesota) standards there women all wear beautiful full length furs throughout the season. I found it striking.

I just did a little google search (boring day at work!) and found this store ad--it is nearly identical to the coat I have:

https://fursbychrys.com/SB439.htm

I bought a used fur for my DD about 12 years ago. She likes to browse in vintage clothing stores and we stopped in one shop in a tony suburb of Philly. The sales person mentioned that they had just opened their fur shop for the fall so went over to take a look.

DD tried on several and she looked great in them. I, on the other hand, looked like a bear....and not an attractive one. After we left I called the store and told them that I would be back the following day to pick up one particular coat that looked like it was made for DD. It still had the name embroidered inside of the previous owner and the name of the furrier. I let her know that I wanted to discuss the price with her and that I expected it to be negotiable. That didn't seem to surprise her at all.

When I went to back to the store I told the owner that I wasn't knowledgeable about furs and wanted to know if anyone had examined the coat to ascertain its' condition. She was a little vague and but said that I could take it to a furrier and if it didn't pass inspection she would refund my money. I offered to pay 60% of the price on the coat - this fur was definitely not in fashion, it had 3/4 length sleeves with cuffs. DD is slender and the sleeves looked more like 4/5ths on her, however it looked stunning and she actually liked the sleeves. I ended up paying about 70%.

I promptly took it to the furrier whose name was inside and had a lovely little chat about the coat. Fortunately for me the previous owner had stored her fur coats with him every year and he had reconditioned it when necessary. He even offered to alter it if DD wanted to change the style. He also said that there was enough fur in the cuffs that he could make them full length.

As for bargaining - my best friend of 30 years just moved to Florida this week and I asked her what she did with her furs. One was a beautiful black mink jacket and the other was a full length white mink with a white fox collar. She's had them for about 20 years but seldom wore them. She told me that she had contacted several vintage shops and no one wanted to pay her anything for them.

Unless you're in a really cold part of the country or NYC furs are definitely less popular. DD wore her fur quite often while she was living in Manhattan. We have several fur stores in our area and they don't even advertise as much as they used to.

I would speak with the owner of your store and ask about the condition of the fur. If you saw one that you really liked I would definitely bargain with her and also ask if you could return it if you had the coat evaluated by a professional and it wasn't in good condition.

Maire

I inherited a beautiful full length mink coat from my grandmother, and sold it on eBay for a few hundred dollars. It was in perfect condition. I live in Texas, and just couldn't ever see myself wearing it. I'm quite sure my grandfather spent several thousand dollars on it when he bought it for her back in the day. I think you should definitely bargain with the furrier.

ETA-It did feel a little weird to sell it since my grandmother's name was embroidered on the inside.

How fun. I had the most wonderful leopard cape in college that I got at a vintage shop. I don't know what happened to it but it was a show stopper. I also have a black persian lamb duster that i bought about a decade ago. It was probably like $100-200.

Furs are still very much out, even in NYC. I'm there every week and was just at the theatre last night. About the only place I see furs any more is at the opera, and the demographics at the opera ...well it's a bit senior.

Younger people who wear fur generally wear fur-lined trenchcoats; far more discreet. I also still see a lot of fur in ski wear and apres-ski.

If you are willing to be patient and do some homework they can be cheaper than a good wool coat. In fact you made me want one now! It is veryyyyy cold today.

I have a lovely full length mink coat and rarely wear it. Sometimes I wear it to walk the dog when it is frigid or windy. The vintage shops here on Cape Cod are good places to look. Fur coats sell for a few hundred dollars. One of the owners told me that there has been a resurgence in women who dare to wear them. However, I don't see it in Boston on the days that I work there. What I do see is $1000 Canada Goose coats. It seems like everyone has one. I looked at them in Nordstrom but it does't seem any better than my Michael Kors puffer coat, which is extremely warm.

It's just as warm, but I can't stand to wear a puffer coat. I am puffy enough without one! The CG are pretty flattering for a warm coat. YMMV

Well very interesting. I knew they weren't popular any more but I didn't realize prices would be so low. I think I would like to buy from a reputable source even if more expensive but I need to figure out how to negotiate the price. Probably the time to do that is in the summer when it's 90 degrees and unbearably humid.

I kind of do my own practical thing, not too concerned about what's in or out so a fur coat sounds perfect for me.

Been shopping on Craigslist now. My goodness - there are a few lovely mink coats for less than $500. Some asking much more but can't imagine they would get that price when there are so many for less. I would prefer the stroller length but most are longer or just short jackets. I want my butt covered especially when I get in the cold car but I don't like a lot of bulky stuff around my legs. I guess I just need to go look at some and try them on. If I really liked it, the price was right and it seemed to be in good shape I'd probably be able to live with fur around my legs.

My DD just mentioned the other day that she was surprised to see quite a few fur coats in the pews at her Methodist church in North GA.

I am in a snow country, I see fur coats flying everywhere, mostly in the grocery stores. :-) I wear a fur coat every time stepping outside in the winter, it's pretty cold here, the lowest temp was -10F. It's better to have a full length fur coat for temperatures below 15F. I think a mink coat is the best, it's light and warm. I love fox, coyote, fitch coats too, they're heavier than mink though. Get a short one and a long one. :-) Look for the worn spots(missing guard hair-longer hair) on the cuffs, and the edges of closure in the front. Mink coats have female mink and male mink coats, female mink coats are more expensive in this country, they're very shiny, silky and soft. Male mink coats are heavier than female mink coats, they're very nice too. Good luck! :-)

......... there is a white fox coat (new without tag) on ebay for $285/best offer-" White Fox Fur Coat Basile".....

I have a lovely coat from fabulous furs that looks very close to sable. They make some beautiful alternative fur items. Here in So CA, it's not so cold and it's perfect. I get dirty looks all the time though because people think it's real. I like the way I don't have to worry about special storage or cleaning. If I were buying a real fur, I would want to be sure the fur wasn't shedding with handling and that the seams were sound.

No one is speaking to the hugely negative perception fur wearers conjure. Has all the PC craziness passed? A fur no matter how inexpensive may not be worth the jeers/comments one might inspire. Gauge reads -20F this morning, a fur would be well appreciated it sounds like.

I don't think I've seen a fur coat worn in over 45 years! But I am on the west coast... I remember as a child all the women would put their furs on my parents bed when they came for parties, and I'd go run my hands over them and swoon. Fur coats in Los Angeles? Was more a status thing than anything.

Here in the my part of the PNW everyone wears fleece, flannel or down filled-NEVER fur, not even faux!

As far as the negative perception, choosing to wear or not wear fur is a personal value choice, and shouldn't be part of a decision. If I lived in Alaska, I might perhaps wear locally provided fur, it's hard to say how I would feel not being there, but here, fur is not at all necessary and there is no reason to seek it out as I do not support the industry.

If I thought wearing fur was fine, I would wear it whether others approved or not.

Neetsie, my memories are similar to yours. I don't think my mother ever had a full length fur coat, but she had stoles, short jackets. I remember a Persian lamb with a fur collar. They were a big deal to her. Status. They certainly weren't needed for the climate, although this morning it's 25 degrees. But really no snow or ice.

I personally would not wear fur now, esp. anything from the cat family. Yes, I eat meat and have leather shoes and purses. I understand if that makes me sound like a hypocrite. I just can't do fur. I suspect that where I live in northern California, disapproval would be high, although whether one cares about that or not is a different matter.

Sub zero to -25F are dangous cold temperatures, just like in Alaska.......

3katz4me, if you need any help with identifying the fur types, conditions, you can post photos here, we'd help you. Hope you find a nice warm fur coat soon!

I hadn't seen anyone wearing a fur coat here in years, but lo and behold there was an older lady wearing one today at church. It is bitterly cold here, and I'll bet she was toasty warm in it.

I would, and I have worn my grandmothers furs. they dont fit me know, :p but I am hoping they will again soon! I particulary love one she had that was to just above my knees and kind of a mixed fur color. it just seemed more casual to me and I wore it with jeans all the time!

If you eschew fur for down on humanitarian grounds, just be sure you are buying from a company that collects their feather and down in an ethical way. Both Northface and Patagonia do this. Patagonia has a 100% traceable own standard.

I found one that looks nice and reasonably priced but I'm just not sure about the full mid-calf length. It's just so much coat and I haven't worn a long coat in years. There isn't anything on the CL market at the moment in the stroller length. They all seem to be shorter jackets or full length. I have only seen a couple people wearing a fur coat in the last five years. I spent an evening with one of them and no one seemed to notice and certainly no taunts or jeers. I'm not too concerned about that kind of thing when the temperature is below zero. That's when I'd want to wear it. At other times I think I'd be too hot and I have a nice faux fur jacket and an alpaca jacket that are good for warmer winter weather.

We'll see. It was minus 26 this morning but will be above zero this coming week so maybe my interest will wane.

I live in a cold and snowy part of Canada, where wearing furs certainly has warmth appeal. In my long ago teens, my mother bought me a black rabbit fur coat. A university friend and I would exchange with her sheared lamb swing coat. In those days, it was perfectly acceptable to wear fur. However, not long after I can remember crossing the road to avoid anti-fur activists.

Times seem to have settled down, but I still don't see too many people wearing fur. I sometimes wear my now vintage long brown mink and a fluffy above knee length muskrat fox jacket, but not the black and platinum mink coats inherited from my DM and MIL. That coat was MIL's pride and joy. I haven't figured out what to do with the latter coats, but I did wear the jacket today and sometimes I wear the long brown mink to walk the dog or on a particularly bitter day.

There are LOTS of good pre-used furs around here, sometimes on racks in shopping mall kiosks, and particularly lovely ones that would have retailed at several thousands are asking for Canadian $800 at the high end. Furriers offer incentives on used coat trade-ins to encourage new sales adding to the stock of used coats. Depending where you live, there could be considerable room for negotiation. I would look for fur without obvious signs of wear, suppleness as opposed to dry/brittle skin, and lining in good condition.

I spent the latter part of last week and the first half of this week wearing a full length fur to work every day. And because we are on jeans at work til year end, I had the fur, jeans and bean duck boots while outdoors.

In my city, I was not the lone fur wearer....quite a few folks were wearing fur.

I have lived in another metro area where women, other than me, wouldn't be caught dead in fur.

I ride public transit and am outdoors alot. I will have and wear a fur as long as I have the lifestyle that i have.

The key thing to preserving fur is cold storage in the warmer months.

I have a hip length mink jacket from the 70's. It was stored for many years so the fur is in great condition. I have a friend that is an excellent tailor. She and I took those awful shoulder pads out and removed the sleeves. I now have a very fashionable vest that will be great with boots and jeans.

I wear furs to work, to the gym, to stores, often with pajama pants or gym pants after work. They are just winter coats, don't feel anything fancy either. I just put them on and run into the icy cold air to go to work, to do chores without being frozen. When it's around sub zero temps, sometimes I can see the "northern lights" while walking the dogs at night or early in the morning- when the air is very very cold and filled with tiny ice crystals, the street lights go straight up to the sky, like light columns, a beautiful sight, but your throat hurts when breathing in the crystal air ...... :-) So for the southerners, I dare you to come up north in Feb, to breath in the painful fresh air. lol

Did you find a coat yet? Hope you find one under your Christmas tree! Winter just arrived yesterday, cold air shall be back........

Happy winter everyone! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

I haven't bought one yet. It's above freezing this week but Im still looking. Still not sure about the longer one I liked. I found a very vintage shorter one today that is very inexpensive. If it seemed decent I wouldn't have much to lose. I might go look at them tomorrow if they're available.

They're all previously owned.

By animals, of course.

It sounds good to get two, you'd need a long one and a short one for the weather over there. Good luck! :-)

Hi 3cats... just to offer friendly feedback on a point you made (I'm not arguing/lecturing and don't care what you do :) You seem to feel that because you are ok to wear leather that there would then be no reason to reject fur. There is a big difference which is why most people who wouldn't be caught dead in a fur will still wear leather. Yes, while it would be ideal to be leather free too, leather is a byproduct of the meat industry. No animal is suffering in order to provide you with a pretty coat, unless you are wearing exotics. That is unfortunately not true for most animals with pretty skin. If you care about animals or the message you are sending, perhaps you will want to consider a coat made of something that is also being raised for food.. then you can be as warm as you'd like but not sacrifice your values (if you didn't say you were sensitive to the issue, I wouldn't have bothered pointing this out).

On the pricing issue.... my mother has a nice old mink that no one in the family has been willing to wear for at least 20 years. My sister brought it by a furrier last week and was offered $750 for it. They will obviously be selling it for more. So, I guess the prices do vary quite a bit.

Cyn427,

Thanks for that info. I didn't know it was possible to get down humanely if it wasn't eider down. I'll have to look into that because I try to make humane choices when it's an option. I have an eiderdown comforter and it's the most wonderful thing, albeit not inexpensive.

On that note, 3Katz, if you want something warmer and lighter than fur, an eiderdown coat would be superior in every way. It may not fit into your budget though. There is no fur coat that could compare.