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Selling Antique Bear Rug

I am selling a 1930's black bear rug in excellent condition. Please contact me if you are interested in purchasing, I am looking for $900.00. The rug is about 42 by 43" inches. Thank you.

That must be from a very young bear. Less than 4 ft long and 4 ft across the paws means it squares about 3.6 ft. $900 seems pretty high for such a small rug. Good luck.

The bear was a few years old. It is in excellent shape and is an antique.

I'm willing to negotiate the price but I think that's fair considering they don't usually sell for less than $1,200 or more.

Thanks! :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by ccsbflo (Post 4188443)

I'm curious, how do you know it was a "few years old"? A bear that small is a yearling at best. If it was 2 or 3 years old it would be at least 5 1/2 ft long and at least that across the paws. As to the price, I don't know where you are looking. I can go to the taxidermy.net site and buy a bear skin twice that size for half the $$$. Antique means nothing on black bear since they are a very common huntable species. If it was something no longer hunted then antique means something. Heck, I can buy a bear tag, shoot the bear and get it tanned and not have much more than $900 in it.

I'm no hunter, I'm an antique/vintage dealer, having trouble selling the bear elsewhere because they actually are not allowed to be hunted in many places, which I'm sure you know.
Regardless, I know you wont find a bear less than that. Atleast not the average online shopper. I looked for hours and didn't find anything less than 1600 or so. And I know a full rug is worth a lot more than a pelt, considering the well preserved head, teeth, claws etc. Bear heads I've seen for sale alone run a few hundred dollars. And claws atleast 150. Just a pelt around the price I'm looking for but that's just a pelt. And while antique may mean nothing to you it means a lot to many people. There are a lot of people who would but that sort of thing antique for the novelty of it but would never buy it new. Bear rugs were a really iconic thing and owning an old is a lot different for many people than buying a new one would be.

A hide that old could have all kinds of problems. Tanning and taxidermy practices have improved greatly since the 30s and many of the taxidermy specimens were preserved with arsnic to prevent insect insect infestation. I would never purchase any preserved hide from that era. 900.00 for what could very well be a cub hide is a very high price.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ccsbflo (Post 4188462)

I'm no hunter, I'm an antique/vintage dealer,

So, you don't know how old the bear is. I've shot more than my share of bear and I know for a fact a skin that small is either a cub or a yearling.

having trouble selling the bear elsewhere because they actually are not allowed to be hunted in many places, which I'm sure you know.

Actually the black bear is the second most popular animal hunted in the USA. With the exception of the plains states they occur just about everywhere and I'm betting at least 35-40 states and all of Canada have bear hunting season.

Regardless, I know you wont find a bear less than that. Atleast not the average online shopper. I looked for hours and didn't find anything less than 1600 or so. And I know a full rug is worth a lot more than a pelt, considering the well preserved head, teeth, claws etc. Bear heads I've seen for sale alone run a few hundred dollars. And claws atleast 150. Just a pelt around the price I'm looking for but that's just a pelt.

Want to bet. Took me less than 2 minutes to find 3 for a lot less than you're asking. Maybe you need a better search engine.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Taxi...-/171707045511

http://boise.craigslist.org/search/sss?query=bear%20rug

https://for-sale.yakaz.com/black-bear-rug

And while antique may mean nothing to you it means a lot to many people. There are a lot of people who would but that sort of thing antique for the novelty of it but would never buy it new. Bear rugs were a really iconic thing and owning an old is a lot different for many people than buying a new one would be.

Not when it comes to taxidermy. The techniques from the 1930's are nowhere near as good as they are now. Since the black bear is readily available a rug now will be much better quality and will be better tanned than one that is 80 years old.

Spin it however you want Dude. But I've hunted all over the world and have taken 68 species of game. I know a thing or two about taxidermy. You obviously don't.

Interesting information. Thanks, I actually appreciate it, you really didn't need to be rude. I was just trying to stick up for myself but you're right that price definately was too high. My apologies.
I know the bear is little and young I wrote his size and never claimed it was an adult, a few years was my guess. He is a really cute little guy and his fur is thick and nice, atleast. I think he looks nicer than other bears I've seen.
I was just curious if any hunters would be interested.
I had my listing taken off of etsy because they dont allow bears. I expect that ebay listing will be taken down - ebay doesn't allow any bears either according to their policies - http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/wildlife.html
Maybe I should be looking for around 4 to 500?
And seriously, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be rude. I realize you know a lot more than I do about this.
But I do disagree about there not being a market for vintage taxidermy.

This post is boarding on flaming ~ Rule 8.
If you don't want to buy it walk away!

JW

Quote:

Originally Posted by JW (Post 4188505)

This post is boarding on flaming ~ Rule 8.
If you don't want to buy it walk away!

JW

No intention on flaming. I just wanted to let him know that his price was too high and if he really wanted to sell it he would need to drop the price to bring it in line with what others are selling the same thing for.

So, now I'll walk.