mole skin coat

[Patch49]

I have a old coat that is made of real mole skins that is starting to come to pieces (it was my Grandmother's) I quite like wearing it so do I get it repaired? Who would do this? or do I sell it on Ebay? or to a theatre costume store?

[Buenchico]

For a repair, you'll need to contact a furrier. There are so few furriers these days (I'm glad to say) that there's no longer a classifiction in Yellow Pages. A web search, however, came up with this:
Peter Ley Furrier - Remodelling, repairs, new orders.
United Kingdom - Tel: [phone]
(That dialling code is for Ringwood, Hampshire)

Chris

[Clanad]

I suppose I'm stepping of a precipice here, but to my knowledge, moleskin material, isn't made from the hides or fur of actual moles.  It's made from cotton and trimmed to resemble the suede-like feel of brushed leather.

[Patch49]

These are genuine skins - you can see where they have been stitched together. Each skin isn't very big...

Thanks for the address Buenchico - I'll try it before the weather gets too cold!

[Clanad]

Being so intrigued about a coat made of actual little moleskins, I found this following reference from a U.K. site:

A mole has a life span of up to 3 years and his favourite dish is worms and he's a very active animal, working day and night shifts and only ceasing for short periods of rest in-between.   He (or she to be politically correct) will only eat enough worms to satisfy his appetite and any leftover worms come across are prevented from escaping by biting off their heads. They are not wasted as he stores in a special part of the tunnel, known as the mole's larder'.  A Mole has 44 teeth, more than any other mammal in Britain.  Being fiercely territorial, he can use his canine teeth to fight with other moles which invade its space.

Despite spending so much time in earth, he remains clean because his coat is a waterproof one.   His short fur can lay in any direction, so he can  move forwards or backwards in his tunnel, without jamming its hair in the passages.

When he is tunnelling he can move around 6 kilos of earth every 20 minutes or so.    This is equivalent to us moving 4 tons in the same time.    He can do a complete u-turn anywhere in his network of underground passages.   Some physical skill is involved in total darkness in a tunnel to be able to turn and go back the way he came.

In the late 1800's moleskin clothing was the height of fashion and there were professional mole catchers, known as "wanters",.   Their sole job was to kill and skin huge numbers of moles and by 1905 over a million skins a year were being sold in London...... and twelve million a year were being shipped to the States.

Thanks to www.findonvillage.com

One never stops learning!