Fur Auction

Categories / Economy/Commerce
FUR AUCTION, international, fur sales traditionally held in St. Petersburg (Leningrad) three to four times a year since 1931. The sales are organised by Soyuzpushnina Foreign Trade Company, Moscow, and its branch in St. Petersburg. Fur auctions were originally held in rented premises such as the Exchange Building, the Russian Museum, the Academy of Arts, Evropeiskaya Hotel, and Astoria Hotel until the House of Furs was built by architect D. F. Friedman at 98 Moskovsky Avenue in 1937-39. The rooms are large and well-illuminated to display fur samples for sale. There is also an auction hall where auctions are conducted. Held at the height of the fur season, fur auctions in January and April are the most important, while other auctions are intended for selling the fur that had not been sold earlier. There are four major furs that were traditionally exported: sable, squirrel, blue fox, and mink, mainly supplied by fur farms. The fur auction held in St. Petersburg has historically specialised in sable fur, its prices determining the world price for sable. Soyuzpushnina was admitted into the International Fur Trade Federation in 1949. Sales fell dramatically in the 1990s. While proceeds amounted to 128 million dollars in 1989, only about eight million dollars’ worth of fur was sold in 1999. The situation has been improving over the last two years with previous suppliers coming back and relations with foreign buyers reestablished. Although Soyuzpushnina became a joint stock company in 1998, it is the state that has remained the company’s only shareholder.

V. G. Avdeev. Fridman Daniil Fedorovich
Moskovsky Ave/Saint Petersburg, city, house 98
Russian Museum, State
Academy of Arts
Academy of Arts
Astoria Hotel