Three types of wildcat fur

[Ballula]

Years ago, before 2010, I bid on a lynx pelt from a Chinese seller on eBay.  The lynx was a Eurasian lynx that the seller said was trapped in the Tian Shan (Sky Mountains in Chinese) Mountains.  The fur was rather short and flat so I assumed this lynx was trapped in the summer.  I don't think anyone would be crazy enough to engage in fur trapping in the Tian Shan Mountains in the wintertime.  I was the only bidder and the opening bid was $100.  I reluctantly retracted my bid because I had fears that if I won the auction, the pelt would not pass customs.  Eurasian lynx are listed on CITES Appendix II.  I live in San Diego, California.

In early 2019, I bought a fur pillow and two European wildcat pelts from mehovoy, a furrier on eBay based in Ukraine.  I paid for the pillow but cancelled the order for the wildcat pelts because I was afraid the pelts would not pass customs.  European wildcats are listed on Appendix II of CITES.

In 2021, I bought three Russian sable pelts from royalfurs, a furrier on eBay based in Moscow, Russia.  He sent me a picture of beautiful Eurasian lynx pelts that he had for sale.  He was asking $700 each.  I really wanted to buy a pelt but it was way out of my price range and again, I was fearful that the pelt would not make it past customs.  Eurasian lynx is one of the few furs that I have never seen in person nor touched with my own hands (I know the San Diego Zoo has a Siberian lynx but I have never seen it in person).   Now, anyone in the know knows that Eurasian lynx pelts are extremely difficult to get.  There was a seller on eBay, also based in Russia, who sold taxidermy specimens and tanned skins (both mammals and birds).  I don't know if they are still selling on eBay.  This was before the Covid pandemic.  They had multiple Eurasian lynx pelts for sale for under $500.  Granted, these were not the best quality pelts but they were not bad and they were genuine Eurasian lynx pelts.  Back in 2019 I think, maybe 2018, glacierwear.com had two male Russian lynx pelts for sale.  The price for each pelt was $1995.  Both sold.

Edited April 6 by Ballula