Return of the Sea Otter

One of the world's rarest furs is the North Pacific sea otter, for the simple reason that except for an occasional poacher's pelt, none has been available for more than half a century. Lustrous dark brown and noted for their durability and warmth, sea-otter skins were prized by Russian czars even above sable. Chinese mandarins heaped huge rewards on Siberian seamen daring enough to cross the Bering Strait and trap sea otters in the Aleutians. But two centuries of intensive hunting brought the near extinction of the species. By 1912, when Russia, Canada and Japan joined the U.S. in prohibiting further trapping, scarcely 500 sea otters remained.

Now, sea otter is coming back on the market. Under protection the herds have multiplied to a present population of some 40,000--enough so that Alaska has begun harvesting a strictly controlled number of pelts. Last week more than 100 buyers representing the world's top fur houses converged on the Seattle Fur Exchange to compete for Alaska's initial harvest. In less than two hours of bidding, Alaska Governor Walter J. Hickel, who revived the trade as a state-owned enterprise, presided over the sale of 826 skins. The record-breaking top price: $2,300 per skin, paid by George Liebes of Dallas' Neiman-Marcus for four male pelts, each more than 5 ft. long and 30 in. wide.

Liebes had come with carte blanche from Stanley Marcus to buy the finest four skins to be made into "the most extravagant lady's sport coat in the world, price no object." What might the coat cost? "Oh, maybe $20,000," said Liebes. Adds Alexander Ehrlich of Manhattan's Bergdorf Goodman, who was commissioned by Alaska to produce a sample, full-length cape to stimulate interest, went on to buy 30 pelts: "With all the couturiers looking for something new, this is the ideal time to introduce this fur. Now it's up to the women." And perhaps to the men as well. Ed Shepherd, in charge of Alaska's sea-otter trade, recalls that the fur was once lavished on masculine apparel, says: "I wouldn't be at all surprised to see knee-length sport coats of sea otter for men."

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