It is known that in the life of both an individual and a state, in fact, nothing new happens, everything has already happened, once with someone, in one form or another. History goes in circles. Now it is customary to say and write that the country is "sitting on the oil and gas needle", but, of course, it was not in Soviet or post-Soviet times that they came up with the idea of ​​trading in natural resources that are not available abroad. Since very ancient times, Russia, and later Russia, was not at all famous for deposits of copper, silver and other ores, but for what used to be called “soft gold” - furs! A special, honorable place among the huge number of furs supplied from our territory was occupied by sable. A little help. There is a certain Canadian sable on the fur market today, in fact it is just a marten. And only we have sable, real sable, it is our national treasure!

But, let's dive into the depths of centuries. Extremely expensive and incredibly beautiful sable skins played the role of money back in the 11th-12th centuries. They paid duties and tributes, were awarded for merit, and were given salaries. The Muscovite state preferred to receive yasak (tribute) from the peoples of Siberia with sables. A very important point - it was this "soft gold" that played a huge role in the restoration of the country, devastated by the Great Troubles and foreign intervention for many years, in the 17th century. The profit brought by the trade in furs and, of course, including sable, was simply astronomical in those days. There is such data that in 1660 all state revenues amounted to 1,311,000 rubles and half of them, i.e. 600,000 is income from Siberian furs. I will not undertake to judge the accuracy regarding the amounts, but the order of the numbers, for that time, is impressive. This money made it possible to purchase the latest models of weapons and equipment, hire foreign specialists, and develop the industry of the state. This is known, a somewhat later time, of course, a fact. Peter 1, going to the Great Embassy, ​​took with him a large number of sable and fox skins, thereby securing the location of the right people for himself, traveling incognito under the guise of a simple constable Peter Mikhailov.

There is also such an opinion, largely due to the fact that Peter did not skimp on giving away Siberian sables, he was able to organize an anti-Swedish coalition.

How was yasak collected from the peoples inhabiting Siberia, living by hunting and fishing? Yasak was taken from a person, and only men, women and children were not taken into account. They demanded from five to twelve sable skins a year. Such a tribute was absolutely not burdensome for Siberian hunters, representatives of indigenous peoples. The fact is that they did not even take sable for game! For the inhabitants of the nomads, sables were pests, like rats, snooping around, spoiling food supplies. And sable fur was considered, from the point of view of the peoples of Siberia, of course, useless and good for nothing. He is very gentle and thin, for the local climate and the way of life of hunters with their families. This went on for some time, it seems that the “white king” is well, the most valuable fur comes in abundance, without delay, and the Siberian hunters are not particularly a burden, the beast is still junk for them. Yes, but the number of sables was declining, because. beat them mercilessly. As a result, they beat them so thoroughly that paying yasak to the “White Tsar” was not at all an easy task. The king's people demanded no less than before. It was then that the tributaries of the Moscow sovereign tried to migrate to the very backwoods of that time, away from the Cossack strongholds, fortresses and prisons. But it was not there. The governors and Cossack atamans could not allow the miners of furs to leave, and in order to keep them, they began to take hostage members of the families of “yasak people”. It got to the point that only those who paid the yasak in full were allowed to meet with their wives and children.

Trade is the oldest type of entrepreneurial activity. Initially, among the Eastern Slavs, like other peoples, it existed in the form of a simple exchange of goods. In the VIII - X centuries. they began to import silver dirhams from the Arab countries, in the XI century. - Western European denarii, Byzantine money. Soon, the great princes of Kiev, Vladimir I Svyatoslavich (980 - 1015), Yaroslav the Wise (1019 - 1054) began to mint silver and gold coins. True, they had a purely representative value and only occasionally seeped into Germany, Poland, Sweden. How did our ancestors pay for purchases?

The means of payment in medieval Russia were mainly grivnas (silver bars weighing approximately 200 g), their fragments and the so-called commodity-money. The latter - iron rods, bars of salt, sea shells - have long been known among many ethnic groups. Among the Eastern Slavs, these were the skins of fur-bearing animals, the earliest information about the circulation of which as "banknotes" dates back to the first third of the 10th century. Ahmed ibn Fadlan, a member of the embassy sent to the Volga Bulgaria (a state that existed in the 10th - 13th centuries between the Volga and Kama rivers) by the Arab Caliph Muktadir, wrote: "The dirhems of the Rus are a gray squirrel ... as well as sables ... They they make barter transactions, and from there they cannot be taken out, so they are given for goods. And the Persian geographer Ibn Ruste (Ibn Dast) in the "Book of Precious Treasures" (30s of the X century) reported the presence of similar "banknotes" among the inhabitants of the Volga Bulgaria itself: "their main wealth is marten fur. There is no minted coin of its own they have marten furs for hard currency. Each fur is equal to two and a half dirhams."

The most valuable information about "soft gold" is contained in the work of an Arab merchant and traveler of the 12th century. Abu Hamid al-Garnati "A Clear Statement of Some Wonders of the Maghreb" (or "A Selection of Memories of the Wonders of the Countries"). To his surprise, the Russian merchants settled among themselves with "old squirrel skins, which have no wool, and which can never be used for anything ... If the skin of the squirrel's head and the skin of its paws are intact, then every 18 skins are worth the account of the Slavs silver dirham ... And for each of these skins they give excellent round bread, which is enough for a strong man. They buy ... slaves and slaves, gold, silver, beavers and other goods. And if these skins were in some other country, then ... they would not be useful at all for anything.

Having visited Eastern Europe much later, in 1413 - 1414 and 1421, the Fleming Gilbert de Lannoy noted: the coin of Veliky Novgorod "consists of pieces of silver weighing about 6 ounces (160 g. - V.P.), without an imprint, because coins are not forged at all with gold, and their small coin consists of muzzles of squirrels and kun. "The Austrian ambassador, Baron Sigismund Herberstein, who came to the Muscovite state in 1517 and 1525, also testified: "Before the coin, they used muzzles and the ears of squirrels and other animals, whose skins are imported to us, and with this, as if with money, they bought the necessities for life. "But what amazed foreigners was a common thing for our ancestors.

FLUFFY "CURRENCY"

Only the princely administration had the right to "issue" fur "banknotes", and their solvency was certified by pieces of lead with imprints of the signs of the ruling Rurik dynasty - a bident and a trident. For the first time such seals, in particular with the seals of the great Kiev princes Vsevolod Yaroslavich (1078 - 1093), Vsevolod Olgovich (1139 - 1146) and Chernigov Oleg Svyatoslavich (1094 - 1096) were discovered in the middle of the 19th century. in the city of Drohiczyn (Eastern Poland). Then archaeologists found them in Novgorod*, Pskov**, Ryazan***, Beloozero****, Dubna, Gorodets, Staraya Ladoga***** and other places where furs were once supplied to domestic and foreign markets. Bundles of skins marked in this way were used until they were completely dilapidated, and only on the territory of Russia, considering them equivalent to a certain amount of overseas dirhams and denarii. In international trade, however, only full-fledged high-quality furs served as "currency".

In addition to the grand-princely bidents and tridents, on the Drogichin finds you can see images of human faces, animals, birds, crosses, triangles, circles, Cyrillic letters. What do they mean? Most often, apparently, the labels of the owners, and in some cases, perhaps, the quantity of goods. By the way, Eastern Slavs also supplied batches of linen, flax, wax, honey, and leather with similar brands. Obviously, their presence ensured the best safety of valuable cargo on the way, exempted them from paying travel and customs duties at the borders of neighboring states.

Sable, squirrel, ermine...

Expensive furs have been the most profitable domestic export since ancient times. They were worn by Byzantine emperors, Western European church hierarchs, royalty, and high courtiers. One of the evidence for this is the medieval French epic: the "sable cloak" is mentioned in the "Song of Roland" (Paris manuscript of the late 13th century), "Russian sables" - in the poem "Antioch" (late 12th - early 13th century). The Scandinavian Vikings ******, who made military-trading expeditions to Eastern Europe, also preferred warm hats made from our furs. They also took it to the East - to the cities of Central Asia, Transcaucasia, Persia, to the capital of the Arab Caliphate, Baghdad.

According to written sources up to the end of the XV century. Overwhelmingly, various varieties of squirrel fur were received abroad. In addition to it, beavers, wolves, hares, martens, and foxes hunted in the forests of the Central Russian zone. Merchants bought skins from peasants who hunted and feudal lords who received them as quitrent. The demand for "soft gold" gradually increased, but in the central regions of the country, as a result of mass extermination, the number of fur-bearing animals decreased, which forced merchants to go to the more northern and sparsely populated regions of Eurasia: there one could count on such valuable and rare prey as ermine and sable.

Hunting for a fur-bearing animal in Northern Russia; fur trade.

From the book: Olaus Magnus "Historia de gentibus septentrionalibus ...".

Antverpae. 1558

SILENT BARGAINING

For many years, Russian and foreign writers had very vague ideas about Karelia, the coast of the White Sea, the Permian land, the Pechora basin, and even more so the Trans-Urals. Medieval Arab authors called these remote unknown lands the country of Yajuj and Majuj. One of them, Ibn Haukal, in the "Book of Ways and States" (circa 976 - 977) described the ways of furs coming from there: "some high-quality ... pass to the Rus due to their proximity to yadzhudzhami and majudzhi and trade with them." The Arab scholar al-Marvazi (first quarter of the 11th century) testified to the exchange transactions of the Slavs with the northern tribes.

This information is substantially supplemented by the information obtained by the aforementioned al-Garnati. In Russia and Volga Bulgaria, he heard about the mysterious tribes that lived near the "Sea of ​​Darkness" (Arctic Ocean). “In summer, their day is very long...,” the traveler wrote, “in winter, the night is just as long... Each merchant puts his property separately and makes a sign on it and leaves; then after that he returns and finds the goods that are needed his country. And every man finds one of those things near his goods; if he agrees, he takes it, and if not, he takes his things and leaves others, and there is no deceit. And they do not know who those who have whom they buy these goods. And in the "Tale of Bygone Years" (Kyiv, 1110s), under 1096, the story of the Novgorodian Guryata Rogovich is placed: his servant, who traveled beyond the Pechora, learned there about silent trade with the Trans-Ural residents, who gestured for iron products (knives, axes ) in exchange for expensive furs.

IN THE UGRIA AND OUTSIDE THE URAL

It was not easy to get to the faraway lands fabulously rich in furs, and not everyone dared to do it. However, our ancestors quickly mastered the unsafe and long routes. At first, they turned their attention to Karelia and soon made it subject to Veliky Novgorod. Then we got to the Northern Dvina River, and along it - to the coast of the White Sea, which abounded with the desired "strategic goods". Already in the XI century. they forced Finno-Ugric tribes to pay tribute in furs, including the Komi-Zyryans who inhabited the Pechora basin*******. Then they penetrated further to the east - into the region of the Trans-Urals, referred to in the annals as Yugra (Ugra) ********, where the Khanty and Mansi live. By the way, the ancient name is not forgotten: on the geographical map of the Far North there is the Yugorsky Shar Strait and the Yugorsky Peninsula.

The path to the "fur granary" lay through mountain abysses, snow and forests and was measured in more than one month. In winter, they crossed it on skis, carrying luggage on a sleigh, in summer - on water. Moreover, boats were dragged from one river system to another by dragging (the Russian explorers subsequently acted in the same way when developing the vast expanses of Siberia). Many of those who rushed after sables and ermines did not return home: some froze in the snow, others died of starvation or disease, others died from the arrows of local warriors and hunters, and sometimes at the hands of fellow tribesmen. After all, the pursuit of huge profits sometimes aroused envy and deceit in relation to more successful competitors.

But neither dangers, nor bitter frosts, nor the long polar night stopped the conquerors of the "Land of Gloom", and the campaigns for furs continued, of which there is a lot of evidence, in particular, in the annals compiled in the XII - XV centuries. in Veliky Novgorod. For example, in 1445, a 3,000-strong army led by Vasily Shenkursky and Mikhail Yakol set out from there to Yugra. They captured many women, men, children and founded a wooden prison there - a stronghold for collecting tribute and pacifying the local population. In essence, it was a robbery of the indigenous people who were engaged in hunting. No wonder they avoided direct contact with the Russians, and when they became dependent on them, they repeatedly rebelled.

To suppress the resistance of the recalcitrant aborigines, Novgorod sent more and more expeditions. In fairness, we note: in addition to tribute collectors, merchants participated in them, delivering goods in exchange for furs that the Khanty and Mansi needed. Not only in the Pechora basin, but also in the Trans-Urals (lower reaches of the Ob, Irtysh), modern archaeologists sometimes find material evidence of such transactions: iron axes, knives, fire-carving chairs, door locks, keys, silver and bronze jewelry, glass beads. However, some of these things could have gone to the local inhabitants as trophies during skirmishes with explorers who tried to establish trading posts and strongholds there.

FUR ESTATE OF THE GRAND DUKES

Not only expensive varieties of fur were brought to Russia from the north, but also "fish tooth" (walrus tusk), river pearls, which were also in great demand. That is why from the end of the XIV century. the strengthened Moscow principality entered into a struggle with Veliky Novgorod for control over Yugra and the Pechora basin, and won a victory a century later. From the Mother See, they got there through the Perm region, as they developed the areas where the Finno-Ugric tribes lived, sacrificing the skins of beavers, ermines, martens, weasels, foxes, sables, bears, lynxes in abundance to their deities.

One of the most educated people of that time, the church writer Epiphanius the Wise, citing in the "Life of St. Stephen of Perm" (end of the 14th century) a dispute between an Orthodox missionary and a local pagan priest, put into the mouth of the latter the words: "Through them (fur-bearing animals. - V.P.) your princes, boyars and nobles grow rich, dress and walk in them with proud majesty, give gifts to each other and trade, sending them to neighboring countries and to distant lands, to the Horde, to Greece, to the Germans and to Lithuania.

So it was, and the onslaught of Russia on the "Land of Gloom" was growing. One of the evidence of this is the armed expedition in the Trans-Urals in 1499, led by

princes Semyon Kurbsky and Peter Ushaty. They intended to explore these areas and conquer the local peoples, but, having spent 17 days on the ascent, they could not overcome the "Pillar" (Ural Range) and returned without fulfilling the order of the sovereign (although the report presented to him about the campaign resembled a victorious report). Nevertheless, the general result of the military operations of Grand Duke Ivan III (1462-1505) was the subjugation of part of the population of Yugra to Moscow.

BUSY TRADE WITH THE "LAND OF DARKNESS"

Interesting data about the relations of Russians with the peoples of the Far North and Western Siberia were reported in the Notes on Muscovite Affairs by the aforementioned Sigismund Herberstein. He was a curiosity whales and walruses, found in the "Arctic Sea", huge polar bears, riding reindeer. The Austrian ambassador also spoke in detail about the Lapps that inhabited the Kola Peninsula - well-aimed hunters, who easily hit a fur-bearing animal in the muzzle (or even directly in the eye) with an arrow so as not to spoil the skin. "Muscovites" took tribute from them in furs, fish, and at the same time traded, bringing handicrafts in exchange for furs, walrus tusks.

Such transactions were made in a number of market centers. Here is what the diplomat wrote about one of them, the Kholopye town, which stood in the 16th century. at the confluence of the Mologa River into the Volga: "In this place there is the most populous market of all existing in the possession of a Muscovite ... For, in addition to the Swedes, Livonians and Muscovites, Tatars and other numerous peoples from eastern and northern countries flock there, who conduct only barter trade, since neither gold nor silver ... is used almost or even not at all. As a rule, they exchange furs for ready-made clothes, needles, knives, spoons, axes and the like. "

Meanwhile, some tribes of the "Land of Gloom", for example, those who lived across the Ob River, not far from the wooden fortresses of Grustina and Serponovo, still avoided direct contact with foreigners. Herberstein reported: in the late autumn, before wintering, "they store their goods in a certain place; the Grustin and Serponovites carry them away, meanwhile leaving their goods for a fair exchange. If they return again ... they see that their goods have been taken away for too unfair appraisal, they demand their return." By the way, along with furs, precious stones and pearls were the most popular goods here.

EVERYTHING FURTHER EAST

Brave Russian travelers actively explored the Trans-Urals. Already in the reign of Ivan IV the Terrible (1533 - 1584), the Ural industrialists and merchants Stroganovs launched their activities there. It was they who, around 1581, equipped the Cossack detachment of the legendary ataman Ermak Timofeevich at their own expense to conquer the Siberian Khanate. Following him and the service people, merchants and peasants rushed there. And soon Moscow obliged the aboriginal population of the northern territories to pay tribute (yasak) with valuable furs. In the next century, income from the sale of Siberian furs provided 25 - 33% of the proceeds to the sovereign's treasury.

On Western European maps of the 16th century. there were already (although not entirely accurate) images of Novaya Zemlya, part of the coast of the "Arctic Sea", the rivers Pechora, Ob, Irtysh, and the Ural Mountains. Their compilers used information received from English, Norwegian, Swedish navigators, travelers, diplomats who visited our country and knew much more about Northern Eurasia than medieval Arab writers***********. It was still often described in very fantastic tones, but gradually the stories about the "Land of Gloom" gave way to real information about the vast expanses of Siberia, and the dumb barter with the peoples inhabiting it - more civilized forms of trade.

LEATHER "BILLS"

Fur money was last mentioned in written sources of the 16th century. But our story about the history of domestic money circulation will be incomplete if we do not add one stroke to it. During the reign of Emperor Peter I (1689 - 1725), due to a shortage of metal coins, it was sometimes necessary to issue "lots" - small "banknotes" on scraps of leather with a seal. However, this is not all. At the end of the XVIII century. The Russian-American Company was founded, mainly engaged in the fur trade. It operated on our overseas territory (in Alaska and California), and for settlements with employees, it used special local money on multi-colored rectangular pieces of leather, so as not to carry a huge amount of heavy metal coins across the country and the ocean. On one side of these "bank notes" they placed a double-headed eagle and a seal with the inscription "Under the highest patronage of His Imperial Majesty the Russian-American Company", on the other - "Mark in America" ​​and the dignity of money.

Such "banknotes" were printed in Alaska in 1816 on sealskin, then on parchment to replace worn ones. They were in circulation on the territory of "Russian America" ​​and in the first half of the 19th century. (in 1867 the tsarist government sold it to the United States). Currently, no more than 50 copies of such rarities can be found, for example, in the State Historical Museum (Moscow), as well as in some collections in Canada, the USA and Finland.

* See: V. Darkevich. Veche Republic on the Volkhov. - Science in Russia, 1998, N 5 .

** See: V. Darkevich. Pskov stronghold. - Science in Russia, 1996, N 6 .

*** See: V. Darkevich. Kremlin on Trubezh. - Science in Russia, 1996, N 3 .

**** See: V. Darkevich. In the "northern Thebaid". - Science in Russia, 2000, N 3 .

***** See: A. Kirpichnikov. Ancient city of Russia. - Science in Russia, 2003, N 3 .

****** See: V. Kulakov. Vikings - the conquerors of the Baltic. - Science in Russia, 2005, N 4 .

******* See: K. Averyanov, T. Dronova. Island of Ancient Russia. - Science in Russia, 2007, N 4 .

******** See: N. Vekhov. In the land of mighty rivers and dense cedar forests. - Science in Russia, 2006, N 6 .

********* See: T. Ilyushina. History of cartography of Asiatic Russia. - Science in Russia, 2006, N 4 .

Candidate of Historical Sciences Valeriy PERKHAVKO, Deputy Editor-in-Chief of the Teaching History at School magazine

In this section you will find information about fur types of fur, furs, which have been called "soft gold" since ancient times.

Mink

The noble and plastic mink is one of the most traditional and familiar types of fur for Russia. This is one of those types of fur that allows you to work with it like a fabric, produce products in the style of fur coats, sew skirts, jackets, coats. And it is simply impossible to list all types of mink accessories.
One of the most traditional and most expensive furs, mink has long passed into the category of familiar and everyday. North America and Scandinavia became the world leaders in the production of this type of fur. But unlike the Canadian mink, whose fur is not so long, less fluffy, the Scandinavian mink is most suitable for our Russian climate. She is less afraid of moisture, and therefore more wearable. Mink fashion was introduced by Hollywood in the 1930s. She existed in her classic form until the 1960s, when designers began to experiment with her. The Paco Rabanne collection includes mink suits, skirts and jackets inlaid with metal plates and rings. On the covers of fashion magazines, mink capes and capes of bright colors flaunted. In the 1980s, the mink appeared in the form of a short-haired one. Since then, the imagination of designers has no limits - mink fur has been dyed in all sorts of colors and shades, reaching a play of light and shade, plucked, bleached, lasered, combined with elastic materials, etc. The era of classic mink has given way to innovations. However, the natural beauty of this fur is so good that it still finds many admirers.

Sable

Sable is the pride of Russian furriers, because it has always been a symbol of luxury and wealth in Russia. Sable coats, coats and coats trimmed with this precious fur, and even just collars and boas have always been valuable.
There were not a thousand, but hundreds of sable fur coats throughout history, and each of them is a real treasure. No wonder sable fur is considered the best in the world in terms of tenderness, tone, density, color and luster. Like no other, he possesses all the listed qualities at the same time.
At the beginning of the century, the prices for sable coats reached the point of absurdity - for the same money you could buy a house. During the Second World War, marten fur was faked as sable, since in the USA the demand for precious furs not only did not fall, but - under the increasingly noticeable influence of Hollywood - on the contrary, it increased. In the 1960s and 1970s, sable faded into the background, and in the 1980s it returned in its traditional form. The 1990s did their bit - sable turned from elite fur into more democratic, ceased to be a jewel that is stored in a closet next to the Haute Couture evening dress. Now sable is fur for every day. And yet, the nature of sable is so magnificent that today it is perhaps the only fur that designers use in its natural form.
Which sable is more beautiful - dark or light? More dark. But beauty is debatable. In addition, sable is not only beautiful, but also durable fur.
History knows the facts when sable coats were inherited and worn by more than one generation.

Marten

Marten fur carries its own history with a long tradition. Not only fur coats were sewn from it, but also collars, cuffs and hats, short fur coats were trimmed.
Martens live in Europe, Russia (its European part, as well as in Western Siberia) and to some extent in China. They are divided into soft (woody - baum marten) and mountain, or stone marten (stone marten) - "heater". The first got its name because it lives mainly in trees. And the second prefers the ruins of old dwellings and rocky foundations of farm buildings. Only a small number of soft marten skins can be used in their natural form. Most are tinted in the same colors as Russian sable. A marten - a heater, on the contrary, is rarely painted. The winter color of the marten is brownish-smoky with a slight fawn tint, which gives the skin a peculiar personality. In Russia, marten fur has always been in price. Even in the "Tale of Igor's Campaign" were mentioned "marten furs of the nobility", which were not only worn - they also paid with them, not without reason the marten fur was equated with money and gold.

Astrakhan

There are many names and varieties of this fur - astrakhan, astrakhan, broadtail, swakara. It all depends on the origin and method of manufacture.
Karakul came into fashion at the end of the 19th century. Then only the wives of high-ranking government officials and the political elite could afford to wear an astrakhan fur coat. It was expensive and prestigious. Only strict classic products in black and gray were sewn. It was widely used for coat collars and cuffs, for hats and caps. Karakul gained particular popularity in the wartime 1940s, due to the lack of assortment. The 1980s breathed new life into this fur, they began to sew classic, long fur coats, ponchos and jackets from it. And in the early 1990s, thanks to Ralph Lauren, the thinnest broadtail does not leave the catwalks, which goes to the most diverse kinds of products - stoles and tops, jackets and skirts, dresses, coats, handbags and slippers.
At present, thanks to the achievements of selection and progress in dressing, natural, unusually delicate shades of colors have appeared - golden, amber, platinum, from light gray-blue to steel. Youth models are painted in fashionable bright colors. Black fur with a unique pattern of unopened curls is also in great demand. The absence of a long pile gives this fur an additional advantage - it does not make you fat.
This fur left the traditional age category, and began to confidently gain popularity among fashionable youth - astrakhan fur is back in fashion.

Beaver

Beaver fur has long been valued in Russia. It is exceptionally soft, fluffy and the warmest fur. Having an original undercoat, it is extremely well suited to our Russian climatic conditions - it will protect from any bad weather. In terms of its quality of socks (which is one of the defining criteria in the hierarchy of furs), the beaver surpasses the mink. He is the first in a series of furs that are not afraid of moisture. The most popular is the sheared beaver fur. The beaver is not the easiest fur to work with. A special exclusive technology of tailoring and processing of the cut makes the product made of sheared beaver soft and light. Only whole skins of immature animals are used in the work. The color scale for each product is selected individually. But the result is a real picture of a harmonious color scheme that shimmers with natural shades from dark to light.

Raccoon

The raccoon is a small American animal from the genus of predatory mammals of the raccoon family. Raccoon fur has long been popular in Russia. Raccoon fur is one of the most wear-resistant and is of considerable value, its cost is higher than the cost of fox fur. The general color of the fur is gray, gray-brown or black-brown. Individual specimens are close to black-brown foxes in terms of the beauty of their furs.
Raccoon fur is voluminous, warm and fluffy, with a long, rough to the touch awn and soft underfur, it is light, plastic - so it is always at the height of fashion. Raccoon fur is usually tinted, rarely used in natural color.

A fox

Long-haired fur is for those who, above all, appreciate comfort and warmth. Moreover, lush fur is able to enhance energy and give its owners a certain amount of sensuality, so fox fur is mainly used in luxurious, evening models.
As with the history of other furs, the fox was brought to the fore at the time of its heyday by Hollywood cinema. The president of the infamous Paramount Pictures film campaign was a furrier and did a lot to ensure that luxurious lush fur took its rightful place on the movie screen. In the early 30s, fox fur was used only for decoration, and only in 1932 Marlene Dietrich appeared on the screen in a fox fur coat.
The fox fur coats of the 1940s smoothly passed into the 1950s - they were gladly demonstrated by Marilyn Monroe and Elizabeth Taylor.
In 1971, Yves Saint Laurent revealed to the world fur coats made of fox, dyed in bright unconventional colors, which pretty much shocked the public. In the 1990s, they remembered the silver fox and its natural attractiveness.
Currently, fur fashion offers all kinds of products and accessories made of fox fur in various shades.

Lynx

Lynx is one of the most expensive and rare furs. The skins of Siberian lynxes are considered the most beautiful and largest. Only a soft fluffy white belly has value, and the more distinct the black spots on it, the brighter the fur looks.
Lynx fur is almost never processed, because it has a very beautiful natural color.
A lynx fur coat can be more expensive than mink and even sable, but such fur coats can be found infrequently in stores: this fur is used almost exclusively for collars and hats. The reason for this is simple: the lynx is a rare animal, it is almost never bred anywhere, and it is difficult to obtain a license to shoot it.

Chinchilla

Light, weightless like fluff and thick chinchilla fur is good for small and large forms. But chinchilla products are clearly not for every day - the fur is not very wearable. In addition, chinchilla is one of the three most expensive and prestigious furs.
Chinchilla (Chinchilla Lanigera) is a furry animal native to South America. He lives in the Andes mountains at an altitude of up to 3 thousand meters above sea level. It is often cold and dry there, and the food base is scarce. To survive in such harsh conditions, the chinchilla must conserve energy from every blade of grass and twig they can find and eat. Therefore, the chinchilla has a unique fur structure. If in ordinary fur-bearing animals one hair grows from one hair follicle, then in a chinchilla there are 60-80 thinnest, like a cobweb, hairs 12-14 microns thick. On one square centimeter there are 25 or more thousand of them. In a word, this is a continuous layer of unusually thick, elastic, most delicate down with a thickness of 2.5-3 centimeters. He then saves chinchillas in the most severe cold.
Chinchilla has a different color of fur - from dark on the back with a smooth transition to bluish-gray on the sides to snow-white on the abdomen. The extraordinary tenderness and beauty of the fur caused the high price of chinchilla fur products. Chinchillas were considered valuable prey at the dawn of the original Indian civilization. Chinchilla fur was used exclusively for costumes of the nobility. The Indians protected valuable rodents, and hunting for them was strictly limited. The situation changed dramatically with the advent of the conquerors - high prices for chinchilla skins drove hunters for prey to the most inaccessible places. As a result, by the middle of the 20th century, chinchillas were on the verge of extinction. They owe their revival to the Argentine engineer Chapman, who was able to breed them in captivity. In our country, chinchillas appeared only in 1960.
Currently, the price of a chinchilla fur coat can range from 10 to 100 thousand dollars, depending on the quantity and quality of the skins used to make it. But not only the quality of the fur caused this high price.
Chinchilla fur has not always been considered particularly valuable. So, for example, in the 19th century, the scale of the value of this fur looked completely different. According to it, the chinchilla was listed only in 10th place, giving way to the ermine, beaver, sable, marten, fur seal, Siberian fox, astrakhan and tiger.

ALL-RUSSIAN OLYMPIAD FOR SCHOOLCHILDREN IN HISTORY

SCHOOL) STAGE 2014-2015 academic year

CLASS

Time - 60 minutes

1. By what principle is a series formed? Give a short answer.

A) 882, 912.980, 1019

B) smerd, ryadovich, purchase

C) Assumption Cathedral, Archangel Cathedral, Cathedral of the Annunciation, Bell Tower of Ivan the Great

D) Barclay de Tolly, Bagration, Tormasov, Kutuzov

2. Who or what is superfluous in the row? Explain your answer.

A) Senate, Synod, Collegia, Table of Ranks

B) 1648.1662.1667-1671.1649

C) K. Bulavin, I. Bolotnikov, S. Razin, A. Menshikov

D) Tilsit, Maloyaroslavets, Moscow, Berezina river

Answer the following questions.

A) What in Russia was called "soft gold"

B) what is St. George's Day

4. Choose one wrong answer.

I. The following types were characteristic of the fine arts of Ancient Russia:

1) Mosaic 2) Fresco 3) Sculpture 4) Iconography

II. The consequences of the establishment of the Mongol-Tatar yoke in Russia:

1) Separation and isolation of Russian lands from Europe

2) Restoring the unity of Russian lands

4) Skillful craftsmen were stolen into the Horde

5. Solve the historical problem.

In 1598, the boyar Yuryev addressed the tsar with a petition for the return of a fugitive peasant who had run away from him during the years of the oprichnina and now lives among the townspeople, engaged in trade. Will his request be granted? Justify the answer.

6. Match the concepts and definitions:

1. Patronage 3. Localism

2. Manor 4. Feeding

a) the procedure for holding public office in accordance with the nobility of the family

b) the procedure for maintaining local authorities at the expense of funds collected from the local population

c) land holding, given on the condition of serving the sovereign

d) land owned by peasants

e) land ownership, inherited

7. Give a short answer.

1. The government that acted at the very beginning of the reign of Ivan IV was called _________________________________________________________

2. A large enterprise based on handicraft handicrafts, but having a division of labor, is called _______________________________________________________________

3. In the Russian state, a semi-regular army, carrying out garrison service, armed with squeaks and reeds, was called ____________________________________________________

4. What is the name of the Russian Tsar, first elected by the Zemsky Sobor ___________________________________________________________

The name of the hierarch of the church, which is associated with the implementation of church reform and the correction of liturgical books

_________________________________________________

Fill in the correct letters for the gaps.

S...cooling, k...l...egy, m...rkant...lizm, a...s...mbley

9. What ruler of the 18th century did the Russian historian V.O. Klyuchevsky write about:

"... The most unpleasant of all that the Empress Elizabeth-_____________ left behind." He “on the Russian throne became a loyal Prussian minister. Before the indignant sense of national dignity, the hated specter of the second Bironovshchina again rose up ... The murmur imperceptibly developed into a military conspiracy, and the conspiracy led to a military coup.