Zell and his furs

              There is universal, close-to-home interest in ZELL and his FURS

Figure


AFASCINATING STORY of America's oldest and most interesting industry … by an authority known for his lecture and consumer aid research work for over sixteen years.  Mr. Zell has a background of twenty-five years as writer, fur salesman and advocate of better fur merchandising ethics.  His Romance of Furs takes one from the Indian-Trader-Trapper days when Beaver skins were standard medium of exchange down to the present.

He shows a wonderful exhibit of skins—rare and costly ones, also the imitations.  You will hear a recognized authority tell what reputable furriers are doing to insure buyers greater satisfaction … you will also learn the tricks of the trade as practiced by unscrupulous fur pirates and peddlers.

An enlightening lecture with high economic value, audio-visual education and practical knowledge of lifetime value.

By J. A. ZELL
Industrial Historian, Naturalist and Commercial Fur Expert


Figure




ZELL and his FURS

Figure



Figure



FURS FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD Alluring … Mysterious … Romantic!

Answering the Demand and Manifest Need of Consumer Education on Furs
Connected for twenty-four years with one of America's largest old established Fur houses, Mr. Zell was appalled to note how little the public knew about the most expensive item in a girl's or woman's wardrobe.  His firm was the first in the world to throw out the old fake, misleading trade names in fur selling.  To aid in this movement, Mr. Zell originated an Educational Fur Chart used in thousands of schools.  Actual samples of furs were shown with common English names as well as the corresponding trade names of each fur.  Mr. Zell also devised a Fur Testing Machine that eliminated the guess as to fur durability and permitted publication of relative durability percentages on each fur.  He was collaborator on the original publication of a book, Fur Facts & Fashions, that was a retailers' fur bible.



FURS — The Makers of Northwest History
An American history-making industry that had its inception way back when the French voyageurs were still looking for the Northwest Passage—fur—like gold, helped make history—both playing vital and dramatic parts.  Fur caused nations to war—helped change the maps of countries—led to discovery and settlement of the wilderness—


BEAVER




Universities, Colleges, High Schools, Women's Clubs Ask for Mr. Zell's Educational Talks on Furs
Following a series of talks to classes at one of the Northwest's large Universities, Mr. Zell was flooded with demands for his services from other colleges, high schools, women's clubs and conservation groups.  In order to devote more time to this educational work he relinquished his commercial connection.  With no fur affiliations he is now able to properly laud the legitimate, reputable furriers who endeavor to deal ethically with the public, but he is also free to expose the tricks of the trade as practiced by unscrupulous so-called furriers, the fakers and fur pirates who play their nefarious trade of fur peddling in every community each season.  Mr. Zell knows all the tricks of the low class dealers in fools' furs and interestingly exposes their skin game racket.


BAY LYNX




Conservation … Fur Farming … Fashions in Furs
Three inter-related phases that have to do with the perpetuation of the Fur Industry.  Hear the facts from the one individual who has had his finger on the pulse of America's wild life for close to thirty years.  Learn why the better fur houses favor strict observance of all conservation laws and precepts.  Mr. Zell tells how Dame Fashion affects wild life growth or decimation.  He also gives interesting facts on American fur farming.


WEASEL




REAL INTEREST FOR ALL
Most boys are intensely interested in Nature's fur treasures—the lure of the trap line and the adventure and hardships of the early day couriers de bois.

Furs are Nature's traditional adornment for girls.  They delight in seeing fine furs and knowing more about them.

To the adult this accurate explanatory recital and exhibit is of practical value as well as of absorbing interest for both the woman who wears the furs and the man who pays for them.


RED FOX



Figure


Above illustrations courtesy Minnesota Tourist Bureau.






Hear Mr. Zell's Exposé of Racketeers in Fur Selling
The fur industry, while blessed with many upright, honest manufacturers and retailers, is also cursed with not a few unscrupulous individuals and firms who prey upon the public through the practice of gross misrepresentation of identity of fur, wearing property, exaggerated guaranty, false, misleading trade names and other unethical methods of merchandising.  Honest retailers cannot fumigate their associations sufficiently to entirely free themselves from the tainting menace of sharp practitioners and itinerant fur pirates who ply their nefarious trade in every community each season.

Mr. Zell knows all the tricks of the fur sharpers and his coverage of this important detail renders a real dollars and cents service to any community he serves.  You can guard your citizens through education of your pupils by having them hear his straight from the shoulder exposé of The Skin Game.  No commercialism hampers him as he has no fur factory, fur association or retailer affiliations to soft-pedal him.



The Story of the Saving of Alaska Seal Herd … the Greatest Feat in the History of Conservation
This is a thrilling story of one of our government's great natural resources that it almost flunked out on—a resource that in the forty years previous to 1911 paid the United States government many millions of dollars more than it originally paid for ALL of Alaska.

As an outstanding authority on the Alaska seals, he made a first hand study of this seal herd, the United State's greatest single economic fur value.  He gives amazing facts and figures in connection with man's exploitation of seal life to the point where extinction was a very real threat.  You will hear all the details of the North Pacific Sealing Conference—the International Seal Treaty and how it works.  Finally, you will hear how the United States saved the seal from going the way of the buffalo on our western plains.

Your classes will delight in hearing of this greatest of all lessons in conservation.  They will see the exquisite pelts.  They will learn how the raw skins are processed to the finished garment.  Mr. Zell's talk and his exhibition of rare and costly furs cannot help but intensify the conservation efforts and ideas of any group that is fortunate to have the privilege of hearing him.

Mr. Zell was guest lecturer for eight years at the University of Wisconsin Extension Division under Mrs. Nellie Kedzie Jones.  Also served Miss Hazel Manning, Professor of Home Economics, Summer Sessions U. of Wis.; Extension Department Agricultural School of U. of Minn., and State College of Michigan.  Four years DeKalb, Ill., Teachers College as well as hundreds of high school General Assembly and Home Economics Classes.  References upon request.