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Can anyone identify the animal used for this fur hat and the style it’s stitched?

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@DStovall ,

I think I bought that book, The 1837 Sketchbook of the Western Fur Trade, from Track of the Wolf, which is a great outfit to deal with. However, I looked around a little today and found that it is still available from the publisher for $8.95. It would be a bargain at twice that price for people who are interested in that sort of thing. Here is a link: The 1837 Sketchbook

While browsing through the list of books for sale on that website, I also found this:

Image of AJ Miller.jpg


I've heard of this book, but I have not seen it, and had frankly forgotten about it. My take is that it is a compilation of photographs of people who have painstakingly reproduced the clothing and artifacts in Alfred Jacob Miller's "mountain man" paintings in poses similar to the actual paintings. Sort of like The 1837 Sketchbook but with photographs instead of sketches. The author, Shawn Webster, is renowned as a craftsman who accurately recreates artifacts from the 18th and 19th century. In your line of work, you may know David Wright and Lee Teter. In any event, I think I'll order a copy of this book for myself.

I'm looking forward to seeing your fur trade paintings.

Best regards,

Notchy Bob
 
@DStovall ,

I think I bought that book, The 1837 Sketchbook of the Western Fur Trade, from Track of the Wolf, which is a great outfit to deal with. However, I looked around a little today and found that it is still available from the publisher for $8.95. It would be a bargain at twice that price for people who are interested in that sort of thing. Here is a link: The 1837 Sketchbook

While browsing through the list of books for sale on that website, I also found this:

View attachment 98184

I've heard of this book, but I have not seen it, and had frankly forgotten about it. My take is that it is a compilation of photographs of people who have painstakingly reproduced the clothing and artifacts in Alfred Jacob Miller's "mountain man" paintings in poses similar to the actual paintings. Sort of like The 1837 Sketchbook but with photographs instead of sketches. The author, Shawn Webster, is renowned as a craftsman who accurately recreates artifacts from the 18th and 19th century. In your line of work, you may know David Wright and Lee Teter. In any event, I think I'll order a copy of this book for myself.

I'm looking forward to seeing your fur trade paintings.

Best regards,

Notchy Bob
Thanks for all the links and insight. I’ll get those books.
 
don't forget PLEATHER, or NAGUE'S?? NAUGE HIDE wears well. to bad that both went t the way of the CURLEWES.
 
I am gonna go with wolverine. Badger would be the first choice, but there is just not enough of the striking white markings. So wolverine, and I am thinking a pretty young one. A very traditional, but sloppy job of assembly by the way.
 
A lot of us disagree with some of the politics of a few of the principal players in The Revenant, but it was a remarkable film in a lot of ways.

I read the story of Hugh Glass when I was a kid. I don't own a television and don't even try to keep up with Hollywood business, and when The Revenant was released, I figured it was a ghost story or horror flick and ignored it. Not until I saw the article about it in MUZZLELOADER magazine did I take an interest and then go see it. It was great. I bought the video and watched the supplemental "shorts" that were included. These were very informative. I also read what I could find.

The story line in the movie deviates from the true story, but that's Hollywood. However, they went to great lengths to get the props and costuming right, and it was filmed outdoors, in natural light, and it really was that cold. Filming was primarily in Alberta, with I think some in BC, but they had an early thaw and needed to finish in mountains with snow, so the whole kit and kaboodle went to Argentina to finish up. Some viewers seemed to have a problem with that, but with mountains, trees, snow and ice... Who could tell? I think much of Cold Mountain was filmed in Romania.

They hired actual First Nations and American Indian people to fill roles of natives, and many of these were non-professionals. This injected some much needed income into some of the most economically depressed communities on the continent, and provided opportunities and exposure for people who would have otherwise been overlooked.

There was a link provided in a previous post about the custom rifles carried by diCaprio. There were also a number of custom made knives. I was impressed by the fact that the "mountain men" were wearing historically correct mostly fabric clothing. The furs were real, and I found the same story as Mr. Stovall, in that they obtained an actual grizzly hide from the Canadian government for use in the movie.

And that improbable leap off the cliff, on horseback, to elude pursuing Indians? Recently, I was reading The Old Santa Fe Trail by Henry Inman, and such an event actually happened. I think the Indians were Blackfeet, and the rider was "a Frenchman." The horse was killed outright in the fall, as in the movie. The rider broke both legs, but survived. The Indians gave up the chase when the rider went over the edge.

All in all, a pretty good movie.

Notchy Bob
 
Funny... I was looking up an Iowa trapper known as "Old Tom," who was killed by the Sioux, when this article turned up: "Beaver Hides, Bear Grease, and 'The Revenant'"

It's in the New York Times Online, of all places. However, it is a discussion of costuming for The Revenant, including excerpts from an interview with the costume director. According to the article, Tom Hardy (Fitzgerald in the movie) had an outfit with badger fur, while DiCaprio (Hugh Glass) wore a hood made of beaver. I still think the head cover in the photos in post #1 is more likely badger fur, though, based on the color and the striping on the animal's face.

This is a "costume concept sketch" from the article:

bagger-glasssketch-jumbo.jpg


Best regards,

Notchy Bob
 
Funny... I was looking up an Iowa trapper known as "Old Tom," who was killed by the Sioux, when this article turned up: "Beaver Hides, Bear Grease, and 'The Revenant'"

It's in the New York Times Online, of all places. However, it is a discussion of costuming for The Revenant, including excerpts from an interview with the costume director. According to the article, Tom Hardy (Fitzgerald in the movie) had an outfit with badger fur, while DiCaprio (Hugh Glass) wore a hood made of beaver. I still think the head cover in the photos in post #1 is more likely badger fur, though, based on the color and the striping on the animal's face.

This is a "costume concept sketch" from the article:

View attachment 98649

Best regards,

Notchy Bob
Yeah there is a big costume change that DiCaprio does when he gets back to the fort then leaves again to go after the bad guy. Earlier in the film he has a beaver hood but I agree with others here that the pictures I linked at the start of this thread (the costume at the end of the movie) is probably badger.
 
Badger, definitely. Common to the west. Lots of mountain man hats/ hoods had the animal’s face as the peak hanging over the wearer’s own face. The Revenant is a cool movie, the acting is excellent, the props unusually A+ authentic. Hollywood has both its thumbs in my eyes, not just one, so I struggle to justify seeing any movie. By buying the DVD online for five bucks, and watching the movie at home, it felt like I had circumvented everything Hollywood cares about, and still got to enjoy one of the rare movies of any value to come out in years.
 
Too bad they didn't just tell the story. It would be hard to come up with anything more incredible than the true event. Glass was blowing blood bubbles out the fang holes in his neck while Bridger and Fitzgerald were waiting to bury him, and they thought every breath would be his last.
 
Too bad they didn't just tell the story. It would be hard to come up with anything more incredible than the true event. Glass was blowing blood bubbles out the fang holes in his neck while Bridger and Fitzgerald were waiting to bury him, and they thought every breath would be his last.
I thought it was a great story about a man losing his humanity by allowing his main purpose in life to be consumed by hate and revenge, all built on a semi historical framework. Documentaries just tell the story (and are great in their own way) but films like Innaritos are works of art.
 
That is exactly what happened in real.life. Hugh survived on pure hatred and revenge crawling, then hobbling then limping to find the man who took his rifle. Upon finding out Fitzgerald had joined the army he went to the fort and requested Fitzgerald's release so he could kill him. The officer in charge told Hugh he could not kill Fitzgerald because he was now government property, but he could secure the rifle. Upon getting his rifle back Hugh discovered all hatred had left him;, took up the rifle and got on with his life. He let Bridger off with a lecture.
 
According to my mentor, who has studied the fur trade Era most of his long life, the scathing incident of having the very much alive and po'ed Glass confront him had a lifelong lasting impact on the young Jim Bridger. In Bridget's defense, Glass was more dead than alive, and the country was beginning to crawl with hostile Indians before he and Fitzgerald departed. The incident took place near Lemon, South Dakota late in the fall and Bridger was barely 19 years old if at all. His nickname of "Old Gabriel" came from his habit of looking after anybody and everybody under his charge during the remainder of his career in the mountains. The really sad footnote to the whole episode is that Glass was caught trapping in 1833, and rubbed out by members of a hostile tribe.
 
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