# Most expensive kind of leather



## liang7079 (Apr 22, 2008)

Hello gents:


What is the most expensive leather as I have been told either the Porosus crocodille or galuchat (shargreen sting ray), any ideas?


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## alphadelta (Oct 2, 2007)

Baby seal.

AD


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## brokencycle (Jan 11, 2008)

alphadelta said:


> Baby seal.
> 
> AD


What about fetal Llama?


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## Packard (Apr 24, 2009)

brokencycle said:


> What about fetal Llama?


Or genuine pony skin--which will cost you your freedom--it is illegal to own it in the USA.

Real pony skin is made from the skin of an unborn pony (induced miscarriage and killed in the fetal sac). The skin is supposed to be extremely soft and pliable and the fur (left on) is very soft and short. It was popular in the 1950s to 1960s (before being made illegal) for handbags and skirts. Mostly from Argentina as I understand it.


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## Pentheos (Jun 30, 2008)

Packard said:


> Or genuine pony skin--which will cost you your freedom--it is illegal to own it in the USA.
> 
> Real pony skin is made from the skin of an unborn pony (induced miscarriage and killed in the fetal sac). The skin is supposed to be extremely soft and pliable and the fur (left on) is very soft and short. It was popular in the 1950s to 1960s (before being made illegal) for handbags and skirts. Mostly from Argentina as I understand it.


So you think is illegal?


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## Packard (Apr 24, 2009)

Pentheos said:


> So you think is illegal?


Nah. It's not real pony skin. It is like the baby carrots. Big carrots whittled down to look like baby carrots.

This is regular horse hide with the fur clipped short (or maybe a young pony). It is too cheap to be real fetally butchered pony skin (which I would expect to be in the $2,000.00 to $5,000.00 range).


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## Blueboy1938 (Aug 17, 2008)

*Interestingly . . .*



liang7079 said:


> Hello gents:
> 
> What is the most expensive leather as I have been told either the Porosus crocodille or galuchat (shargreen sting ray), any ideas?


This was posted on "The Purse Forum" today:

*"Most expensive kind of leather*
Hello ladies & gents:

What is the most expensive leather (in general) as I have been told either the porosus crocodille or galuchat (shargreen sting ray), any ideas?"

The consensus on that forum appears to be porosus croc. Charming:


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## brokencycle (Jan 11, 2008)

Packard said:


> Or genuine pony skin--which will cost you your freedom--it is illegal to own it in the USA.
> 
> Real pony skin is made from the skin of an unborn pony (induced miscarriage and killed in the fetal sac). The skin is supposed to be extremely soft and pliable and the fur (left on) is very soft and short. It was popular in the 1950s to 1960s (before being made illegal) for handbags and skirts. Mostly from Argentina as I understand it.


For me, I think slaughtering something in the womb for shoes or handbags is beyond a line I'm not willing to cross.


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## Sufferable Fob (Aug 26, 2009)

brokencycle said:


> For me, I think slaughtering something in the womb for shoes or handbags is beyond a line I'm not willing to cross.


Agreed.

I'll support leather and fur until PETA comes to blow up my house - but there's just something about _foetal_ leather that's too "WTF were they thinking when they decided this was a good idea to try ?" for me.


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## Srynerson (Aug 26, 2005)

liang7079 said:


> What is the most expensive leather as I have been told either the Porosus crocodille or galuchat (shargreen sting ray), any ideas?


I think that's an impossible question to answer without defining the parameters of what you're looking for. For example, are you looking for leathers that are (a) legal in the UK, (b) presently being manufactured, (c) suitable for a specific purpose, (d) derived from a still living species, etc.? I mean I've seen references to leather having been made from the hides of mammoths found frozen in the arctic tundra, but you can't exactly walk into a shop and buy a pair of mammoth leather bluchers.


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## Matt S (Jun 15, 2006)

A question that would make more sense would ask: What is the most expensive leather you would be willing to wear?

I haven't much desire to go beyond calfskin. Not even cordovan interests me much, though maybe someday.


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## dfloyd (May 7, 2006)

*The Russian leather which spent 200 years ....*

at the bottom of the sea in a ship wreck is supposedly the world's most expensive leather. Every once in a while, some surfaces. New & Lingwood was carryring some. I'm not sure what the leather is from (what animal). Somebody on this forum probably knows more about it.


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## Srynerson (Aug 26, 2005)

dfloyd said:


> at the bottom of the sea in a ship wreck is supposedly the world's most expensive leather. Every once in a while, some surfaces. New & Lingwood was carryring some. I'm not sure what the leather is from (what animal). Somebody on this forum probably knows more about it.


Reindeer, I believe.


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## zandago (Apr 14, 2009)

Srynerson said:


> Reindeer, I believe.


there's a NYtimes article on the russian reindeer leather salvaged from danish ship in the 1700's. Free to sign up in order to read the article.

https://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/02/...rss&adxnnlx=1254218608-ZUZpYWJszeNvPVO/5V8itg

there is a post on styleforum.net on a member who had a pair crafted.

https://www.styleforum.net/showthread.php?t=61614


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## Packard (Apr 24, 2009)

According to this tannery the croc wins (and you can be put on a waiting list to buy some skins).


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## Matthew Schitck (May 12, 2009)

Long-Pig.


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## Packard (Apr 24, 2009)

Matthew Schitck said:


> Long-Pig.


 That might also come under the heading of "skins I'd rather not use". I think it is more Hitler territory than Ask Andy territory.


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## turban1 (May 29, 2008)

*my panda-skin waistcoat*

just kidding.

astrakhan or karakuli is pretty dear, made from foetal lamb. afghan president hamid karzai wears them as hats, and they were often coat collars or even entire coats in the late victorian/edwardian era.

"One astrakhan coat is at Willis'es, 
Another is at the Savoy,
Do fetch my morocco portmanteau 
And send them on later, dear boy."

John Betjeman
"The Arrest of Oscar Wilde at the Cadogan Hotel"
(from memory)


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