Nunavut furs fetch record-high prices at recent auction

Arctic fox pelts from Nunavut sold for as high as $200 a piece at a recent Fur Harvesters Auction Inc. sale. (FILE PHOTO)

Nunavut furs set record-high prices at a recent fur harvester’s auction, where a top-selling polar bear hide sold for $12,400.

A Jan. 7 sale of the Fur Harvesters Auction Inc. offered up polar bear, wolf, wolverine, Arctic fox and ringed seal pelts from across Canada and North America.

The sale saw polar bear pelts from Nunavut sell for an average of $5,164, Arctic wolf pelts for an average price of $402 and Arctic fox pelts for $100 – the highest prices ever fetched in Canada for those three species.

“We are extremely pleased with the record high prices obtained by Nunavut furs at this recent auction,” said James Arreak, Nunavut’s minister of environment, in a Jan. 12 GN news release.

“Income from the sealskin and fur sales goes directly into the pockets of hunters and trappers and allows Nunavummiut to continue traditional harvesting activities.”

Prices for sealskins remained low, however, due to the European Union seal ban and current trends in the fashion industry.

Nunavut’s environment department continues to purchase sealskins to protect its harvesters from shouldering the financial burden the ban has caused, said the news release.

The department also administers a fur pricing program that offers advance payments and free shipping for sealskins and furs to the auction house.

The North Bay, Ont.-based Fur Harvesters Auction Inc. is one of the largest fur managements companies in Canada.