B. Gorbet and Sons

There's a poster here at Falling Downs, framed and sitting on a music stand, for a fur store in Owen Sound.

"Gorbet's of Owen Sound, since 1919."

In 1919 Benjamin Gorbet took over a fur store in Owen Sound that belonged to a fellow named Goldheimer. The furrier trade was one of the traditional trades for European Jews.

As of a couple of weeks ago I've got a new piece of history gracing the dining room table. It's a vintage Fur Machine from Bonis Bros Fur Machinery Corp in New York City.

It's a compact bit of technology. The Bonis Brothers obviously built their stuff to last. The metal label riveted into its top tells me I've got the new "Bonis Never-Stop" model.

A label at the base of the machine tells me that the Bonis Bros Machine Corp was located at 312 Seventh Avenue, New York N.Y.

Another metal label tells me that Gorbet, or possibly Goldheimer, bought the machine from John Garde and Company Limited, Agents for Canada.

In 1980 PETA was created by a few so-called animal rights activists.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

That was the beginning of the end for furriers, the fur industry, the Jews who made and sold fur coats, the First Nations and Metis trappers who had made their living on the traplines throughout the far north for 400 years...

It's all over now.

The sons of B. Gorbet watched helplessly as the business they had spent a lifetime building up collapsed into the residual value of the real estate it sat on.

Ironically, in this era of global warming and carbon footprint hysteria, the fur coat could well merit a renaissance. A good fur coat can last a lifetime. Needs to be retooled every few years just to keep up with the styling trends. That's what kept the furriers in business.

Instead, now we buy a new winter coat every couple of years. Every year or even twice a year for the children. Everything is made of synthetics that end up in the landfill.

That's progress for you.