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Russia has been famous
for sables since times immemorial. Foreigners that came to Moscow on
business and were invited into the Kremlin would tell, on returning,
fabulous stories about the Tsar of Muscovy sitting on a
fish-teeth-decorated throne in the Granovitaya (Faceted) Palace. But
what fascinated the guests most of all among the Palace's beautiful
sights was the tsar's marvellous fur coat, made of sable fur and
embroidered with gold and silver.
The foreigners'
amazement sprang from the fact that sables did not abound anywhere
else other than Russia. As for Muscovy, it obtained them as tributes
from the peoples of Siberia and the Volga region. Because of its
unusual beauty and high value, sable fur played an important role in
the life of the country. In the 11th
and 12th centuries, sables would be treated as currency — to pay
salaries, fines, and duties; they were used, too, as rewards given
for services to the country. Sables were regarded as furs of royal
value: any occasions when they were presented as gifts to foreign
monarchs were recorded in the official chronicle, and in this way
have been preserved for history. For instance, the Russian tsar,
seeking to enlist the friendship of the shah of Persia, sent sables
to him for his menagerie. The Persian ruler's heart was won over by
the gift, as few monarchs at that time could boast of possessing
such a precious marvel. Another monarch, in Europe, received sables
as a gift from Tsar Ivan III, the animals' claws being bound with
gold and decorated with Novgorod pearls.
But the sable fur was
rated higher than gold not only because of its unusual beauty. In
those days of old, they already knew about the unusual natural
qualities pertaining exclusively to that kind of fur. The fur of
sables was believed to have a favourable effect on those wearing it,
helping them preserve a peaceful state of mind as well as their
natural charm and beauty.
Nowadays, some healers,
who know about the unusual qualities of sable furs, use them as
talismans or charms to protect a person from negative unseen powers.
Such knowledge has been preserved since ancient times to this day,
when bunches of sables would be hung in the bedroom of a newly
married couple to keep the two safe from negative influences.
No wonder that since
days of old the beautiful and beneficial fur of sables has been an
important export item of Muscovy. It was exchanged, for a period of
time, for various foreign-made goods, then it became a source of the
country's hard currency earnings.
In the beginning of the
17th century, under Tsar Boris Godunov, however, the flow of
sable-fur tributes started to decrease considerably. The tsar,
worried by the trend, had to lower the fur tribute quotas imposed on
Siberian tribes and prohibit sable shooting for Russians in a number
of regions.
Though severe
restrictions on the trade of sable fur were maintained for a
reasonable length of time, the special government commission that
inspected traditional sable-hunting regions in the 1830s concluded
that the precious fur-bearing animal was nearly extinct.
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