Flea-fur, truly. EVERYONE had fleas (and lice, and bedbugs), there was no need to be delicate about it. They didn't necessarily know that fleas required warm bodies, and they probably did lurk in the furs as good hiding places that were close enough to the "bar" for comfort. I've heard that lapdogs in the 18th century were intended to fulfill the same purpose -- come to think of it, I believe both these tidbits came from a presentation at an SCA Known World Costuming Symposium a few years ago specifically on the zibellini. My grandmother had a two-or-three-whole-mink thingie that she used to wear around her neck. I have it now (and when you think about it, any mink alive in 1954 would have been long dead by now, so it's not as though I had anything to do with their demise), but in a university town, I've hesitated to appear in public with it!
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