EMPRESS CHINCHILLA QUALITY STANDARD EVALUATION PROGRAM (MCBA follows these rules as well)DEFINITION OF TERMS
Three terms can be used to describe either the live animal or the pelt:
* COLOR It is accepted that a specific fur should be of a certain color, whether it be fox, mink, or chinchilla. Each has a particular color that is indigenous to it and ideally, that color should be distinct and clear void of dullness, muddiness, or off color. In the case of chinchilla where the desired color is bluefish grey, it should not have a dull, muddy appearance nor any yellow or reddish off color.
* QUALITY the sum total of all of the characteristics of the fur, exclusive of color and size. Therefore, the individual characteristics entitled, strength, density, texture, distribution of veiling, etc., all contribute to the over all appearance that is termed "quality."
* SIZE Is it small, large, or somewhere in between? On a pelt, "the area covered."
These terms are not unique to chinchilla. They have been used to totally describe most other furs for centuries. The expansion of these terms into a more detailed analysis, and specifically for chinchilla, would make use of the following terminology:
1. CLARITY OF COLOR of an animal is judged by the clearness of its color, plus the presence or absence of a distinct impression of blue. While the two factors often are closely connected, an animal can be clear with out being blue. Whether an animal is Light, Medium, or Dark, is of no consequence when attempting to determine the clearness or the clarity of that color.
2. THE STRENGTH OF FUR is judged by the snap with which it regains its original position after disarrangement. The ability of the hair to exert resistance to an outside force and retain its original, upright position. It is the vitality or the resilience of the hair.
3. DENSITY is the volume of fur, quantity, or the number of hair fibers per given area. Strength and density, together, produce what is known as "cushion."
4. TEXTURE is, theoretically, the fineness or coarseness of the individual fur fiber. In practice, texture becomes the over all look of softness or silkiness. Self explanatory terms such as, "silky" "woolly"='coarse" "singed," can properly be used to define the texture of a chinchilla.
5. VEILING COVERAGE has to do with the quantity and the distribution of the veiling tip the extent to which the veiling tip is carried throughout the body.
6. FUR PATTERN is the composition or arrangement of the hair resulting in the appear ance of the surface of the pelt. A result of the total composition or arrangement of the hair. Good pattern is a smooth, unbroken flow of the surface of the fur suggesting absolute evenness. Any irregularity in fur continuity such as, swirls choppiness – a mottled appearance any brokenness or unevenness is objectionable.
7. SIZE quantity of. If it is an animal, it could be Extra large and range down to Small. If it is a pelt, physical area covered.
8. CONFORMATION a wide head with a comparatively wide and square nose, a heavy "bull neck," massive shoulders, and a compact body, constitute a most desirable conformation.
EMPRESS CHINCHILLA 101 West 30th Street, New York, N. Y. 10001 1966
Three terms can be used to describe either the live animal or the pelt:
* COLOR It is accepted that a specific fur should be of a certain color, whether it be fox, mink, or chinchilla. Each has a particular color that is indigenous to it and ideally, that color should be distinct and clear void of dullness, muddiness, or off color. In the case of chinchilla where the desired color is bluefish grey, it should not have a dull, muddy appearance nor any yellow or reddish off color.
* QUALITY the sum total of all of the characteristics of the fur, exclusive of color and size. Therefore, the individual characteristics entitled, strength, density, texture, distribution of veiling, etc., all contribute to the over all appearance that is termed "quality."
* SIZE Is it small, large, or somewhere in between? On a pelt, "the area covered."
These terms are not unique to chinchilla. They have been used to totally describe most other furs for centuries. The expansion of these terms into a more detailed analysis, and specifically for chinchilla, would make use of the following terminology:
1. CLARITY OF COLOR of an animal is judged by the clearness of its color, plus the presence or absence of a distinct impression of blue. While the two factors often are closely connected, an animal can be clear with out being blue. Whether an animal is Light, Medium, or Dark, is of no consequence when attempting to determine the clearness or the clarity of that color.
2. THE STRENGTH OF FUR is judged by the snap with which it regains its original position after disarrangement. The ability of the hair to exert resistance to an outside force and retain its original, upright position. It is the vitality or the resilience of the hair.
3. DENSITY is the volume of fur, quantity, or the number of hair fibers per given area. Strength and density, together, produce what is known as "cushion."
4. TEXTURE is, theoretically, the fineness or coarseness of the individual fur fiber. In practice, texture becomes the over all look of softness or silkiness. Self explanatory terms such as, "silky" "woolly"='coarse" "singed," can properly be used to define the texture of a chinchilla.
5. VEILING COVERAGE has to do with the quantity and the distribution of the veiling tip the extent to which the veiling tip is carried throughout the body.
6. FUR PATTERN is the composition or arrangement of the hair resulting in the appear ance of the surface of the pelt. A result of the total composition or arrangement of the hair. Good pattern is a smooth, unbroken flow of the surface of the fur suggesting absolute evenness. Any irregularity in fur continuity such as, swirls choppiness – a mottled appearance any brokenness or unevenness is objectionable.
7. SIZE quantity of. If it is an animal, it could be Extra large and range down to Small. If it is a pelt, physical area covered.
8. CONFORMATION a wide head with a comparatively wide and square nose, a heavy "bull neck," massive shoulders, and a compact body, constitute a most desirable conformation.
EMPRESS CHINCHILLA 101 West 30th Street, New York, N. Y. 10001 1966
