In 1987, fur sales amounted to $1.8 billion, roughly the same as the previous year.

This year, he added, fur sales are inching up even higher.

Already, fur sales in the United States have crept back from a 1991 low of $987 million, to $1.25 billion last year.

The first revenues from fur sales in Europe did not arrive until four or more years after the initial investment.

While this is traditionally sale time, this season's fur sales seem bigger than ever.

Oh, and he also has a busy store in Aspen, the town that once proposed to ban fur sales altogether.

In 2000, fur sales nationwide reached $1.69 billion, an increase of 21 percent from 1999.

He said he thought higher income taxes would harm fur sales more than the luxury tax had.

But fur sales have had their rough spots lately, particularly in the United States.

Gone, for now, are the days when fur sales were falling faster than temperatures in December.