Before each auction, the buyers have the opportunity to inspect the skins for sale. The inspection typically lasts for 4-5 days. It is an important part of the auction period, because the individual lots for sale are not displayed during the auction itself. The customers in the auction room have the sales catalogue only, including their own notes, to guide them in their purchasing.
During the inspection the customers see a cross-section of the skins only, the so-called showlots, which represent the many millions of skins.
Five times a year, the auction house in Glostrup becomes an international hub. Chinese, Greek, Russian, English, German, Korean and Japanese is spoken in addition to several other languages. The hustle and bustle at times resembles Copenhagen Airport during rush hour sooner than a Danish company in an otherwise tranquil residential neighbourhood in Glostrup.
The sales season with five annual auctions starts in December, when skins are newly pelted, and ends in September, when the last skins are sold. Prior to each auction, five to six inspection days allow customers to inspect and evaluate the skins. Each auction attracts between 300 and 500 customers from around the world.
At Kopenhagen Fur the hammer knocks for the highest bidder and the hammer sets the world market price for mink. At each of the five auctions, up to 5 million mink skins plus many other fur types are offered for sale. In the course of just five days of auction, Kopenhagen Fur can sell skins of more than Euro 130 million, translating into a sale of Euro 1,500 per second.
The auctions can be followed online with real-time prices, and both buyers and the fur farmers have access to their own personal data.
