The Rise of the Synthetic Weasel

Perspectives from The Artist's Road

Mustela sibirica Johann Christian Daniel von Schreber

For discerning watercolor painters, a hand-made pure Kolinsky sable brush has always been the ultimate tool with which to create. These brushes are not made from sable hair at all—rather, they are made from only the tail hair of the winter coat of the male Siberian Kolinsky (Mustela Sibirica), a species of the weasel family. Because the animals are isolated to Siberia and northeast China, and because they do not do well in captivity, the cost of their hair has always been very high, usually about three times the cost of gold, or approximately $58,000.00 per pound today!

Since 2013, the Kolinsky has been included in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, or CITES agreements. The import ban on Kolinsky, which only affects United States customers, has made the pure Kolinsky brushes more difficult to find and much more expensive to buy. Eventually old stocks will be exh…