and baby blankets. By 1924, it accounted for half the US fur trade. While it was considerably cheaper than furs from other animals, it had softness and density and could also be dyed, plucked or shorn to look like other furs – shearing was also known as blocking. White pelts commanded a premium since they could be most easily dyed and in their natural state bore a close resemblance to much pricer ermine (stoat). New Zealand white rabbit (actually bred in the US) was highly prized, but other rabbit varieties in different hues – including Havana, Lilac and Checkered Giant were also valuable because they could be used in their natural colouring. One commentator noted in the 1920s: "[W]here one sealskin coat graced Milady of Fifth Avenue in 1900, a hundred thousand coats of rabbit-seal are turned out on Sixth Avenue during the fur season for the Misses of Main Street all over America". Names developed such as minkony, ermiline and northern seal – all of which were rabbit fur. After 1938, American fur coats had to be labelled using the name of the animal used in its making – for instance 'seal dyed coney' or 'beaver dyed rabbit' – in order to avoid confusion among consumers. List of former names for rabbit hair coats Australian seal: Australian rabbit shorn and dyed to replicate natural seal fur. See also sealine. Baltic black fox or Baltic brown fox or Baltic white fox: Rabbit dyed in a variety of hues to resemble fox fur. White fox was undyed fur from white rabbit or hare. See also Baltic lion/red fox. Baltic leopard: Australian rabbit dyed and marked to resemble the distinctive spots of a leopard skin coat. Baltic lion or Baltic red fox: Australian rabbit in its natural hue of either (respectively) yellow or reddish tones. Baltic tiger: Australian rabbit dyed to resemble the markings of tiger skin. Beaver dyed coney or French beaver or beaverette or Belgian beaver: Dyed and with the tips sheared in order to resemble the short dark-brown coat of natural beaver fur. Note that Hudson seal was muskrat Bluerette: Rabbit dyed blue. Castorette: Rabbit dyed to replicate beaver. Chinchillette: Rabbit dyed to resemble a chinchilla (not the variety of rabbit), with characteristic graduated markings. Note that chapchillas and French chinchilla were made of dyed hare. Cony leopard or cony mole: Sheared and dyed rabbit. Cony often designated rabbits