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In order
to discuss the origins of cat breeds we need a fifth classification,
namely, it-is-believed-that data; for accounts of the origins
of many breeds begin with this construction. It is believed
that, for example, the Russian blue originated in or about
the city of Arkhangelsk, a port on the White Sea located within
shivering distance (about 150 miles) of the Arctic Circle.
It is further believed that sailors may have brought Russian
blues to western Europe in the 1860s; but to believe that
the Tsar of Russia or Elizabeth I or Queen Victoria of England
owned Russian blues is to embrace the unbelievable. We have
this on the authority of cat fancier Ingeborg Urcia, who wrote
a brief history of the Russian blue some years ago.
There
is "absolutely no factual evidence" to support these claims,
claimed Urcia, who reported that "there is still some dispute
as to whether the Russian blue really came from that country,
although evidence does point to a northern origin."
Other
writers -- like Frances Simpson, British author of Cats and
All About Them, published in 1903 -- have raised additional
questions about the blue angels from Arkhangelsk. "The best
authorities," wrote Simpson, "seem to agree in believing that
they [Russian blues] are not a distinct breed, and therefore
they are now classed at our Shows amongst the short-haired
English varieties." (Russians were classified in this fashion
until 1912, when they were transferred to the foreign blue
class.)
Opinions
about their derivation and patrimony notwithstanding, Russian
Blues had appeared on the show bench in England as early as
1875; and though we cannot say with ratio-data certainty that
the breed originated near Arkhangelsk, records indicate that
most of the known early members of the breed -- which was
called by a variety of names, including Archangel and Maltese
-- did come from Russia.
Whatever
its origin, the Russian blue never melted the ice in the cat
fancy the way blue longhaired cats or blue British shorthairs
did in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. These latter
cats so dominated their breeds that many people spoke of them
as though they were the breed. Thus the regal-sounding British
blue designation was born, an august way of describing what
was actually one color class among many in the British shorthair
pantheon. Thus, too, did the colorbred blue Persian -- which
must document at least three and preferably five generations
of nothing-but-blue ancestors -- come to personify the Persian
breed for many years.
No
Locke on Success
The first
Russian blues to reach this country arrived circa 1900. Mrs.
Clinton Locke of Chicago, who was also one of the first breeders
to import Siamese to the United States, purchased a cat named
Lockhaven Royal Blue around that time. She obtained this cat
from a British fancier with the wonderfully Monty Python-ish
name of Towlerton Flansholm. Another turn-of-the-century Chicago
cat breeder, Mrs. Frederick Monroe, has been identified as
the owner of a blue-and-white Russian blue, which is something
of an anomaly since modern-day Russians are available in blue
genes only.
We can
assume that these early imports were not considered the cat's
pajamas in the show ring. Dorothy Champion, writing in Everybody's
Cat Book in 1909, observed, "[Shorthaired] Blues are usually
kept for show purposes only in England, and are not nearly
so plentiful as house pets as they are in this country, where
they are called 'Maltese.'"
Despite
the early sniffing and sniping of purists who contended that
Russian blues were not a legitimate breed, these lithe, double-coated
charmers with the vivid green eyes continued to thrive --
if not thoroughly prosper -- until the beginning of World
War II. Prosperity being severely rationed at that juncture,
many catteries disappeared and so (nearly) did a number of
breeds, the Russian blue among them. Consequently, post-war
concerns about breed purity became academic as cat fanciers
scrambled to make whatever judicious compromises they could
in order to insure the survival of their chosen breeds. As
a result blue point Siamese were crossed with Russian blues
in England in an effort to resuscitate the latter; and breeders
in Scandinavia, working independent of English influence,
used the same technique to establish the Russian blue in their
country, too. The Scandinavians, however, produced a cat different
from the born-again Russian Blues in England. The Scandinavian
Russian Blues had larger heads, larger bodies, and shorter,
tighter, darker coats than their British counterparts had.
Meanwhile,
the Russian blue was reintroduced to the colonies when Mr.
C.A. Commaire of Texas imported two Russian blues from England
in 1947. The breed's subsequent acceptance by United States
registries made it one of the half dozen varieties of cats
that could be seen at shows as the 20th century passed the
50-yard line. (The other breeds were the Persian, Siamese,
Abyssinian, American shorthair and Manx.) Eventually breeders
in this country combined the splendid heads and emerald-green
eyes of the Scandinavian lines with the pale, silver-blue
coats and graceful body type of the British Russian blues.
Until
the mid-'60s, when the Korat gained championship status, the
Russian was the only all-blue breed in the cat fancy. These
one-flavor contestants were joined on the show bench by another
true blue type, the Chartreux, in the 1980s and yet another,
the Nebelung, which is a longhaired Russian blue, in the 1990s.
If anyone
should stop you on the street and say "Your money or the difference
between the Russian blue, Korat and Chartreux," here's what
to say: "The Chartreux is the one with gold or copper eyes
and the baked-potato-on-toothpicks body. The Russian blue
is long and fine-boned, with a modified wedge-shaped head.
The Korat has the largest eyes, a middle-of-the-road torso,
and -- if you look closely -- front legs that are slightly
shorter than its back legs." Then, while your inquisitor is
busy being impressed, you can make your escape.
The
Building Code
The Russian
blue is a fine-boned cat with a long, firm, muscular body
that is lithe and graceful without being tubular after the
fashion of Oriental breeds. The Russian's head is a smooth,
medium wedge, neither long and tapering nor short and massive.
The muzzle is blunt without an exaggerated whisker break.
The top of the skull is long and flat in profile, descending
gently to a point just above the eyes and continuing at a
slight downward angle in a straight line to the tip of the
medium-length nose. There is no stop or nose break, and the
length of the nose should be shorter than the length of the
line from the top of the skull to the eyes.
Wide-set,
vivid-green eyes, at least one eye width apart, confer a broad
look to the Russian blue's face. The eyes, according to most
observers, should be round, or just oval enough to show [an]
oriental slant.
Large
ears -- wide at the base, and more pointed than rounded --
crown the Russian blue head. The ears are set far apart, as
much on the side of the head as on the top.
The Russian
blue has a short, dense, fine double coat that stands out
from the body. In a double coat the two outermost layers of
hair -- the guard hairs and the awn hairs -- are the same
length. Normally guard hairs are longer than awn hairs, which,
in turn, are longer than down hairs. An even, bright blue
throughout, the soft, silky coat has silver- tipped guard
hairs that give the Russian blue a shimmering, lustrous appearance.
Personality
Profile
The Russian
blue is a quiet cat that metes out devotion on its own terms.
Though it is not precisely a hail-feline-well-met, the Russian
blue is, nevertheless, capable of forming relationships that
are as lustrous and jewellike as its stunning green eyes.
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