A Blast from the Past!

Keeping up with the comings and goings of the Genetti family isn’t easy! To be in the know, I use a handy little tool called Google Alerts. Through my Google account, I enter a number of keywords into this nifty app (such as “Genetti”, “Otzi”, “Castelfondo” and “Hazleton”) and every day I receive an email with online links corresponding to that particular keyword. Often it will be a newspaper article, press release or current event that includes one of my keywords. Most of the alerts aren’t worth blogging about. But every once in awhile a fun or interesting tidbit will pop up in my inbox and I just have to share it with you.

That’s what happened on Thursday! I received a true “blast from the past” email alert in the form of an advertisement for an upscale online vintage shop in New York City.

Here’s the Google Alert:

Silver Mink Stole | Big Shawl Collar | Gus Genetti Mink Shop
Ruby Lane
Title: Silver Mink Stole | Big Shawl Collar | Gus Genetti Mink Shop | Sapphire Mink Stole |, Price: $425 USD , Category: Vintage …

This vintage mink will surely bring back memories for the Pennsylvania Genetti clan! It was an ad for an exquisite stole with the label “Gus Genetti Mink Shop”. I love coming across items like this from a family business and thought you would enjoy it too!

There’s no mention of age for the silver sapphire mink, but I would place it sometime in the early to mid-1960’s, an era when a luxury fur was a true status symbol for most American women.

Now I’m not a “fur person” but if you are so incline to purchase this lovely stole, the shop, Ruby Lane, has it priced at $425.

After a bit of research, I found a newspaper article that stated Gus Genetti Sr. (Augusto Lodovico Henry Genetti: 1892-1976) of Hazleton, Pennsylvania had a fur ranch for 35 years in Sugarloaf, PA. Known more for his hotel and restaurant establishment, Gus also opened a fur shop at his Hazleton business, Gus Genetti’s Hotel and Restaurant of Distinction, in 1956.

Here’s the link for Ruby Lane and the fabulous Genetti Mink Stole: https://www.rubylane.com/item/1234101-1171