Russian reindeer leather from the Metta Catharina may be the most famous leather in the world. In December 1786 a small Danish ship carrying hemp and rolls of Russia leather from St. Petersburg sank in a storm in Plymouth Sound, on the south coast of England. Nearly two hundred years later, divers found her, and many of the hides were still sound beneath the mud. That leather has since been made into shoes for a king, cases, wallets and small goods, and it inspired a tannery in Devon to bring the old Russian method back. I have a very small amount of the original 1786 leather in my shop, and this post is everything I've been able to learn about it.
Metta Catharina Russian Reindeer at a Glance
- The ship: Die Frau Metta Catharina von Flensburg, a two-masted brigantine registered in Flensburg, then under the Danish crown. The name also appears as Metta Catherina, Meta Katharina and Frau Metta Catharina.
- The voyage: St. Petersburg, Russia, to Genoa, Italy, with a cargo of hemp and rolled hides
- Lost: the night of December 10, 1786, in a gale in Plymouth Sound, Devon, England. All of the crew survived.
- Found: 1973, by divers from the Plymouth Sound branch of the British Sub-Aqua Club
- The leather: Russia leather (Russian yuft), bark tanned and curried with birch tar oil, with a hand-hatched diamond grain
- Color and scent: a deep reddish brown to mahogany, with the sweet, smoky smell of birch oil that it still carries today
- Availability: finite. Recovery from the wreck has ended, and what's left is scattered among a few makers and collectors.
What Is Russia Leather?
For about two centuries, "Russia leather" was the finest leather money could buy in Europe. Russian tanners worked their hides in tree bark, most famously willow, and then curried them with oil distilled from birch bark, called birch tar or degot. The birch oil was worked into the flesh side of the leather, and it did three things at once: it kept the leather supple, it helped it shed water, and it repelled insects. It also gave the leather an unmistakable smell, sweet, smoky and a little like a campfire in a pine forest.
The grain side was finished with a pattern of fine crossed lines, a diamond hatching pressed or cut into the surface by hand with a ridged tool. Besides looking good, the hatching helped the surface flex and take up the oils. Much of it was dyed red, while black was made with iron.
Russia leather was shipped all over Europe for upholstered chairs, boots, saddlery and, above all, bookbinding, since the birch oil kept bookworms away. Through the 17th and 18th centuries English merchants bought it in quantity, and tanners in other countries spent years trying to work out how it was made. The scent became so famous that perfumers named fragrances after it, from Chanel's Cuir de Russie in the 1920s to the English soap Imperial Leather. By the late 1800s the process had been published and copied abroad, and after the Russian Revolution the original Russian trade faded away.
Why Is It Called Russian Reindeer?
"Russian reindeer" is the name the Metta Catharina leather has carried since its recovery. When the first hides came up in the 1970s, they were examined by the British Leather Manufacturers' Research Association and identified as reindeer, and the name stuck. Later scientific studies of hides from the cargo have suggested that at least some of them are cattle skins, which fits what is known about Russia leather in general: it was a method more than a single animal. Either way, "Russian reindeer" is now the accepted name for this leather and for the modern leathers made in its image.
The Wreck of the Metta Catharina
In late 1786 the Metta Catharina was carrying hemp and Russia leather from St. Petersburg to Genoa when bad weather drove her into Plymouth Sound to shelter. On the night of December 10, a south-westerly gale and a high tide tore her from her anchorage. She was driven across the Sound toward Drake's Island and went down near the Mount Edgcumbe shore, in a deep anchorage known as Barn Pool, in roughly 100 feet (30 meters) of water. The crew of six got ashore safely. The ship and her cargo did not.
For almost two centuries she lay there forgotten. The rolls of leather, stacked in the hold, sank into a thick layer of fine silt. With little oxygen in the mud, the bacteria that would normally break leather down could barely work, and the tannins and birch oil in the hides helped protect them further. The outer hides of each roll decayed, but many of the inner hides came through nearly intact.
The 1973 Discovery and Excavation
In October 1973, divers from the Plymouth Sound branch of the British Sub-Aqua Club were searching the area for other historic wrecks when they came across timbers and rolls of leather sticking out of the seabed. The ship's bronze bell, raised from the site, helped identify her.
What followed was one of the longest-running amateur underwater excavations in Britain. Under the lead of Ian Skelton, club divers worked the site for more than three decades, in cold, dark water with strong tides and very little visibility. The maritime archaeologist Keith Muckelroy counted it among the most difficult underwater projects in the country. The team recorded a large part of the surviving hull and raised hundreds of hides.
The wreck lay within waters belonging to the Duchy of Cornwall, so the cargo belonged to the Duke of Cornwall, then Prince Charles, who was also president of the British Sub-Aqua Club. He supported the project, and hides from the wreck were sold to help pay for the excavation. The ship's bell was presented to him and then returned to the club. Recovery has since ended, and the site is now buried under the seabed again.
Ian Skelton and Geoff Garbett told the story in the book The Wreck of the Metta Catharina (1987), and Skelton later wrote Shipwreck: The Loss of the Metta Catharina in 1786 (2013). Both are well worth finding if you want the full account of the dive.
From the Seabed to the Workbench
After two hundred years underwater, the recovered hides had to be cleaned and carefully dried before they could be worked. Once they were, the leather turned out to be remarkably usable: dense, supple, still smelling of birch, and still carrying its hatched grain.
The best known maker to work with it is George Cleverley, the London bespoke shoemaker, which made shoes from the leather for Prince Charles and has kept a small private reserve for its most special commissions ever since. In 2025 Cleverley used some of its last pieces on a one-off Bentley Blower Jnr car. Over the years the leather has also been made into bags, cases, wallets and other small goods by a handful of craftsmen. Museums keep examples too, and a few complete hides have sold to collectors for thousands of dollars apiece.
How the Original Leather Looks, Feels and Smells
- Color: a deep reddish brown to dark mahogany, varying from hide to hide and within a hide
- Grain: the hand-hatched diamond pattern of Russia leather, crisp in some areas and softened by time in others
- Scent: birch tar, still strong after more than two centuries
- Hand: dense and supple, with a slightly waxy feel from the oils
- Character: every piece shows its history, including marks, stains and small flaws from the seabed. They are part of the story, not defects.
Replica Russian Reindeer: J&FJ Baker
The original leather is nearly gone, but the method lives on. J&FJ Baker of Colyton, Devon, the last working oak bark tannery in the United Kingdom (founded 1862), studied hides recovered from the Metta Catharina and set out to reproduce them. Their Russian reindeer calfskin is pit tanned for about a year in oak, willow and birch bark, curried with birch oil, and finished with the same hatched cross-grain. It has the density, the diamond grain and the warm birch smell of the original, on fresh calfskin you can use every day.
I use J&FJ Baker's replica Russian reindeer for a few pieces in the shop, including boot kilties:
- Replica Russian Reindeer Calfskin Boot Kilties (J&FJ Baker)
- See every Russian reindeer piece in the shop
The Original Leather at Guarded Goods
I've been fortunate to get a very small amount of the original Metta Catharina leather, and I'm saving it for a few special pieces. Each one will be cut from leather that crossed the Baltic in 1786, sat on the floor of Plymouth Sound for nearly two centuries, and still smells of Russian birch. When it's gone, there won't be any more.
Caring for Russian Reindeer Leather
- Use a light hand. A thin coat of a neutral leather cream once or twice a year is plenty, and the birch oil already in the leather does a lot of the work.
- Test any product on a hidden spot first, since conditioners can darken the leather.
- If it gets wet, blot it and let it dry naturally, away from heaters and direct sun.
- Let the scent be. It fades slowly over the years and comes back a little with warmth and handling.
- Treat the original 1786 leather as the antique it is: use it, but don't overstuff or overstretch it.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Metta Catharina leather?
It's Russia leather recovered from the Metta Catharina, a Danish brigantine that sank in Plymouth Sound, England, in December 1786 on her way from St. Petersburg to Genoa. Divers found the wreck in 1973, and many of the rolled hides in her hold were still usable after nearly two hundred years under the mud.
Is Russian reindeer leather really reindeer?
The hides were identified as reindeer when they were first recovered, which is where the name comes from. Later studies suggest at least some of the cargo was cattle hide. "Russian reindeer" today refers to the leather and its tannage more than to a single animal.
Why does Russian reindeer leather smell so good?
The leather was curried with birch tar oil, made from birch bark. The oil gives it a sweet, smoky scent and also helps it resist water and insects. The scent is strong enough to survive two centuries on the seabed.
How did the leather survive 200 years underwater?
The rolls sank into fine, oxygen-poor silt that slowed decay, and the bark tannage and birch oil helped protect the hides. The outer layers of each roll rotted, but many inner hides came out in good condition.
What is the difference between original and replica Russian reindeer?
The original was tanned in Russia in the 1780s and recovered from the wreck; very little is left. The replica is new calfskin tanned by J&FJ Baker in Devon, using a process they rebuilt by studying the recovered hides. It has the same hatched grain and birch scent and is the practical choice for everyday goods.
Can you still buy original Metta Catharina leather?
Only rarely. Recovery has ended, and the remaining leather is held in small amounts by a few makers and collectors. When pieces made from it do appear, they tend to be one-offs.
Sources and Further Reading
- Ian Skelton and Geoff Garbett, The Wreck of the Metta Catharina (Truro: New Pages, 1987)
- Ian Skelton, Shipwreck: The Loss of the Metta Catharina in 1786 (The Metta Catharina Trust, 2013)
- The SHIPS Project: the Catharina wreck in Plymouth Sound
- Chipstone Foundation: "Russian Reindeer Hide: Intact and Unused"
- Hedley Studios and George Cleverley: the Bentley Blower Jnr in 239-year-old leather (2025)
More leather stories: Horween 1940s Calfskin: The Story of Timber Tanned Calf.
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