Any tips for removing a musty smell from a 60 year old fur and corduroy coat?

Maybe try a couple of dryer sheets in the dryer on low heat or fluff for about 15 minutes.

Prop it open and hang it out somewhere so the air can get to it. Let it hang there for about 6 months. You could try a dry cleaner, too.

My sister took a look and said the fur isn’t fur. She said a cold wash on the hand setting and air drying should do the trick without messing it up.

And my god. I had the thing in my room for ten minutes a hour ago and I can still smell it.

Lovely coat. It would be great to get it were I could wear this out and have a chance of getting some trim.

Is there a internet law where your comment would have been great but you had to include that last sentence for some reason and now the entire thing is garbage?

Perhaps a professional furrier.

Dry cleaning generally does a good job of getting the odor out. I worked in one in high school and anyone who insisted on having things laundered like this usually ended up with a ruined garment. Delicate things do well being dry cleaned. Doing what you did will intensify the odor like you have found already.

Actually, washing in cold and air dying did the trick. It just took three runs through the washing machine.

Since it isn’t real fur, and it’s just musty, nor actually dirty, rinse it in vinegar water strong enough that you can smell the vinegar. Then rinse it again and again in fresh water until the vinegar smell is gone. How you fry it is up to you. The musty smell should be gone.

Use the cheapest white vinegar you can buy.

Phone your museum and perhaps they may give you options to try?

@johnpowell So you put the coat in the washing machine? Cold water. Gentle cycle (I assume) 3 times ? Did you use any soap? After the 3 wahinngs did you then hang it out to dry?
And the coat survived that abuse? That is amazing. I would have been afraid of the stitching unraveling at a minimum.
That is an interesting experiment.

I would have have placed it in front of my home ozone generator for a day.

Yeah. Three washes with hippie soap that has no perfumes*. Then air dried in the machine for a few hours. Coat seems to have survived.

My fingers are gross.

The coat is in great shape and was 10 bucks on eBay. And it is painfully warm. My grandpa (RIP) gave me a similar coat when I was 15 and it was my daily driver for years. I managed to lose the coat. So I tried to replace it. The coat new coat is bangin’ but I will probably barely ever wear it outside.

*Mouth cancer (at least in my experience) makes you really have negative reactions to perfumes. I used to just use Tide pods but that started killing me. Everything scented just hurts now. That is just my experience. So if you react poorly to perfumes don’t run to the oncologist. You will be spitting up blood first.

@johnpowell I have never had cancer, but I hate, haaaate perfumes, fragrances, whatever you want to call it, including the crap they call febreeze. Yeeech! Unfortunately, government offices, and even doctors use fragrances! They should know better, but all I ever get is a blank stare, or they get angry. Go figure.

Anyway, enjoy your coat!