I don't know how to answer my mother. She has asked me if I want her fur coats. I am her only daughter. For decades they have sat in a professional fur storage facility because she has been shamed into not wearing them (I was one of those loud voices). Two were her beloved grandmother's on her mother's side and two were her mother's that she had inherited.

Black seal, silver fox, mink, and a pony fur (I think that's what my mom said, it's an unusual wavy silver grey short coat that the furrier at the storage and care place said was rare and valuable). They are all in beautiful condition and of a simple, classic style of the eras. Two are long, two are short lengths.

Back in the day, as my mother explained, these were not only a rare piece of luxury in the family, but also needed for their warmth in traveling in cars that had no heaters when speed limits were low and a trip by car took time in rural New England. My great grandmother was born and raised in Russia where fur was normal outerwear.

I am an animal lover, well aware of the horror, suffering and cruelty that are part of the fur industry. I am revolted and upset by it. I would personally never pay for a new fur item and support this industry.

BUT these unfortunate, beautiful animals already paid the ultimate price. What would you do with them? They are very sentimental to my mother. And I can remember her wearing them to church on Christmas when I was a child and stroking her arm as I sat next to her.

I don't think I'd ever feel really comfortable and without guilt wearing them. But I do have mixed emotions on some level.

What would you do?