Hudson's Bay Company:
One-quarter Made Beaver Token
In 1670 Charles II of Britain granted a charter to the "Governor
and Company of Adventurers of England Tradeing [sic] into
Hudson's
Bay" giving the company absolute control over the territory
drained
by the rivers flowing into Hudson Bay. This charter marked the
founding of the Hudson's Bay Company, a venture that was to
figure
importantly in the history of Canada and the fur trade.
Initially, trading posts were built in the Hudson Bay region, but
by 1821 the powerful trading company had extended its interests
all the way to the Pacific coast. Most of the furs traded at
these
posts were trapped by Aboriginals who bartered the pelts for goods at
Company stores. In order to facilitate this exchange, the "made
beaver" - the value of a prime beaver pelt-was established as the
unit of account. When a trapper brought his furs to the trading
post he would receive in return a pile of tokens valued in made
beavers. He was then able to select goods from the Company store
until his supply of tokens was exhausted. Before metal tokens
came
into use, locally produced tokens of ivory, stone, bone and wood
were used at some Hudson's Bay Company posts. The brass token
is the size of a Canadian 25-cent piece
and is one of a set of four denominations valued at 1, 1/2 and
1/8
made beaver. These tokens, which were used in the East Main
District east and south of Hudson Bay, do not bear a date but
were
struck sometime after 1857. The letters on the token have the
following meanings: HB (Hudson Bay), EM (East Main), NB (made
beaver) - the N is a die-cutter's error for M. This token is part
of the National Currency Collection, Bank of Canada.
Photography by James Zagon, Ottawa.
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