HUDSON'S BAY MADE BEAVER TOKENS Öffentlichkeit Deposited
The E-Sylum: Volume 7, Number 23, June 6, 2004, Article 16
HUDSON'S BAY MADE BEAVER TOKENS
The particular numismatic item I had in mind for last week's
QUICK QUIZ was the Hudson Bay Company's Made
Beaver tokens. Jess Gaylor was the first to guess the
answer. But there were several possible answers, as
David Gladfelter points out: "Not sure what specific
numismatic item HBC is known for. The late Larry Gingras,
fellow of the Royal Numismatic and Canadian Numismatic
Research Societies, published a 117-page study, Medals,
Tokens and Paper Money of the Hudson's Bay Company,
in 1975, which lists a large variety of these items, almost all
from the 19th and early 20th centuries."From the Currency Museum of the Bank of Canada web site:
"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."
National Currency CollectionSee also the Hudson's Bay company web site: Hudson's Bay
The web site describes the company's "amazing archives":
"In London, England, during Hudson's Bay Company's 1928
Annual Meeting Governor Charles Sale announced the
establishment of an Archives Department. He told the
shareholders "We have, as you probably know, an immense
collection of records relating to the earliest days of our history;
to the wars and fighting; to the explorations by land and sea;
to the customs and life of the Indians and Eskimo; to the
struggle for the occupation of the Pacific Coast; to the peaceful
retention of the Great West; and finally, to the general conduct
of the Company and its affairs during the two centuries in which
it was responsible for the government of the territory of Rupert's
Land.""The Hudson's Bay Company Archives were opened to
students of history in May, 1931. The records were moved to
Canada in 1974 and placed on long term loan with the Provincial
Archives of Manitoba. The Provincial Archives would become
the permanent home of the Hudson's Bay Company Archives on
January 27, 1994 through donation."- 2004-06-06
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