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Hudson's Bay Company 1/2 Made Beaver Token

tbishoprictbishopric Posts: 91 ✭✭✭
edited April 21, 2019 7:18AM in World & Ancient Coins Forum

Not a coin. I hope it belongs in this forum. I don't see an exonumia or token forum.

This Canadian token from around 1857 was worth ½ of a Made Beaver for fur trappers in the land east of Hudson Bay. It was part of a vast region of British North America called Prince Rupert’s Land. The Hudson’s Bay Company was gifted exclusive trading rights to all lands within the watersheds of Hudson’s Bay and the Hudson’s Bay Straits.

A Made Beaver is a unit of value created to facilitate trade between the Hudson’s Bay Company and trappers. It was worth a high quality, large beaver skin. Trappers exchanged them for company goods.

Some of the tokens have a punch mark on the denomination side, between the N and B. It is thought these punched pieces were used in a different region.

One side of the token shows the crest (coat of arms) of the Hudson's Bay Company.
Motto: Pro Pelle Cutem
Latin, meaning ‘a pelt for a skin.’

HB: Hudson Bay
EM : East Main district
½: denomination
NB: made beaver, die cutter error

These pieces are rare. This example has a some mint luster left. It also has a dark spot that I would love to remove, but have not been able to.

https://bishopricquid.com/

Comments

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    TwoKopeikiTwoKopeiki Posts: 9,539 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Super cool - thanks for sharing. HBC's history is fascinating.


    8 Reales Madness Collection
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    YQQYQQ Posts: 3,277 ✭✭✭✭✭

    fantastic coin

    Today is the first day of the rest of my life
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    FlatwoodsFlatwoods Posts: 4,122 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Very nice.

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    1960NYGiants1960NYGiants Posts: 3,455 ✭✭✭✭

    Very nice example.

    Gene

    Life member #369 of the Royal Canadian Numismatic Association
    Member of Canadian Association of Token Collectors

    Collector of:
    Canadian coins and pre-confederation tokens
    Darkside proof/mint sets dated 1960
    My Ebay
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    Namvet69Namvet69 Posts: 8,676 ✭✭✭✭✭

    If it's bronze that dark spot might be an aged stain but not corrosion. do you have a usb microscope? for a close up. Nice pick up. Peace Roy

    BST: endeavor1967, synchr, kliao, Outhaul, Donttellthewife, U1Chicago, ajaan, mCarney1173, SurfinHi, MWallace, Sandman70gt, mustanggt, Pittstate03, Lazybones, Walkerguy21D, coinandcurrency242 , thebigeng, Collectorcoins, JimTyler, USMarine6, Elkevvo, Coll3ctor, Yorkshireman, CUKevin, ranshdow, CoinHunter4, bennybravo, Centsearcher, braddick, Windycity, ZoidMeister, mirabela, JJM, RichURich, Bullsitter, jmski52, LukeMarshall

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    QCCoinGuyQCCoinGuy Posts: 325 ✭✭✭✭

    Awesome token

    Dealing in Canadian and American coins and historical medals.

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    tbishoprictbishopric Posts: 91 ✭✭✭

    I don't have the highest quality USB microscope, but I tried to capture a couple of images of the spot/stain.

    https://bishopricquid.com/

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