A medium of exchange was a made beaver.
The N.W.Co. had it's strong position and unique roll in the fur trade.
It's medium obviously could be represented by such a token.
Let's suggest someone had more plews (and beaver were not the only furs involved but again can be considered a standard of sorts) than desire to spend their value. Or needed change/more value returned than actually spent. Then comes options of small items or volumes.
And an introduction to trade silver!
A small blanket style pin in exchange for change worn on a hat could tell of a man who wasn't broke/so poor he had no value. An earring. A pin. A fun subject. And a valuable one.
A few beaver pelts not spent to resolve debt or to acquire what was needed could be condensed into a simple few tokens.
The question on yours is it's pedigree of course. It wants to be a living history repro type piece but I can't prove that from here. I do like it though. And would drill and wear it if a replica.
( The bare back want's it to be so.) Also note what looks like it was pressed with a file to add scales. Scales well beyond the beavers tail (the tail which looks scribed rather than file pressed) which would be the only place to expect a scaled appearance usually.
Then you have the multiple drill pocks. Not really deep enough to test for silver content being all the way through but perhaps a tip of the hat to the concept. (Or they could just be voids from a poor quality casting that should have been remelted. Or...)
Reproductions have long be welcomed and emulated for love of history. And for more nefarious reasons too it may be suspected.
(There are more pics online.)
The 1820 North West Company tokens were created for the booming fur trade and used as redeemable rewards for beaver pelts across a vast frontier. Their English-made copper and brass issues, often worn for safekeeping, offer a fascinating link to the company’s final years before merging with a rival.
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