1820 Token North West Company - Brass

Coin Details

Description

Cataloged as Whitman 9150, Breen 1084, and PCGS #952, this brass North West Company token from 1820 is an artifact of the fur trade era, issued by one of the most powerful commercial enterprises in North American history. The North West Company, headquartered in Montreal, operated a vast network of trading posts stretching from the Great Lakes through the Canadian prairies to the Pacific coast, employing thousands of voyageurs, clerks, and Native American trading partners in the lucrative beaver pelt trade. Struck in brass, weighing 6 grams with a 28 mm diameter and plain edge, these tokens served as a medium of exchange at remote trading posts where official government coinage was unavailable — the nearest mint facility being hundreds or thousands of miles away through wilderness territory. The brass composition gave the token a gold-like appearance that enhanced its perceived value among trading partners, and its standardized weight and design provided a consistent unit of account for the complex barter economy of the fur trade. The 1820 date places this token at the very end of the North West Company's independent existence, as the company merged with its bitter rival, the Hudson's Bay Company, in 1821 after decades of fierce competition that included commercial espionage, violent confrontations, and the Seven Oaks Massacre of 1816. Scarce in the brass variety, this token documents the intersection of frontier commerce and numismatic production during the final years of the fur trade's golden age.

Rarity Notes

Scarce. Brass variety.

Cross References

Whitman 9150; Breen 1084