Made beaver

The made beaver was a unit of account used in the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), located in British North America.

Prior to the HBC's formation, French settlers and Indigenous traders exchanged goods for furs near the Ottawa and St. Lawrence Rivers.

Managers created these coins by cutting copper and brass from kegs into a rectangular or circular shapes and marking them with his initials and the letters HBC.

These standards were instated in order to eliminate competition, maximize profit, and minimize cheating among managers.

The Comparative Standard gave a value, in made beavers, to each pelt Indigenous peoples brought in for exchange.

"[5] The committee instituted a number of regulations on this practice in order to prevent managers from replacing beaver pelts with lower-quality furs they acquired privately.

[5] Post managers also allowed Indigenous peoples to exchange different forms of currency for made beavers.

If any manager were caught cheating, engaging in private trade, or replacing made beavers with lower-quality furs, he would lose all his wages.