Animal Skins
Before minted coins, animal pelts—especially beaver, deer, and otter skins—served as currency in North America, Northern Europe, and Siberia. These furs were durable, portable, and always in demand due to their use in clothing, bedding, and status symbols. The fur trade became so lucrative that European empires vied for control of key hunting territories.
In Canada, “Made Beaver” was a unit of account used by the Hudson’s Bay Company, where the value of other goods was determined relative to one prime-quality beaver pelt. This fuzzy form of money powered entire economies and colonization efforts. Though a bit bulky for your wallet, fur was literally worth its weight in gold in the frozen north.
Advertisements
Advertisements
Advertisements