1820 Token North West Company - Copper

Coin Details

Description

Cataloged as Whitman 9155, Breen 1085, and PCGS #956, this copper North West Company token from 1820 served the same frontier commercial function as its brass counterpart — providing a standardized medium of exchange at remote fur trading posts where official coinage was unavailable. Struck in copper, weighing 6 grams with a 28 mm diameter and plain edge, this variant lacks the golden appearance of the brass version but shares identical design elements and purpose. The North West Company, Montreal's premier fur trading enterprise, maintained trading posts across thousands of miles of North American wilderness, from the Great Lakes through the Rocky Mountains, creating an economic network that required its own token coinage to facilitate trade with Indigenous peoples and voyageurs at locations far beyond the reach of government monetary systems. The copper composition was the standard striking metal for utilitarian trade tokens, offering durability and low production cost while maintaining a consistent weight and design that established the token's value within the company's trading system. The 1820 date marks the penultimate year of the North West Company's independent existence before its forced merger with the Hudson's Bay Company in 1821 ended decades of fierce commercial rivalry in the Canadian fur trade. Scarce as a surviving artifact of frontier commerce, the copper North West Company token documents the monetary practices of the fur trade during its waning years, when consolidation would transform the industry from a competitive free-for-all into a Hudson's Bay Company monopoly.

Rarity Notes

Scarce.

Cross References

Whitman 9155; Breen 1085