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The Trading Post
The Value of Trade Goods
"Money values are entirely unknown in these trades. The values of articles are computed by ‘skins’. The term ‘skins’ is a very old one in the fur trade; the original standard, the beaver skin … was the medium of exchange, and every other skin and article of trade was graduated upon the scale of the beaver; thus a beaver, or a skin, was reckoned equivalent to 1 mink skin, one marten was equal to 2 skins, one black fox 20 skins, and so on; in the same manner, a blanket, - a gun, or a kettle had their different values in skins."
W.F. Butler The Great Lone Land 1872
You can try negotiating an exchange of pelts for goods - one beaver is the unit of exchange.
Refer to the list of values for each type of animal pelt. Notice that beaver pelts form the basis of the system because the values of other animal skins are calculated in terms of their equivalent value to beaver pelts.
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