1733 Hudson Bay Trade Goods.

In 1733 at the Albany Post, the Hudson’s Bay Company sold goods at the following rates:  

Item	#MB		Item	#MB
¾ pound coloured beads	1		1 file	1
1 brass kettle	1		20 gunflints	1
1 pound lead	1		1 gun [probably a musket]	10-12
1 ½ pounds gunpowder	1		1 pistol	4
2 pounds sugar	1		1 gun-worm	1
2 pounds “Brazil” tobacco	1		1 pair yarn gloves	1
1 ½ pounds leaf tobacco	1		2 goggles	1
1 ½ pounds roll tobacco	1		1 handkerchief	1
1 pound thread	1		1 hat	1
1 ½ ounce vermillion	1		2 hatchets	1
1 gallon brandy	1		8 hawk bells	1
2 yards broad cloth	1		2 ice chisels	1
1 blanket	1		8 knives	1
12 awls	1		2 looking glasses	1
12 dozen buttons	1		12 needles	1
1 pair breeches	1		2 net lines	1
2 combs	1		2 powderhorns	1
2 red feathers	1		6 plain rings	1
20 fish hooks	1		3 stone rings	1
4 fire steels	1		2 scrapers	1
2 sword blades	1		1 pair stockings	1 ¼
4 spoons	1		2 sashes	1
2 shirts	1		6 thimbles	1
1 pair shoes	1		2 tobacco boxes	1

The Hudson's Bay Company eventually introduced coins to facilitate the fur trade. The coins were minted of brass or copper and were issued in units of Made Beaver. The coins were paid to the Indian hunter for the furs he brought in.  The coins could then be spent like cash inside the Hudson's Bay Company store.

In 1821 Nicholas Garry of the Hudson’s Bay Company writes about his trade in the Hudson Bay drainage basin and stated:      

1 hatchet = 2 beaver

 1 trade gun=11 beaver

 1 3-gallon kettle=6 beaver

Beaver at this time were worth about $6 and a small axe could be purchased in Montreal for 50 cents or less. 

http://www.mman.us/tradegoods.htm