William Brand Posted April 1, 2012 Posted April 1, 2012 I've recently come across a few facts from the 'Fur Trade' while looking through passages from 'New Voyages to North-America' and I thought I'd list them here, as they pertain to 'goods' which might be bought and sold and stolen and sold in 1685. I know that other threads have discussed the values of goods, so this may be added to any thread which came before on a similar subject. The Names of the Skins given in exchange, with their Rates. Livres Sous The Skins of Winter Beavers, alias Muscovy Beavers, are worth per pound in the Farmer General’s Warehouse 4 Livres 10 Sous The Skins of fat Beavers, the Hair of which falls off, while the Savages make use of ’em, per pound 5 Livres 0 Sous Of Beavers taken in Autumn, per pound 3 Livres 10 Sous Of dry or common Beavers, per pound 3 Livres 0 Sous Of Summer Beavers, per pound 3 Livres 0 Sous The Skin of a white Beaver is not to be valued, no more than that of a Fox that’s quite black The Skins of Silver-colored Foxes a piece 4 Livres 0 Sous Of common Foxes, in good order 2 Livres 0 Sous Of the common Martins 1 Livre 0 Of the prettiest sort of Martins 4 Livres 0 Sous Of red and smooth Otters 2 Livres 0 Sous Of the Winter and brown Otters or more 4 Livres 0 Sous Of the finest black Bears 7 Livres 0 Sous The Skins of Elks before they’re dressed, are worth per pound about 0 Livres 12 Sous The Skins of Stags are worth per pound about 0 Livres 8 Sous The wild Cats or Enfants de Diable, a piece 1 Livre 15 Sous Sea Wolves—apiece or more 1 Livre 15 Sous Pole-Cats, and Weasels 0 Livres 10 Sous Musk Rats 0 Livres 6 Sous Their Testicles 0 Livres 5 Sous Wolves 2 Livres 10 Sous The white Elk-skins, i.e., those dressed by the Savages apiece 8 Livres or m. A dressed Hart’s [stag] Skin is worth 5 Livres or m. A Caribou’s [skin] 6 Livres A Roe-buck’s [skin] 3 Livres To conclude, you must take notice that these Skins are upon some particular occasions dearer [costlier] than I rate ’em, but the difference is but very small, whether under or over. "
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now