Coins, tokens, medals, patterns, counterstamps, and later copies share this catalog—but they did not share one issuer, one legal status, or one purpose.
Start with authority and object class, then use date, metal, edge, weight, dies, and provenance to narrow an attribution.
- Series portals
- 11
- Normalized types
- 87
- Issue records
- 516
Colonial authorities and regional money
Royal, colony-authorized, private, and French colonial issues used before independence.
Revolution and the Confederation era
State contracts, private substitutes, national proposals, and Washington-themed objects made while federal money was still taking shape.
Medals, afterlives, and regulated commerce
Medallic history, restrikes and fantasies, plus foreign gold adjusted for local commercial trust.
A timeline of changing monetary authority
- 1616–1651 — Imported and regional substitutes
Trade relied on a changing mixture of foreign coins, local substitutes, and commodity money.
- 1652 — Massachusetts silver begins
New England, Willow Tree, Oak Tree, and Pine Tree families form the earliest sustained English-colonial silver coinage.
- 1776 — Independence changes authority
State, private, and proposed national issues appear amid wartime and small-change shortages.
- 1783–1788 — Confederation-era peak
State contracts, tokens, patterns, and Washington pieces create a dense attribution landscape.
- 1792 onward — Federal coinage—and a long afterlife
Federal production grows, while medals, restrikes, copies, and regulated foreign gold retain separate histories.
Collector orientation
- Classify before pricing: A familiar portrait or date is only a clue. Identify issuer, purpose, metal, and object class first.
- Authentication is foundational: Weight, diameter, edge, manufacture, and multiple die diagnostics matter more than one dramatic feature.
- Catalog systems are plural: Different families use different specialist systems; no single numbering scheme covers every Colonial object.
- Build a focused path: Begin with one authority, object class, or design family instead of treating all Colonials as one checklist.