What do you define as "colonial"?

pcgs69

Winter boredom thread alert!

I see it a lot where detectorists (I'm sure I'm guilty of it myself), find some relics such as flat buttons and everyone says, "great colonial finds". That got me thinking... what do you define "colonial" as? Those with Matron head LCs, although wonderful finds, do not qualify as colonial. For me, I tend to think anything pre-1793 (before the U.S. Mint) as being colonial. The Red Book looks to use 1783 as the cutoff between colonial and post-colonial.

Do we tend to mis-use the term, but it's generally acceptable because it's come to generally just mean old? Kind of like how we still use "penny" instead of "cent"? I avoided going to Wikipedia for the real definition, but wanted to hear your thoughts.

HH to all those who can still get out.

ricko

True 'colonial' would be prior to the establishment of the 'United States'.....This would likely be either at the outset of the Revolutionary War or after when the Constitution was adopted.... I believe the document establishing the colonies as states would certainly begin the transition from colonies to a united country. Although, that definition is more semantic, it serves to establish a point in time. Establishment of a mint is also a good reference. The period is rather blurred. Cheers, RickO

WhiteTornado

My definition is anything pre-1800. Of course, I've never found anything that old, so this quandary hasn't applied to my finds

johnny9434

i would say maybe anything before 1781. fwiw

pcgs69

A quick search of "colonial" coins at Heritage reveals Mass cents, NJ coppers, VT, CT coppers, and misc tokens, etc. from the 1790s. I guess Heritage uses colonial to mean "Miscellaneous coins and tokens not minted by the U.S. Mint"?

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