Coin Encyclopedia
Search and identify coins from around the world — with country, denomination, metal, mint, history, and how to tell them apart.
Turban Head Quarter Eagle
First U.S. $2.50 gold coin (1796), designed by Robert Scot; Liberty in a soft cap facing right with a heraldic eagle reverse. Extremely rare.
United States
Holey Dollar
Australia's first struck coin: a Spanish silver dollar with its centre punched out, counterstamped NEW SOUTH WALES 1813 and revalued at five shillings.
Australian
Charles II Halfpenny
A milled copper halfpenny of Charles II showing his laureate bust and a seated Britannia, part of the first regal copper coinage of England, dated 1675.
Milled
Sierra Leone 20 Cents
A 1964 Sierra Leone 20 cents from the country's first decimal coinage, showing a portrait profile on one side and the national coat of arms with its lion on the other.
World
Capped Bust Eagle
The first United States gold ten-dollar coin, struck 1795–1804 with a capped Liberty bust and, in later years, a heraldic eagle bearing a shield and E PLURIBUS UNUM.
United States
Tymf
A debased Polish silver coin of 1663 tariffed at 30 groszy, famous for a Latin motto declaring the state's safety worth more than the metal.
Early Modern
French Semeuse 5 Francs
A silver French 5-franc coin of the Fifth Republic showing the Sower (Semeuse) striding left, with a flowered wreath around the value on the reverse.
Circulation
Bicentennial Quarter
U.S. 25-cent coin issued for the 1976 Bicentennial, pairing Washington's portrait with a Colonial drummer and the dual date 1776-1976.
Quarter
Maria Theresa Thaler
A large silver Austrian trade coin bearing the bust of Empress Maria Theresa, famously frozen at the date 1780 and restruck for centuries.
World
George Washington 250th Anniversary Half Dollar
A 1982 U.S. silver half dollar honoring the 250th anniversary of George Washington's birth; it revived both the commemorative program and 90% silver coinage.
Modern Commemorative
Jalisco 5 Centavos
A small copper 5-centavos coin issued by the Mexican state of Jalisco in 1915 during the Revolution, with a large numeral 5 and the national eagle.
Revolutionary
Australian Crown
Australia's only crown (five-shilling) coin, a large sterling-silver piece struck in 1937 and 1938 with a George VI portrait and a crown reverse.
Australian
Alexander the Great Gold Quarter Stater
A small gold fraction of the Alexander the Great coinage, showing the head of Heracles and an eagle perched on a thunderbolt, the attributes of Zeus.
Ancient
Turban Head Half Eagle
First U.S. gold $5 coin, 1795: Liberty in a soft cap facing right, with a heraldic shield-breasted eagle reverse struck in 22-karat gold.
Half Eagle
Australian Fifty Cents
Australia's 50 cent coin bearing the national coat of arms. The 1966 round issue shown here was struck in silver; later 12-sided coins are cupronickel.
Australian
Capped Head Quarter Eagle
A rare early U.S. $2.50 gold coin struck 1821–1834, showing a left-facing capped Liberty head amid stars and a heraldic eagle with shield and E PLURIBUS UNUM.
United States
Panama-Pacific Exposition $50 (Octagonal)
An eight-sided $50 gold commemorative struck for San Francisco's 1915 world's fair, showing Minerva and her owl — the largest U.S. coin of its era.
Classic Commemorative
Edward VI Crown
Hammered English silver crown of Edward VI (1547-1553), the first English crown coin and among the earliest English coins to carry a date.
Hammered
Two Cent Piece
America's only two-cent coin, struck in bronze from 1864 to 1873, and the first U.S. coin to carry the motto "IN GOD WE TRUST."
Two Cent
New Zealand Florin
New Zealand's silver two-shilling coin; this 1933 first-year example shows a kiwi and the legend NEW ZEALAND ONE FLORIN.
New Zealand
Australian Sovereign
22-carat gold sovereign struck at Australian branch mints; the 1855 Sydney Mint issue was the country's first gold coin.
Australian
Quarter Angel of Elizabeth I
A small Elizabethan gold coin of the early 1580s showing a crowned portrait of the queen and a cross set with heraldic shields.
Hammered
Barber Quarter
U.S. twenty-five-cent silver coin struck 1892–1916, with a left-facing Liberty head and a heraldic shield-eagle reverse.
Quarter
Groat of William IV
A small silver fourpenny piece of William IV (1836–1837), with a seated Britannia reverse; the coin that revived the modern British groat.
Milled