Coin Encyclopedia
Search and identify coins from around the world — with country, denomination, metal, mint, history, and how to tell them apart.
Draped Bust Half Dollar
Early U.S. silver fifty-cent piece of 1796–1807. The pictured 1796 Small Eagle with 15 stars is among the rarest of all American coins.
Half Dollar
Gold Chervonets
Soviet gold coin of 1923 worth one chervonets (10 rubles), showing a peasant sowing before a rising sun and factories, with the Soviet state emblem.
World
Canadian Ten Cents
Small silver Canadian dime with the Bluenose schooner reverse and an early Queen Elizabeth II portrait; the pictured coin is dated 1955.
Canadian & Provincial
Flowing Hair Stella
An 1879 U.S. $4 gold pattern coin with a flowing-hair Liberty obverse and a large-star "ONE STELLA" reverse; famous rarity, never circulated.
Stella
British Third Farthing
A tiny 1844 Victoria copper coin: young left-facing queen's bust obverse, crowned value reverse. One of Britain's smallest denominations, struck for Malta.
Circulation
Clark & Co Territorial Gold Half Eagle
An 1860 privately struck $5 gold piece from Clark, Gruber & Co. of Denver, coined from Pikes Peak gold during the Colorado gold rush.
Half Eagle
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
Bank of England Dollar
A George III silver dollar issued by the Bank of England in 1804, struck over Spanish eight-reales coins, with a laureate bust and a crowned shield reverse.
Milled
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
Philippines 50 Centavos
A 1960s Philippine 50-centavos coin in copper-nickel, its obverse showing an allegorical woman with a torch and its reverse the national coat of arms.
Southeast Asia
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
Kiautschou 5 Cents
A 1909 nickel 5 Cent coin of the German-leased Kiautschou Bay territory in China, pairing Chinese characters with the German imperial eagle.
Colonial
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