Coin Encyclopedia
Search and identify coins from around the world — with country, denomination, metal, mint, history, and how to tell them apart.
British Groat
A small George III silver fourpence of 1792, the British groat: laureate king's profile obverse, crowned shield and value reverse.
Circulation
Victoria Maundy Twopence
A tiny sterling-silver ceremonial coin from a Royal Maundy set. This 1845 example shows Victoria's young head and a crowned 2 in a wreath.
British Isles
Shilling of Edward VI
A hammered Tudor silver shilling of Edward VI, showing the young king's crowned profile and a reverse cross over the quartered royal-arms shield.
World
British Britannia Silver Coin
A modern UK bullion coin in fine silver, carrying a face value of 2 Pounds and the classic seated figure of Britannia with shield and trident.
Bullion
British Farthing
Small copper farthing of King George II, with his laureate bust facing left and a seated Britannia on the reverse; struck in the 1730s.
British Isles
Victoria Maundy Fourpence
A tiny sterling-silver ceremonial coin from a royal Maundy set. This 1889 example shows Victoria's crowned Jubilee Head and a crowned '4' in a wreath.
British Isles
Cartwheel Penny
The heavy 1797 copper penny of George III, with a broad raised rim and sunken lettering, struck by steam power at Matthew Boulton's Soho Mint.
Milled
Victorian Crown
Large Victorian silver crown showing Queen Victoria's veiled "Old Head" portrait and Pistrucci's Saint George slaying the dragon, dated 1893.
World Coins
Half Sovereign
A small British 22-carat gold coin worth ten shillings; this example shows Queen Victoria's veiled, crowned Jubilee Head portrait and is dated 1887.
World Coins
Syracuse Bronze Coin of Hiero II
Ancient Greek bronze of Syracuse struck under King Hieron II, c. 275-215 BC, bearing a Hellenistic profile head; a very common Sicilian city bronze.
Ancient
Massachusetts Shilling (1 Shilling 6 Pence)
A colonial-era Massachusetts silver piece valued at one shilling and sixpence, joining a pine-tree obverse with a rising-sun reverse and the date 1779.
Colonial
Bronze As of Nero
A Roman bronze as struck under the emperor Nero (54–68 AD), bearing his laureate portrait on the obverse and an imperial reverse type.
Ancient
Hryvnia
Medieval silver money unit of Kievan Rus, circulating as cast silver ingots and weight-money rather than as a struck, portrait-bearing coin.
Medieval
Philip II Tetradrachm
A large silver coin of the Macedonian kingdom showing the laureate head of Zeus and a youthful horseman, struck under and after Philip II.
Ancient
Drachm of Antiochos II Theos
Silver drachm struck under Antiochos II Theos of the Seleukid realm, showing a seated helmeted Athena and, on the reverse, Nike beside an altar.
Ancient
Quincunx of Luceria
A cast bronze quincunx of Luceria in Apulia (3rd century BC), showing a female head and a five-point floral or star device marking five unciae.
Ancient
Scudo (Philip V)
A gold scudo struck for Spanish-ruled Sardinia under Philip V, bearing a crowned shield flanked by the Columns of Hercules and a cross reverse.
Early Modern
20 Drachmai
Greece's 1884 gold 20 Drachmai of King George I: a small Latin Monetary Union gold coin with the king's portrait and the crowned royal arms.
Modern
Austrian 4-fold Ducat
A large Austrian gold 4 Ducat dated 1915, showing Emperor Franz Joseph I in uniform and the crowned double-headed imperial eagle.
Bullion/gold
Irish Halfpenny of Charles II
A milled copper halfpenny struck for Ireland under Charles II, with his right-facing laureate bust and a crowned Irish harp on the reverse.
Milled
Hyderabad One Anna
A copper-nickel 1-anna coin of Hyderabad State under Nizam Osman Ali Khan, with Urdu inscriptions and floral borders, dated AH 1354 (c. 1935).
Princely & Presidency States
Eritrea 1 Tallero
A large silver trade dollar struck for Italian Eritrea under King Umberto I, carrying crowned heraldic arms and a Savoy eagle, dated 1891.
World
British India One Pice
A small holed copper-bronze One Pice of British India under George VI, dated 1945, its obverse crowned and lettered INDIA and PICE around a central hole.
British India
Qian Feng Quan Bao
A round bronze Tang cash coin with a square center hole, cast under Emperor Gaozong in the short-lived Qianfeng era and worth ten ordinary cash.
Cash Coin