Coin Encyclopedia
Search and identify coins from around the world — with country, denomination, metal, mint, history, and how to tell them apart.
Denier of Charles the Bald
A small hammered silver denier of the Carolingian king Charles the Bald (r. 840–877), pairing a cross or monogram design with a ruler's profile.
Medieval
British Pre-Decimal Halfpenny
Bronze British halfpenny worth 1/480 of a pound. The George V type shows the king's profile and a seated Britannia with trident.
British Isles
Canadian Silver Maple Leaf
Canada's flagship 1 oz silver bullion coin, struck in .9999 fine silver by the Royal Canadian Mint with a single sugar-maple leaf design.
Bullion
Standing Liberty Quarter Centennial Gold
A 2016 U.S. quarter-dollar struck in 1/4 oz of .9999 fine gold, reviving Hermon MacNeil's Standing Liberty design for its 100th anniversary.
Quarter
Ecu of Louis XIV
A large silver crown of Louis XIV, the Sun King, showing his laureate or wigged bust facing left and a crowned French shield of fleur-de-lis, dated 1693.
Royal
Contemporary Forgery of Louis XVI Ecu
A period-style counterfeit imitating a Louis XVI silver ecu: a copied royal portrait obverse and a copied standing-figure reverse dated about 1792.
Forgery
Double Louis d'Or
A large gold coin of Louis XIV dated 1701: the king's laureate profile and 'LUDOVICUS MAGNUS' obverse, an ornate cross of arms reverse.
Royal
Ecu of Louis XVI
A large French silver ecu of Louis XVI dated 1784: left-facing royal bust obverse, crowned arms of France and Navarre framed by laurel on the reverse.
Royal
Tetradrachm of Ptolemy I
Silver tetradrachm of Ptolemy I Soter of Egypt, c. 305-283 BC, with his diademed portrait and the Ptolemaic eagle standing on a thunderbolt.
Ancient
Louis d'Or Coin Weight
A French bronze monetary weight (poids monétaire) made to check the weight of a gold Louis d'Or, not a coin itself but a money-changer's balance weight.
Coin Weight
Peace Dollar
U.S. 90% silver dollar first struck in 1921, with a radiant-crowned Liberty head and a perched eagle over the word PEACE.
Dollar
Denier of Charlemagne
A hand-struck silver denier of Charlemagne, king of the Franks: a central cross ringed by the CARLVS REX FR legend, with a royal monogram design on the reverse.
Medieval
Río de la Plata Copper Real
A copper real of the Río de la Plata showing the Sol de Mayo sun and a PROVINCIAS legend, dated 1785 — a provincial-style piece from the Argentine region.
Colonial
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
Teston of Henri II
A French Renaissance silver teston of Henri II (1547-1559): the king's realistic profile bust right, a crowned fleur-de-lis coat of arms on the reverse.
Renaissance
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
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
Una and the Lion Five Pounds
William Wyon's 1839 gold Five Pounds pairs a young Queen Victoria with Una guiding a lion — widely praised as one of the most beautiful British coins ever struck.
British Isles
Austria-Hungary 10 Kreuzer
A small low-grade silver 10 Kreuzer of Emperor Franz Joseph I, pairing his laureate portrait with a crowned double-headed imperial eagle and a 10 value shield.
Circulation
Denarius of Faustina the Elder
A silver Roman denarius honoring Faustina the Elder, wife of Antoninus Pius, with her draped bust and a seated Fortuna reverse, struck c. 141–161 AD.
Ancient
Antiochos the Child Tetradrachm
Silver Seleucid tetradrachm, c. 175 BC, with a young diademed head and a martial reverse figure with spear and shield.
Ancient
Numapis Denarius
A silver denarius of the Roman Republic (1st century BC) pairing a male portrait facing right with a ship or galley and lettering on the reverse.
Ancient
Coin Weight for Louis d'Or
A small bronze monetary weight used to verify a gold Louis d'Or on a balance, showing a worn royal profile and a heraldic reverse.
Token/weight
Panama-Pacific Exposition Quarter Eagle
A 1915 gold $2.50 commemorative for San Francisco's Panama-Pacific Exposition, showing Columbia astride a hippocamp and an eagle on the reverse.
Classic Commemorative