Coin Encyclopedia
Search and identify coins from around the world — with country, denomination, metal, mint, history, and how to tell them apart.
Minnesota State Quarter
2005 U.S. 25-cent coin in the 50 State Quarters series, showing Minnesota's outline, a common loon, anglers in a boat, and pines above 1858.
Quarter
Groat of Henry VIII
A hand-struck Tudor silver groat (fourpence) of Henry VIII, showing the quartered royal arms within a circle and a long cross reverse.
Hammered
Edward I Penny
Hammered silver penny of Edward I, showing a crowned facing bust on the obverse and a long voided cross with pellets in the quadrants on the reverse.
Medieval Coins
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
Quincunx of Capua
Bronze quincunx (5 unciae) struck by Capua in Campania in the 3rd century BC, pairing a diademed female head with a lion or griffin and five value pellets.
Ancient
Panama-Pacific Exposition Dollar
An 1915 U.S. gold dollar struck for the Panama-Pacific International Exposition, showing a canal laborer and two dolphins encircling the denomination.
Classic Commemorative
British East Africa Half Shilling
A small low-fineness silver coin of British East Africa bearing King George VI; the half shilling equalled fifty cents in the East African system.
World
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
Broad
A gold twenty-shilling coin of the Protectorate bearing Oliver Cromwell's Roman-style profile and a crowned quartered shield, dated 1656.
Hammered
Triple Unite
The largest English hammered gold coin, struck for Charles I during the Civil War and valued at 60 shillings (three pounds).
Hammered
Aureus of A. Manlius Vulso
A rare late-Republican Roman gold aureus of the moneyer A. Manlius Vulso, c. 80 BC, showing a capped head and a horseman carrying a military ensign.
Ancient
Solidus of Valentinian I
The gold solidus of Valentinian I (AD 364-375), a pure-gold coin bearing his pearl-diademed profile that anchored the late Roman monetary system.
Ancient
Braided Hair Half Cent
The final U.S. half cent design, a small copper coin showing Liberty with braided hair and a coronet, paired with a wreath reverse, struck 1840–1857.
Half Cent
Ghaznavid Dinar
Gold dinar of the Ghaznavid dynasty (c. 10th–11th century), an epigraphic Islamic coin struck at Ghazna and allied mints in Afghanistan.
Medieval Islamic
Solidus of Constantine I the Great
Constantine the Great's gold solidus, a high-purity coin struck from about AD 309 that became the standard of late Roman and Byzantine gold.
Ancient
Half Laurel
Hammered English gold ten-shilling piece of James I, named for the king's laureate portrait; the half of the full Laurel denomination.
Hammered
Crown of the Double Rose
A hammered Tudor gold crown of Henry VIII, valued at five shillings and named for the crowned double Tudor rose that defines its design.
Hammered
Spade Guinea
A late George III gold guinea named for the distinctive spade-shaped shield on its reverse, struck in England from 1787 into the early 1800s.
Milled
Half Guinea of Anne
An English milled gold half guinea of Queen Anne, showing her left-facing bust and a crowned cruciform reverse of shields with fleurs-de-lis.
Milled
George-noble
A rare Tudor gold noble of Henry VIII showing St George slaying the dragon, valued at 6 shillings 8 pence.
Hammered
Aureus of Marcus Aurelius
Small Roman gold coin of the reign of Marcus Aurelius; this piece shows a diademed portrait and a standing deity or personification, dated to 163 AD.
Ancient Coins
100 Soles de Oro
Peru's largest gold Sol de Oro—a heavy .900 gold coin of the Lima Mint. This reverse-only 1965 example shows a fortress emblem and CASA DE MONEDA DE LIMA.
Circulation
20 Lei
Romania's first gold coin, the 1870 20 Lei of Prince Carol I, pairing his left-facing portrait with the national coat of arms.
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