Coin Encyclopedia
Search and identify coins from around the world — with country, denomination, metal, mint, history, and how to tell them apart.
Restoration Anniversary Peso
A silver Dominican one-peso commemorative dated 1963, marking the centennial of the Restoration, with a Liberty head obverse and the national arms.
Commemorative
1 Bu Gin
A small rectangular Japanese silver coin, the ichibu gin, worth one bu (a quarter ryo), bearing beaded borders, paulownia crests and Ginza inscriptions.
Historic
Keicho Oban
A large, thin oval Japanese gold oban of the Keicho era, hammer-marked with horizontal striations and bearing brush-inked ink signatures and paulownia crests.
Historic
Shah Jahan Rupee
Hand-struck silver rupee of Mughal emperor Shah Jahan, all-Persian calligraphy in ornate cartouches, dated AH 1064 (AD 1653-1654).
Mughal India
Shah Jahan Half Rupee
Silver half rupee of Mughal emperor Shah Jahan, dated AH 1055, carrying Persian-script inscriptions and ornamental borders instead of any portrait.
Mughal India
Mughal Rupee (Akbar)
A hand-struck Mughal silver rupee of Emperor Akbar dated AH 1003 (AD 1594), covered on both faces with flowing Persian calligraphy and ornamental borders.
Historic
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
Penny of Cnut
Anglo-Saxon silver penny of King Cnut (Canute), showing a diademed bust facing left with a cross-and-pellets reverse, struck c.1024-1030.
Medieval Coins
Gold Mohur of Akbar
Aniconic gold coin of Mughal emperor Akbar (1556-1605), struck in Persian calligraphy in the Ilahi coinage style.
Mughal India
Ottoman Manghir
The manghir was the small copper coin of the Ottoman Empire, used for everyday change; this example bears a tughra and dates to the reign of Murad II.
Medieval Islamic
2 Lire
Silver 2 Lire of the Papal States struck under Pope Pius IX, part of the Italian lira system adopted by Rome in the 1860s.
Modern
20 Francs Napoleon
A small 21 mm French gold coin bearing Napoleon III's profile and a wreathed 20 FRANCS reverse — the classic gold Napoleon, here dated 1857.
Bullion
British Bank Token
Copper token of the late George III period bearing the king's left-facing bust and a quartered royal-arms reverse, dated 1819.
British Isles
Three-Dollar Gold Piece
An unusual U.S. gold coin of the $3 denomination struck 1854–1889, showing a Liberty head in a feathered Indian-style headdress. The photo shows the 1854 first year.
Gold Type Coin
Roman Denarius
A small hammered silver coin of ancient Rome, showing an emperor's portrait and abbreviated Latin titles on one side and a deity or figure on the other.
Ancient
Buffalo Nickel
Iconic U.S. five-cent coin struck 1913–1938, with a Native American profile on the obverse and a standing American buffalo on the reverse.
Nickel Five Cent
Styca of Aethelred
Small base-metal coin of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria, naming King Aethelred, with a central device and legend on one face and a cross on the other.
Medieval Coins
Gold Toman of Fath-Ali Shah Qajar
A hand-struck Qajar gold toman of Fath-Ali Shah dated AH 1226–1227 (1811–1812), covered in ornate Persian calligraphy with no portrait or figural imagery.
Persia / Iran
Missouri Centennial Half Dollar
A 1921 U.S. silver commemorative half dollar marking 100 years of Missouri statehood, with a coonskin-capped frontiersman facing left and a frontier-scene reverse.
Classic Commemorative
Siliqua of Jovian
Small late-Roman silver siliqua of Emperor Jovian (AD 363–364), with his right-facing portrait and a Victory or standing deity reverse.
Ancient
Gold Dinar of Abu'l-Hasan Ali
A high-purity Islamic gold dinar dated AH 351 (961-962 CE) in the name of the Ikhshidid ruler Abu'l-Hasan Ali, struck in fully calligraphic Kufic script.
Islamic (Medieval)
Keicho Koban
A thin oval Japanese gold coin worth one ryo, its surface covered in fine parallel striations with stamped cartouches and Goto mint marks.
Historic
Eritrea 1 Lira
Silver 1 lira struck for Italy's colony of Eritrea, dated 1918, with a crowned heraldic emblem and the legend COLONIA ERITREA L.1.
World
Tealby Penny
Silver penny of Henry II, the Tealby or Cross-and-Crosslets type, with a crowned royal bust and a voided cross bearing small crosslets in its angles.
Medieval Coins