Coin Encyclopedia
Search and identify coins from around the world — with country, denomination, metal, mint, history, and how to tell them apart.
1794 Flowing Hair Half Dime
One of the very first silver coins struck for circulation by the United States Mint, bearing the Flowing Hair Liberty design and a small eagle reverse.
United States
Vienna Philharmonic
Austria's celebrated bullion coin family built around a shared musical design honoring the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, issued in gold, silver, and platinum.
Bullion
United States Trade Dollar
A heavier silver dollar issued specifically for trade with China and East Asia, the Trade Dollar circulated internationally before being demonetized and later collected as a design classic.
United States
Swiss 5 Francs Shooting Thaler
A series of commemorative Swiss silver crowns struck to mark the national Federal Shooting Festival, celebrating Switzerland's civic militia tradition through distinctive cantonal designs.
European
Netherlands 2½ Gulden
The largest regularly circulating silver coin of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, popularly nicknamed "rijksdaalder," featuring the reigning monarch's portrait across more than a century of Dutch coinage.
European
Austrian Corpus Christi Thaler
A devotional silver thaler struck by Austrian ecclesiastical authorities to mark the feast of Corpus Christi, blending religious procession imagery with the standard large-thaler format of the era.
European
Mexican Emperor Maximilian Peso
A silver peso struck during the brief reign of Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico, whose short-lived Second Mexican Empire ended with his execution in 1867.
Latin American
Argentine 1 Peso 'Liberty Head'
A short-lived Argentine silver peso from the early 1880s featuring a Liberty head design, struck only briefly before Argentina's monetary standards shifted.
Latin American
Philippine 50 Centavos (Commonwealth, 1936)
A special 1936 silver 50-centavo coin marking the establishment of the Commonwealth of the Philippines, issued in two paired-portrait varieties honoring Quezon alongside Murphy or Roosevelt.
Asian
Papal States Scudo
The principal silver coin of the Papal States, bearing the portrait or arms of the reigning pope alongside religious imagery, struck for centuries until the Papal territories' loss of independence.
European
Netherlands Lion Daalder (Leeuwendaalder)
A large silver trade coin of the Dutch provinces showing a knight and a rampant lion, widely circulated in colonial North America and the Ottoman world as the prototype 'lion dollar.'
European
1921-D Mercury Dime
A key-date silver dime from a post-WWI recession year when Denver struck only a small number of Mercury dimes, making it a cornerstone of the series.
United States
Capped Bust Half Dime
Struck between 1829 and 1837, the Capped Bust Half Dime brought a smaller, mechanically consistent version of the Capped Bust design to America's smallest silver coin.
United States
Roosevelt Dime
Issued since 1946 in honor of Franklin D. Roosevelt, this dime is struck in 90% silver through 1964 and copper-nickel clad afterward, and remains in circulation today.
United States
Athens New Style Owl Tetradrachm
Later Athenian silver tetradrachm on a broad, thin flan showing the owl standing on an amphora within an olive wreath, distinct from the earlier classical owl coinage.
Ancient
Amphipolis Apollo Tetradrachm
Silver tetradrachm of Amphipolis in Macedon, famous for its masterfully engraved three-quarter facing head of Apollo, widely regarded as a high point of Greek coin art.
Ancient
Thebes Boeotian Shield Stater
A silver stater from Boeotia bearing the distinctive figure-eight-shaped Boeotian shield, the common civic emblem struck by Thebes and its allied cities for centuries.
Ancient
British Crown
Valued at five shillings, the British crown is a large silver (and later cupro-nickel) coin with a production history stretching from Tudor England to modern commemorative issues.
British
Pine Tree Shilling
Colonial Massachusetts silver shilling struck by John Hull and Robert Sanderson, famous for carrying the fixed date 1652 for roughly three decades of actual production.
United States
Ethiopian Birr (Menelik II)
Silver birr introduced by Emperor Menelik II of Ethiopia, modeled on the weight and fineness of the Maria Theresa thaler, featuring his crowned bust and the Lion of Judah.
Africa & Oceania
Chinese Pei Yang (Peiyang) Arsenal Dragon Dollar
Late Qing dynasty silver dollar struck at the Pei Yang Arsenal in Tientsin, prized by collectors for its dragon design and the rarity of certain dated varieties.
Asian
Philippine Peso (US Administration, 1903)
Silver one-peso coin struck for the Philippines under early American colonial administration, part of a new US-designed coinage system introduced in 1903.
Asian
Victoria Fifty Cents (half dollar)
Canada's silver fifty-cent piece struck under Queen Victoria from 1870 to 1901, featuring her portrait and a heraldic shield-and-wreath reverse.
Canadian
Kroisos (Croeseid) Gold Stater of Lydia
A pure gold stater struck under King Croesus of Lydia, part of history's first coinage issued in separate fixed-purity gold and silver denominations.
Ancient