Coin Encyclopedia
Search and identify coins from around the world — with country, denomination, metal, mint, history, and how to tell them apart.
Australian Lunar Series (Perth Mint)
Modern Australian bullion and collector coin series from the Perth Mint featuring a different Chinese zodiac animal each year, popular worldwide with precious metal collectors.
Bullion
Ptolemy I Soter Tetradrachm
A silver tetradrachm bearing the realistic portrait of Ptolemy I Soter, founder of the Ptolemaic dynasty of Egypt, whose eagle-on-thunderbolt reverse became the enduring badge of Ptolemaic coinage.
Ancient
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
Australian Florin (pre-decimal)
Pre-decimal Australian silver florin worth two shillings, minted from 1910 until decimalization replaced it with the 20-cent coin in 1966.
Africa & Oceania
Demetrios Poliorketes Nike Tetradrachm
A Hellenistic silver tetradrachm of Demetrios I of Macedon, celebrated for its obverse image of Nike standing on a ship's prow, commemorating his naval victory at Salamis in Cyprus.
Ancient
Argentine Peso Moneda Nacional (Patacón)
Argentina's long-standing peso moneda nacional coinage, informally nicknamed the patacón, formed the backbone of the country's currency from the 1880s well into the twentieth century.
Latin American
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
Indian Punch-Marked Karshapana
Among the earliest coins of South Asia, irregular silver bars struck repeatedly with multiple unrelated symbol punches rather than a single unified design.
Ancient
Tiberius Tribute Penny Denarius
The famous silver denarius of Emperor Tiberius traditionally identified as the biblical 'Tribute Penny' from the New Testament's 'Render unto Caesar' episode.
Ancient
Panormus Siculo-Punic Tetradrachm
A silver tetradrachm struck at Panormus under Carthaginian control in Sicily, blending Greek artistic style with Punic legends, a hallmark of the distinctive Siculo-Punic coinage series.
Ancient
1955 Jefferson Nickel Poor Man's Doubled Die
A minor doubled-die variety on the 1955 Jefferson Nickel's date, nicknamed the 'Poor Man's Doubled Die' as a more affordable alternative to the famous 1955 doubled-die Lincoln Cent.
Errors & Varieties
Australian Threepence (pre-decimal)
Small pre-decimal Australian silver coin worth three pence, popularly recognized for its bundled wheat-ear reverse design used across most of the 20th century.
Africa & Oceania
Mithradates VI Pontos Tetradrachm
A Hellenistic silver tetradrachm portraying Mithradates VI Eupator of Pontos, Rome's fiercest eastern rival, with his distinctive wind-swept diademed portrait and a grazing stag reverse.
Ancient
Pergamon Cistophoric Tetradrachm
A reduced-weight Hellenistic silver coin introduced by the Attalid kings of Pergamon, named for the sacred cista mystica chest depicted on the obverse and later adopted throughout Roman Asia.
Ancient
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
French Indochina Sarraut Piastre (1931)
A reduced-weight silver piastre introduced in 1931 for French Indochina after rising world silver prices made the older, larger trade piastre worth more in bullion than in face value.
Asian
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
1970-S Washington Quarter Proof on 1941 Canadian Quarter
One of the most famous US mint errors: a 1970-S proof Washington quarter accidentally struck over a leftover silver 1941 Canadian quarter planchet at the San Francisco Mint.
Errors & Varieties
1974 Aluminum Cent
An extremely rare experimental pattern struck in aluminum as a potential replacement for the copper cent amid rising metal costs, almost none of which were legally released to the public.
Errors & Varieties
Canadian Toonie
Canada's bimetallic two dollar coin, introduced in 1996 with a polar bear reverse, whose nickname blends "two" with "loonie."
Canadian
Canadian Loonie
Canada's eleven-sided one dollar coin, introduced in 1987 with a common loon on the reverse, giving rise to its popular nickname.
Canadian
South African Mandela R5 Coin
South African circulating commemorative five-rand coin honoring Nelson Mandela, first issued for his 90th birthday in 2008 and again for his birth centenary in 2018.
Commemorative
Sacagawea Golden Dollar
A golden-colored dollar coin introduced in 2000 depicting Sacagawea carrying her infant son, created to replace the unpopular Susan B. Anthony dollar in everyday commerce.
United States
1921 Fifty Cents (King of Canadian Coins)
Canada's most famous rarity, the 1921 fifty-cent piece survives in only a small number of known examples after most of its mintage was melted, earning it the nickname King of Canadian Coins.
Canadian