Coin Encyclopedia
Search and identify coins from around the world — with country, denomination, metal, mint, history, and how to tell them apart.
Lydian Croeseid (Croesus Stater)
One of history's earliest bimetallic coinages, struck under the legendary King Croesus of Lydia, featuring the confronting foreparts of a lion and a bull.
Ancient
Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle
Widely regarded as one of the most beautiful U.S. coins ever produced, designed by sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens at the urging of President Theodore Roosevelt.
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
South African Krugerrand
The world's first modern gold bullion coin for private investment, introduced in 1967 featuring President Paul Kruger and a springbok antelope, sparking the global gold-coin bullion market.
Bullion
British Britannia
The United Kingdom's official gold and silver bullion coin, featuring the classical helmeted figure of Britannia, issued by the Royal Mint since 1987.
Bullion
Athenian Owl Tetradrachm
Classical Athenian silver coin depicting Athena and her sacred owl, one of the most recognizable and widely circulated coinages of the ancient Mediterranean world.
Ancient
French 20 Franc Rooster
A French Third Republic gold coin replacing royal and imperial portraits with republican symbolism: Marianne on the obverse and a standing Gallic rooster on the reverse.
European
Ides of March Denarius (EID MAR)
A denarius struck by Brutus in 42 BC commemorating Julius Caesar's assassination, showing daggers and a liberty cap — one of the most famous and valuable ancient coins ever made.
Ancient
Austrian Gold Philharmonic
Austria's popular gold bullion coin honoring the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, featuring the Musikverein's Great Organ and an array of orchestral instruments.
Bullion
Julius Caesar Elephant Denarius
One of the most widely recognized ancient Roman coins, struck under Julius Caesar's authority and depicting an elephant trampling a serpent, likely a symbolic image tied to Caesar's political struggles.
Ancient
Canadian Silver Maple Leaf
Canada's flagship one-ounce silver bullion coin, prized for its exceptionally high .9999 purity and evolving anti-counterfeiting security features.
Bullion
Roman Aureus of Augustus
A gold coin struck under Rome's first emperor, Augustus, marking the establishment of a stable imperial gold coinage that funded and symbolized the new Roman Empire.
Ancient
Chinese Silver Panda
China's annual silver bullion coin, issued since 1983 with a new panda design nearly every year, popular with both silver stackers and dedicated Panda date-set collectors.
Bullion
Roman Denarius
The workhorse silver coin of ancient Rome for over four centuries, used across the Republic and Empire and one of the most widely collected categories of ancient coinage today.
Ancient
British Gold Guinea
Struck from 1663 to 1814 and named for the West African gold used in its earliest issues, the guinea was Britain's leading gold coin and gave its name to a unit of value still referenced today.
British
1794 Flowing Hair Cent
An early United States large copper cent from the first years of the Mint, associated with the Flowing Hair Liberty portrait used on the nation's earliest coinage.
United States
German States Thaler
A large silver coin struck by the many independent states of the German-speaking world for over three centuries, and the direct linguistic ancestor of the word 'dollar.'
European
Trade Dollar
A heavier U.S. silver dollar struck specifically for trade with China and East Asia, later demonetized domestically and known for its distinctive weight-and-fineness inscription.
United States
Spanish Gold Doubloon
A popular name for large Spanish colonial gold coins, typically two, four, or eight escudos, forever associated with pirate treasure and sunken Spanish galleons.
World
1943 Bronze Lincoln Cent
An extremely rare mint error in which a small number of 1943 Lincoln cents were accidentally struck in leftover bronze rather than the intended wartime zinc-coated steel.
Errors & Varieties
Mexican 8 Reales Pillar Dollar
Minted in colonial Mexico City from 1732 to the early 1770s, the pillar dollar's crowned globes and Pillars of Hercules design made it one of the most widely trusted silver trade coins in the world.
Latin American
Spade Guinea
A George III gold guinea nicknamed for its spade-shaped shield reverse, one of the last widely circulated guinea types before the denomination was phased out in the early 1800s.
British
Gothic Crown
An ornate Victorian silver crown featuring a young Queen Victoria in Gothic-script lettering, widely admired as one of the most artistically accomplished coins in British history.
British
Edward VII Ten Cents
Canada's silver ten-cent coin struck during the brief reign of King Edward VII, bridging the Victorian and Georgian eras of Canadian coinage design.
Canadian
George VI Small Cent (Maple Twig)
Canada's bronze one-cent coin issued under King George VI, featuring two maple leaves on a twig, a design that helped modernize Canadian coinage in the late 1930s.
Canadian
George V Five Cents (silver)
The last era of Canadian silver five-cent coins, struck under King George V until nickel replaced silver in 1922, including the legendary rarity of the 1921 date.
Canadian
Kai Yuan Tong Bao Cash
A landmark Tang dynasty cash coin whose four-character reign-title inscription became the standard template for Chinese, and much of East Asian, coinage for the next 1,300 years.
Ancient
1943 'V' Victory Nickel (tombac)
A wartime Canadian five-cent coin struck in golden tombac with a bold V for Victory and a Morse code message around its edge, issued when nickel metal was diverted to the war effort.
Canadian
Islamic Silver Dirham (Abbasid)
The standard silver coin of the Abbasid Caliphate, continuing the text-only Kufic script tradition and widely used across a vast medieval trade network stretching from Europe to Central Asia.
Ancient
Ancient British Gold Stater (Cunobelin)
A gold stater of Cunobelin, the powerful pre-Roman British king later immortalized by Shakespeare as Cymbeline, notable for its ear-of-corn and horse reverse types.
Ancient
Merovingian Gold Tremissis
A small gold coin of the Merovingian Frankish kingdom, worth one-third of a solidus, often naming the local moneyer who struck it rather than the reigning king.
European
1858 Victoria Five Cents (silver)
The first Canadian five-cent coin, a tiny sterling silver piece struck for the Province of Canada in 1858 when decimal currency was introduced to replace older colonial money.
Canadian
Celtic Gold Stater of the Parisii
A gold stater struck by the Parisii, the Gallic tribe that gave its name to Paris, showing highly abstracted, stylized versions of Greek prototype designs.
Ancient
Groat (Fourpence)
A historic English silver coin worth four pence, first struck under Edward I in 1279 and periodically revived, later surviving mainly as a Maundy Money denomination.
British
Mughal Gold Mohur
The premier gold coin of the Mughal Empire, prized for its bold Persian calligraphy, occasional portraiture, and the wealth and artistry of Mughal court culture.
Asian
Gold Britannia
The United Kingdom's premier gold bullion coin series, launched in 1987, featuring Britannia on the reverse and available in one-ounce and fractional weights.
Bullion
Western Satrap Silver Drachm
A silver drachm of the Western Satraps, Saka rulers of western India, easily identified by a crude Greek-style portrait obverse and a three-arched hill reverse.
Ancient
Farthing
The smallest-value British bronze coin, worth a quarter of a penny, fondly remembered for its charming wren reverse design used from 1937 until its withdrawal.
British
Chola Dynasty Gold Kahavanu
A gold coin of the powerful medieval South Indian Chola dynasty, typically bearing the dynastic tiger, fish, and bow emblem alongside a standing or seated royal figure.
Asian
Halfpenny
A small British bronze coin worth half a penny, best known in its twentieth-century form featuring Sir Francis Drake's ship the Golden Hind on the reverse.
British
Five Pound Gold (Quintuple Sovereign)
The largest standard gold coin in the British sovereign family, worth five pounds and equal to five sovereigns, struck intermittently since 1820 for commemorative and collector purposes.
British
Threepence
A small British coin worth three pence, issued first as a tiny silver piece and later as the distinctive 12-sided brass 'threepenny bit' beloved for its unusual shape.
British
Double Sovereign
A British gold coin worth two pounds, twice the value of the standard sovereign, struck intermittently since the nineteenth century for commemorative and bullion purposes.
British
Penny
One of the oldest and most iconic British denominations, the pre-decimal penny is famous for its large bronze Britannia design and beloved key dates like the 1933 penny.
British
Angel
An English gold coin depicting the Archangel Michael slaying a dragon, introduced in 1465 and famously used as a ceremonial 'touch piece' in royal healing rituals.
British
Sixpence
A small British silver coin worth half a shilling, affectionately nicknamed the 'tanner,' beloved for its traditional role tucked into Christmas puddings.
British
Gold Noble
England's first successful gold coin for general circulation, introduced in 1344 under Edward III, famous for its ship reverse commemorating English naval power.
British
Broad
A gold twenty-shilling coin nicknamed the 'Broad' for its wide, thin flan, struck under the Commonwealth and Oliver Cromwell and continued briefly into the early reign of Charles II.
British