Coin Encyclopedia
Search and identify coins from around the world — with country, denomination, metal, mint, history, and how to tell them apart.
4 Maravedis
A copper Spanish coin struck in the names of Carlos and Joanna, worth four maravedis (one cuarto), carrying the crowned royal arms and Pillars of Hercules.
Circulation
Julius Caesar Denarius
Silver Roman denarius of 44 BC bearing the bareheaded portrait of Julius Caesar, among the first Roman coins to show a living statesman's likeness.
Ancient
1 Grosz
A small 1949 Polish one-grosz coin bearing the crownless national eagle and RZECZPOSPOLITA POLSKA, with the value 1 GROSZ framed by grain on the reverse.
Modern
Hryvnia
Medieval silver money unit of Kievan Rus, circulating as cast silver ingots and weight-money rather than as a struck, portrait-bearing coin.
Medieval
Escudo (Joanna and Charles V, contemporary copy)
A contemporary gilded copper-alloy copy imitating a Spanish gold escudo of Joanna and Charles V, made to pass as the real Habsburg gold coin.
Early Modern
Papua New Guinea 5 Kina
Papua New Guinea's 1975 five-kina coin: Queen Elizabeth II in profile on the obverse, a bird-of-paradise with the K5 denomination on the reverse.
Circulation
Trinidad and Tobago 5 Cents
A bronze five-cent coin of Trinidad and Tobago showing a perched bird — the Greater Bird of Paradise, often mistaken for a parrot — with FIVE CENTS on the reverse.
Circulation
Bermuda Edward VIII Fantasy Crown
A modern fantasy Bermuda crown dated 1936 with an Edward VIII profile and a three-masted sailing ship; a gold-plated novelty, not an official coin.
Fantasy Issue
British Silver Threepence
Tiny sterling-silver threepence of Queen Victoria; the young-head type shown here dates to 1858 and is one of Britain's smallest circulating coins.
British Isles
British Decimal Half Penny
The smallest UK decimal coin, a tiny bronze half-penny introduced with decimalisation in 1971, bearing a crown reverse and the Machin portrait of Elizabeth II.
British Isles
Irish Pistole
A rare hammered gold emergency coin of 1640s Ireland, marked with its weight in pennyweights and grains rather than a portrait, and rated as a pistole.
Hammered
Five Guineas of Anne
Queen Anne's largest gold coin, the celebrated 1703 issue struck with VIGO below the bust from gold captured at the Battle of Vigo Bay.
Milled
Victoria One Rupee
Silver 1-rupee coin of British India bearing Queen Victoria's crowned bust, struck from 1862 to 1901 under Crown rule.
British India
1 Hwan
A late-Joseon Korean bronze coin of one hwan, carrying a chrysanthemum-and-cartouche obverse and a traditional dragon motif with East Asian characters on the reverse.
Historic
Sacagawea Dollar
U.S. golden-colored dollar coin showing Sacagawea and her infant son on the obverse and a soaring eagle on the reverse, struck 2000–2008.
Dollar
Capped Bust Half Dollar
U.S. fifty-cent silver coin struck 1807–1839, showing Liberty in a Phrygian cap surrounded by stars and a heraldic eagle on a shield.
Half Dollar
Barber Quarter
U.S. twenty-five-cent silver coin struck 1892–1916, with a left-facing Liberty head and a heraldic shield-eagle reverse.
Quarter
Spanish Doubloon (8 Escudos)
Large Spanish gold coin worth eight escudos, showing the right-facing bust of King Charles IV and a crowned Spanish shield with a cross.
World Coins
Pillar Dollar (Columnario)
Machine-struck Spanish colonial silver 8 reales showing two crowned globes between the Pillars of Hercules; a trusted world trade coin.
World Coins
Edward IV Quarter Ryal
Small English medieval gold coin of Edward IV, bearing the crowned royal arms and an ornate radiate cross with a rose-on-sun at its center.
Medieval Coins
Edward III Half Noble
Medieval English gold coin worth half a noble, this example showing King Edward III crowned with heraldic devices and a shielded, ornamented reverse.
Medieval Coins
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
German East Africa 1/4 Rupie
A small colonial silver coin of German East Africa, inscribed DEUTSCH OSTAFRIKA and 1/4 RUPIE within a wreath, paired with the imperial eagle.
World
Spanish Colonial 8 Reales (Milled Bust)
The milled-bust Spanish colonial 8 reales—the classic “piece of eight,” a large silver coin bearing the Spanish king's portrait and royal arms.
Colonial