Coin Encyclopedia
Search and identify coins from around the world — with country, denomination, metal, mint, history, and how to tell them apart.
Fugio Cent
The first coin authorized by the United States government, featuring a sundial, the word 'Fugio,' and the motto 'Mind Your Business,' often linked to Benjamin Franklin.
United States
Gold Half Sovereign
Smaller companion to the gold sovereign, struck since 1817 at half the weight and value, sharing the same monarch portraits and often the same St George reverse design.
British
Isabella Quarter
The only U.S. commemorative quarter dollar, struck for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition and featuring Queen Isabella I of Spain, sponsor of Columbus's voyage.
Commemorative
Type II Silver Three-Cent Piece
A short-lived redesign of the silver three-cent piece with heavier silver content and an outlined star, known for weak strikes and generally low mintages.
United States
Panama-Pacific $50 Gold (Round)
A massive round commemorative gold piece struck for the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition, one of the rarest and most valuable U.S. commemorative coins ever issued.
Commemorative
Swiss Franc (Helvetia Seated)
Switzerland's classic 19th-century silver coinage depicting a seated figure of Helvetia, the female personification of the Swiss nation.
European
Una and the Lion Five Pound
A legendary 1839 gold proof depicting young Queen Victoria as Una leading a lion, widely considered one of the most beautiful coins ever struck and a benchmark of Victorian coin art.
British
Jefferson Nickel
Struck since 1938, the Jefferson Nickel pairs a portrait of Thomas Jefferson with his home, Monticello, and briefly switched to a silver alloy during World War II.
United States
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
Australian Holey Dollar and Dump
In 1813, colonial authorities in New South Wales punched the centers out of Spanish silver dollars to create two coins from one, easing a severe coin shortage while preventing the silver from leaving the colony.
Africa & Oceania
Louisiana Purchase Gold Dollar Commemorative
A 1903 commemorative gold dollar issued for the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis, struck in two varieties featuring the portraits of Thomas Jefferson and William McKinley.
Commemorative
New Zealand Half Crown (pre-decimal)
The largest denomination in New Zealand's regular pre-decimal coin series, featuring the national coat of arms, circulated from 1933 until decimalization in 1967.
Africa & Oceania
Sun Yat-sen Memorial Dollar (Junk Dollar)
A Republic of China silver dollar honoring founding father Sun Yat-sen, nicknamed the junk dollar for its reverse image of a traditional Chinese sailing ship, a widely collected 1930s Chinese coin.
Asian
Saxony Thaler
Saxony was one of the earliest and most prolific issuers of thalers, with the electorate and later kingdom producing large silver coins from the 16th century until German unification.
European
Victoria Large Cent
Canada's first bronze large cent, struck 1858-1901 under Queen Victoria, larger and heavier than the modern Canadian cent.
Canadian
German Bremen Thaler
A silver thaler issued by the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen before German unification, featuring the city's heraldic key, part of the patchwork of pre-1871 German state and city coinages.
European
Prussian Vereinsthaler
A standardized silver thaler struck by the Kingdom of Prussia under the 1857 Vienna Monetary Treaty, unifying weight and fineness across many German and Austrian states before German unification.
European
Qatar and Dubai Riyal
A short-lived joint currency issued for Qatar and Dubai between 1966 and 1973, created to replace the Gulf Rupee and used until each formed its own separate national currency.
Asian
Bavaria Thaler
The historic large silver coin of Bavaria, struck across centuries by its electors and kings, capturing the state's political and artistic history until Germany's currency unification in the 1870s.
European
Unite
A gold twenty-shilling coin introduced by James I in 1604 to celebrate the union of the English and Scottish crowns, its name literally symbolizing the joining of the two kingdoms.
British
French Louis d'Or
The Louis d'Or was the principal gold coin of the French monarchy for over 150 years, named after the kings Louis who issued it, and struck until the eve of the Revolution.
European
Danish 2 Rigsdaler
A large silver crown of the Kingdom of Denmark, double the standard rigsdaler denomination, often struck to commemorate specific royal events before Denmark adopted the krone in 1873.
European
Sun Yat-sen Junk Dollar
A Republic of China silver dollar depicting Sun Yat-sen and a traditional sailing junk, with the scarcer 1934 variety showing three birds overhead that is highly sought by collectors.
Asian
South African Sixpence (Union)
Small silver sixpence of the Union of South Africa, known for its protea flower reverse, circulated from the 1920s through the transition to decimal currency.
Africa & Oceania