Coin Encyclopedia
Search and identify coins from around the world — with country, denomination, metal, mint, history, and how to tell them apart.
Chinese Kirin Province Dragon Dollar
A late Qing dynasty silver dollar from China's northeastern Kirin province, widely admired by collectors for the unusually artistic and finely detailed dragon design on several of its issues.
Asian
Barber Half Dollar
A 90% silver half dollar (1892-1915) with a right-facing Liberty head designed by Charles E. Barber, part of a matching Barber dime, quarter, and half dollar series.
United States
Brazil 960 Reis
Brazilian silver coin created by overstriking Spanish colonial 8 reales with new Portuguese royal dies, issued after the Portuguese royal court relocated to Brazil.
Latin American
German Empire 5 Mark
A large silver crown of Imperial Germany bearing the portrait or arms of individual constituent states, unified under a common eagle reverse after German unification in 1871.
European
Guatemala 8 Reales
A silver piece of eight struck at the Guatemala City mint, first under Spanish colonial rule and later continued through the Central American Federation and independent Guatemala.
Latin American
1922 Canadian Nickel Five Cents
The first year Canada's five-cent coin was struck in solid nickel rather than silver, introducing the beaver reverse design that would define the coin for decades.
Canadian
Gordian III Antoninianus
Radiate silver coin of Gordian III, who became sole emperor at about thirteen years old and reigned through Rome's costly war with Sassanid Persia.
Ancient
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
Armorican Billon Stater
A debased silver-alloy stater struck by Celtic tribes of Armorica (modern Brittany), showing wildly abstracted horse and head designs derived from Greek prototypes.
Ancient
Ryal
A large Scottish silver coin issued under Mary, Queen of Scots and Henry Stewart, Lord Darnley, nicknamed the 'sword dollar' for the crowned sword on its reverse.
British
Aegina Land Tortoise Stater
A silver stater from the island of Aegina bearing a land tortoise, successor to the earlier sea-turtle design and among the earliest widely circulated coinages in the Greek world.
Ancient
Athenian Owl Dekadrachm
An extremely rare large-format silver coin of classical Athens, struck in only a handful of surviving examples and prized as one of the great rarities of ancient Greek numismatics.
Ancient
Flowing Hair Half Dime
One of the earliest United States silver coins, the Flowing Hair Half Dime was struck only in 1794 and 1795 and is a landmark rarity for early American coinage collectors.
United States
1796 Draped Bust Half Dime
An early, low-mintage silver half dime from the first U.S. Mint, featuring Robert Scot's Draped Bust obverse and a small eagle reverse.
United States
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
US America the Beautiful Quarters
A successor to the State Quarters program honoring national parks and other national sites from every US state and territory, including a unique 5-ounce silver bullion companion series.
United States
Nuremberg Thaler
Silver taler struck by the free imperial city of Nuremberg, often showing a detailed cityscape view rather than a ruler's portrait, reflecting its status as a self-governing trading city.
European
Reichsthaler
The standard large silver coin of the Holy Roman Empire and its constituent German states from the 16th century onward, whose name is the direct linguistic ancestor of the word 'dollar.'
European
Swedish Krona
The krona has been Sweden's national currency since 1873, originally struck in silver as part of the Scandinavian Monetary Union and today issued in base metals bearing the reigning monarch's portrait.
European
Carson City Morgan Dollar (CC Mint)
Morgan silver dollars struck at the Carson City Mint, identified by the small CC mintmark, prized for their Wild West mystique and generally lower mintages than Philadelphia or New Orleans issues.
United States
Draped Bust Half Dollar
A silver half dollar (1796-1807) showing a draped, classically styled Liberty bust, issued with a small eagle reverse (1796-1797) and later a heraldic eagle reverse (1801-1807).
United States
Standing Liberty Quarter
An early 20th-century silver quarter featuring a striding figure of Liberty, prized for its artistic Type I 'bare breast' design and later modified Type II version.
United States
Maundy Threepence
The third denomination of the Royal Maundy set, a small silver threepence given out in the monarch's annual pre-Easter alms ceremony, distinct from Britain's separate everyday circulating threepence.
British