Coin Encyclopedia
Search and identify coins from around the world — with country, denomination, metal, mint, history, and how to tell them apart.
Idrisid Gold Dinar
Gold dinar of Morocco's Idrisid dynasty: a purely epigraphic Islamic coin bearing Kufic Arabic religious legends, no images.
Medieval Islamic
Akçe
The akçe was the tiny silver coin at the heart of the early Ottoman economy, struck with Arabic-script inscriptions and no portrait or figural imagery.
Medieval
Liberia 20 Dollars
A modern Liberian 20-dollar commemorative coin dated 2001, pairing the national arms with a saint and ecclesiastical architecture on the reverse.
World
Styca of Eanred
Small base-metal coin of King Eanred of Northumbria, with a cross and legend on one face and a central symbolic motif on the other.
Medieval Coins
Edward IV Angel
Medieval English gold coin showing Saint Michael the Archangel slaying a dragon-demon, with a heraldic cross-and-shield reverse.
Medieval Coins
Philip II Tetradrachm
A large silver coin of the Macedonian kingdom showing the laureate head of Zeus and a youthful horseman, struck under and after Philip II.
Ancient
Follis of Diocletian
A large silver-washed bronze coin of the Tetrarchy, introduced by Diocletian's currency reform around AD 294 with a stern laureate portrait.
Ancient
Edward IV Ryal
English medieval gold coin of Edward IV showing the king armored in a ship with a shield, and a radiant rose-on-sun design on the reverse.
Medieval Coins
Groat of William IV
A small silver fourpenny piece of William IV (1836–1837), with a seated Britannia reverse; the coin that revived the modern British groat.
Milled
Charles II Five Guineas
The largest English gold coin of Charles II's reign, showing his laureate profile and a cruciform arrangement of crowned shields on the reverse.
Milled
Japanese 5 Yen
Small Meiji-era Japanese gold coin with an imperial chrysanthemum and characters on the obverse and a floral wreath framing the 5 Yen value.
World Coins
Artuqid Bronze Dirham
A 12th-century bronze coin of the Artuqid Turkmen dynasty, struck with Arabic inscriptions inside ornamental borders across eastern Anatolia.
Medieval Islamic
Imitation Abbasid Dirham
A thin, broad silver coin that copies an Abbasid dirham but was struck in northern Europe, with blundered pseudo-Kufic script and a piercing for wear.
Islamic (Medieval)
Patacao
A Portuguese silver coin known as the patacao, a larger member of the pataca family, carrying the royal coat of arms and a crowned heraldic shield.
Circulation
Broad
A gold twenty-shilling coin of the Protectorate bearing Oliver Cromwell's Roman-style profile and a crowned quartered shield, dated 1656.
Hammered
Pakistan One Rupee
An early coin of newly independent Pakistan, dated 1948, with the GOVERNMENT OF PAKISTAN legend framing an ornate Islamic geometric and floral design.
South Asia
Bhutan 5 Sengtrum
A small cupro-nickel Bhutanese coin of 1979 worth five Sengtrum, with the national emblem on the obverse and a traditional architectural gateway on the reverse.
Himalayan
Antoninianus of Carinus
Bronze radiate coin of the emperor Carinus (283-285 AD), recognizable by his spiked crown and a standing or seated deity on the reverse.
Ancient
Antiochos III Tetradrachm
A large Seleucid silver coin of Antiochos III the Great, showing his diademed head and a seated deity holding shield and spear.
Ancient
1 Markka
Finland's bimetallic one-markka coin (1993–2001), with a crowned heraldic lion on one face and a large numeral 1 on the other.
World
2 Soldi
A small base-metal coin of the Republic of Genoa worth two soldi, typically showing a heraldic lion and a fortified castle gateway.
Early Modern
Maundy One Penny
The smallest British Maundy silver coin, bearing a crowned Roman numeral I; this example was struck in 1687 under James II.
Maundy
Bremen 12 Grote Thaler
A silver 12 Grote coin of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen dated 1845, with an ornamental civic coat of arms and an allegorical reverse.
German States
Isle of Man Noble
The Isle of Man Noble: the world's first platinum bullion coin, pairing a crowned Queen Elizabeth II with a Viking longship reverse.
Bullion