Coin Encyclopedia
Search and identify coins from around the world — with country, denomination, metal, mint, history, and how to tell them apart.
Sesquicentennial of American Independence Quarter Eagle
A $2.50 gold commemorative issued for the 150th anniversary of American independence, showing a standing Liberty with the Declaration of Independence and Independence Hall.
Commemorative
Panama-Pacific Quarter Eagle Commemorative
A 1915 commemorative gold coin honoring the Panama-Pacific Exposition, showing Liberty riding a hippocampus (sea horse), symbolizing the Panama Canal's linking of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
Commemorative
Long Island Tercentenary Half Dollar
A 1936 U.S. commemorative half dollar marking 300 years since the first European settlement on Long Island, New York.
Commemorative
Liberty Cap Half Cent
The first design used on the U.S. half cent, struck from 1793 to 1797, showing Liberty wearing a soft cap on the obverse and a wreath on the reverse.
United States
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
Lewis and Clark Gold Dollar Commemorative
A commemorative gold dollar honoring explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, struck in 1904 and 1905 for the Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition in Portland, Oregon.
Commemorative
Continental Dollar
A large 1776-dated piece bearing a sundial, 'MIND YOUR BUSINESS,' and a thirteen-link chain, long debated as either an intended Continental Congress dollar or a contemporary satirical piece.
United States
George V Fifty Cents
Canada's fifty-cent silver coin issued under King George V, spanning a reduction in silver fineness in 1920 and including the famously rare 1921 date.
Canadian
Panama-Pacific Gold Dollar Commemorative
A 1915 gold dollar honoring the workers who built the Panama Canal, featuring a canal laborer's head on the obverse and two dolphins encircling the denomination on the reverse.
Commemorative
Capped Bust Quarter Eagle
An umbrella term for the earliest U.S. $2.50 gold coins (1796-1834), whose Liberty-in-a-cap portrait evolved through several sub-types, including the famous single-year 1808 issue.
United States
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
Egyptian Pound (gold)
Egypt's principal gold coin, struck from the Khedivate through the Sultanate and early Kingdom era, carrying the ruler's portrait or tughra and Arabic legends.
Africa & Oceania
Victoria Fifty Cents (half dollar)
Canada's silver fifty-cent piece struck under Queen Victoria from 1870 to 1901, featuring her portrait and a heraldic shield-and-wreath reverse.
Canadian
Austrian Thaler (Joseph II)
A silver thaler bearing the portrait of Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II, struck in the late 18th century and, like the more famous Maria Theresa thaler, later restruck for use in Levant and African trade.
European
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
Maria Theresa Thaler
An Austrian silver trade coin dated 1780 that has been restruck continuously for over two centuries, remaining a trusted currency across parts of Africa and the Middle East long after its original issue.
European
Draped Bust Eagle
The formal catalog name for the first U.S. ten-dollar gold coin once it adopted a bold heraldic eagle reverse in 1797, the same coin popularly nicknamed the 'Turban Head' eagle.
United States
Gobrecht Dollar
A transitional silver dollar designed by Christian Gobrecht featuring a seated Liberty obverse and a flying eagle reverse, bridging older and newer designs in U.S. coinage.
United States
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
Victoria Large Cent
Canada's first bronze large cent, struck 1858-1901 under Queen Victoria, larger and heavier than the modern Canadian cent.
Canadian
Austrian Florin (Gulden)
The main silver coin of Austria-Hungary in the second half of the 19th century, used until the krone replaced it in the 1892 monetary reform.
European
San Diego Pacific Exposition Half Dollar
A 1935-1936 U.S. commemorative half dollar sold at the California Pacific International Exposition in San Diego's Balboa Park.
Commemorative
Seated Liberty Dollar
A mid-19th century silver dollar depicting Liberty seated on a rock, the standard large silver dollar of the United States before the Trade dollar and Morgan dollar.
United States