Coin Encyclopedia
Search and identify coins from around the world — with country, denomination, metal, mint, history, and how to tell them apart.
Chinese Dragon Dollar
A coiled dragon dominates the reverse of these late Qing Dynasty silver dollars, struck by numerous Chinese provincial mints as China modernized its coinage using Western minting technology.
Asian
British Crown
Valued at five shillings, the British crown is a large silver (and later cupro-nickel) coin with a production history stretching from Tudor England to modern commemorative issues.
British
Spanish 4 Reales
A mid-value denomination of Spain's traditional real-based coinage, struck for centuries in both Spain and its American colonies.
European
Dutch Lion Daalder (Leeuwendaalder)
A silver trade coin of the Dutch Republic showing an armored knight and a rampant lion, exported in vast quantities to the Levant, Russia, and the American colonies.
European
Spanish-Philippine 8 Reales Counterstamped Dollar
Spanish colonial 8 reales silver dollar officially countermarked for circulation in the Philippines, a hybrid of Spanish American and Philippine monetary history.
Asian
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
Mexican 8 Reales Cap and Rays
The classic silver dollar of independent Mexico, showing a radiant Phrygian liberty cap over mountains, widely trusted and traded across the Americas and Asia for most of the 19th century.
Latin American
Saxon Speciestaler
Full-weight silver taler issued by the Electors and later Kings of Saxony, distinguished from lesser-value "current" talers used for everyday commerce.
European
German Saxony Ducat
A high-purity gold trade coin struck for centuries by the rulers of Saxony, one of the most important German states before national unification.
European
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
Fifty Pence
The UK's distinctive seven-sided 50p coin, introduced in 1969 to replace the ten shilling note ahead of decimalisation.
British
Half Farthing
A tiny copper coin worth one-eighth of a penny, struck mainly for use in colonial Ceylon during the reigns of George IV, William IV, and Victoria.
British
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
Two Pound Coin
The UK's bimetallic £2 coin, standardized for circulation in the late 1990s, widely used for a rotating series of commemorative reverse designs.
British
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
Shilling
One of Britain's oldest circulating silver denominations, nicknamed the 'bob,' equal to twelve pence and struck for over four centuries before decimalisation.
British
Double Sovereign
A British gold coin worth two pounds, twice the value of the standard sovereign, struck intermittently since the nineteenth century for commemorative and bullion purposes.
British
Half Crown
A long-lived British coin worth one-eighth of a pound, struck from the Tudor era until decimalisation in 1970, valued today mainly for its portraits and design variety.
British
Maundy Twopence
A small silver twopence struck each year as part of the Royal Maundy set, historically descended from the medieval silver half groat and still distributed in the annual royal alms ceremony.
British
Quarter Farthing
The smallest fractional denomination in British coinage, worth one-sixteenth of a penny, struck primarily for use in colonial Ceylon during Victoria's reign.
British
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
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
Maundy Money Set
A set of tiny sterling silver coins in four denominations, specially struck each year for the monarch to distribute personally to elderly recipients in the Royal Maundy ceremony on Maundy Thursday.
British
Two Pound Gold (Double Sovereign)
A gold coin worth two pounds sterling and roughly twice the weight of a sovereign, struck mainly for jubilees, coronations, and modern proof or bullion sets rather than daily circulation.
British