Coin Encyclopedia
Search and identify coins from around the world — with country, denomination, metal, mint, history, and how to tell them apart.
Flowing Hair Dollar
The first silver dollar struck by the United States Mint, issued in 1794-1795 with a flowing-haired Liberty and small eagle reverse; the 1794 date is among the rarest and most valuable U.S. coins.
United States
Half Guinea
Smaller companion gold coin to the guinea, worth half its value, struck across the same reigns from Charles II through George III for mid-value transactions.
British
Italian 5 Lire
A large silver crown of the newly unified Kingdom of Italy, bearing the portrait of the reigning king and marking Italy's emergence as a single national currency after centuries of regional coinages.
European
Virginia Halfpenny
An official royal copper coinage struck in London specifically for the Colony of Virginia, showing King George III, whose distribution was disrupted by the approaching American Revolution.
United States
South African Republic Burgers Pond
The first coin struck for an independent South African state, issued in 1874 under President Thomas Burgers of the Transvaal, famous for its 'coarse beard' and 'fine beard' portrait varieties.
Africa & Oceania
Voyageur Silver Dollar
Canada's iconic silver dollar, first struck in 1935 to mark George V's Silver Jubilee, showing a voyageur and Indigenous guide paddling a canoe.
Canadian
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
British India Gold Mohur (East India Company)
High-value gold coin issued by the East India Company and later the British Crown in India, used for major transactions and prized today for its gold content and classic portraiture.
Asian
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
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
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
German Prussia 20 Mark Gold
The standard gold coin of Prussia within the newly unified German Empire, featuring successive Prussian kings and forming a key part of the empire's gold mark system.
European
Belgian 5 Francs
A large silver crown of the newly independent Kingdom of Belgium, bearing the portrait of Leopold I or Leopold II and the national coat of arms, a flagship coin of the young nation's currency.
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
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