Coin Encyclopedia
Search and identify coins from around the world — with country, denomination, metal, mint, history, and how to tell them apart.
Augustus Denarius
The main silver coin of Rome's first emperor, Augustus, whose long reign established the imperial monetary system that would last for centuries.
Ancient
Anglo-Saxon Silver Penny
The standard silver coin of Anglo-Saxon England from the 8th century to the Norman Conquest, naming the issuing king and the moneyer who struck it.
British
Caligula Sestertius
A large brass sestertius of the notorious emperor Caligula, a scarce and historically fascinating coin due to his short, controversial reign and later condemnation.
Ancient
Corinthian Pegasus Stater
A widely circulated ancient Greek silver coin from Corinth, featuring the winged horse Pegasus on the obverse and a helmeted head of Athena on the reverse.
Ancient
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
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
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
Chinese Wu Zhu Cash
One of history's longest-running coin types, cast continuously for over seven centuries across multiple Chinese dynasties after its introduction under Emperor Wu of Han.
Ancient
Byzantine Gold Tremissis
A small gold fractional coin worth one-third of a solidus, widely struck across the early Byzantine world and imitated by Germanic successor kingdoms in the former Western Roman Empire.
Ancient
Shield Nickel
The first copper-nickel five-cent coin, the Shield Nickel features a national shield on the obverse and was issued from 1866 to 1883, including rare rays and proof-only dates.
United States
Threepence
A small British coin worth three pence, issued first as a tiny silver piece and later as the distinctive 12-sided brass 'threepenny bit' beloved for its unusual shape.
British
Eukratides I Gold Stater (Baktria)
A gold stater of Eukratides I, the powerful Greco-Bactrian king best known for issuing the largest gold coin surviving from antiquity, depicting the divine twins Dioskouroi on horseback.
Ancient
Joachimsthaler
Struck beginning in 1520 in the Bohemian silver-mining town of Joachimsthal, this large silver coin gave its name, shortened to 'thaler' and later 'dollar,' to countless currencies around the world.
European
Australian Florin (pre-decimal)
Pre-decimal Australian silver florin worth two shillings, minted from 1910 until decimalization replaced it with the 20-cent coin in 1966.
Africa & Oceania
Venezuela Bolivar Silver (Bolívar Fuerte)
A large silver five-bolívares coin nicknamed the "fuerte" (strong) for its full weight and fineness, featuring a portrait of independence hero Simón Bolívar.
Latin American
Bolivian Boliviano Silver
Bolivia's national currency unit, the boliviano, was introduced in the 1860s as a substantial silver coin and remains the country's monetary unit in modern, non-silver form.
Latin American
Sumatra EIC Keping (British Bencoolen)
A small tin or copper coin struck by the British East India Company for its Bencoolen settlement on Sumatra, denominated in the local unit called the keping.
Asian
Bactrian Silver Tetradrachm
Large silver coin of the Greco-Bactrian kings of Central Asia, celebrated for producing some of the finest realistic royal portraiture in all of ancient coinage.
Ancient
British India Silver Rupee (Victoria Empress)
Silver rupee of British India struck under Queen Victoria as Empress of India, the workhorse coin of the Raj's monetary system from 1877 to 1901.
Asian
Aureus of Nero
The gold coin of Emperor Nero, whose AD 64 monetary reform reduced the aureus's weight standard alongside similar changes to the silver denarius.
Ancient
Carthage Zeugitania Electrum Stater
A gold-silver electrum coin struck by Carthage, chiefly to fund its wars in Sicily, showing a wreathed female head and a horse or horse's head.
Ancient
Segesta Hound Tetradrachm
Silver coin of Segesta in western Sicily, an Elymian city whose coinage features a hunting hound, linked to local legend of the river god Krimisos.
Ancient
German States Thaler
A large silver coin struck by the many independent states of the German-speaking world for over three centuries, and the direct linguistic ancestor of the word 'dollar.'
European
Angel
An English gold coin depicting the Archangel Michael slaying a dragon, introduced in 1465 and famously used as a ceremonial 'touch piece' in royal healing rituals.
British