Coin Encyclopedia
Search and identify coins from around the world — with country, denomination, metal, mint, history, and how to tell them apart.
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 Fengtien Province Dragon Dollar
Silver dragon dollar struck by the provincial mint of Fengtien in Manchuria during the late Qing dynasty, notable for several rare dated varieties.
Asian
Guinea
Historic British gold coin named for the West African region that supplied much of its gold, valued at 21 shillings for most of its history and predecessor to the modern sovereign.
British
Massachusetts Oak Tree Shilling
The second design in Massachusetts Bay's colonial tree-coin series, showing an oak tree, more available than the earlier Willow Tree type but still a scarce early American colonial rarity.
United States
Netherlands Lion Daalder (Leeuwendaalder)
A large silver trade coin of the Dutch provinces showing a knight and a rampant lion, widely circulated in colonial North America and the Ottoman world as the prototype 'lion dollar.'
European
1967 Centennial Gold $20 Coin
A gold $20 coin struck to mark the 100th anniversary of Canadian Confederation in 1967, sold mainly to collectors as part of the country's centennial commemorative coinage.
Commemorative
1958 British Columbia Totem Pole Dollar
A commemorative Canadian silver dollar marking the centennial of the founding of the Colony of British Columbia in 1858, its reverse featuring a totem pole design.
Canadian
Farthing
The smallest-value British bronze coin, worth a quarter of a penny, fondly remembered for its charming wren reverse design used from 1937 until its withdrawal.
British
Halfpenny
A small British bronze coin worth half a penny, best known in its twentieth-century form featuring Sir Francis Drake's ship the Golden Hind on the reverse.
British
Sixpence
A small British silver coin worth half a shilling, affectionately nicknamed the 'tanner,' beloved for its traditional role tucked into Christmas puddings.
British
Gupta Empire Gold Dinar
Richly detailed gold coins of India's classical Gupta Empire, depicting kings as archers, horsemen, or lyrists, and often paired with a goddess on the reverse.
Ancient
Chinese Ban Liang Cash
China's first standardized round coin with a square center hole, introduced under Qin Shi Huang to unify currency across the newly consolidated Chinese empire.
Ancient
Republican Victoriatus
A lighter-weight Roman Republican silver coin depicting Jupiter and a Victory crowning a trophy, used largely for trade with the Greek-influenced south.
Ancient
Chinese Song Dynasty Cash Coin
A round bronze coin with a square center hole issued during China's Song Dynasty, among the most massively produced and commonly collected pre-modern Chinese coin types.
Asian
1976 Bicentennial Kennedy Half Dollar
A special dual-dated 1776-1976 Kennedy half dollar with a redesigned Independence Hall reverse, struck to commemorate the United States Bicentennial.
United States
1937 Washington Quarter Doubled Die Obverse
A well-known doubled die variety of the early Washington quarter series, showing visible doubling in the obverse lettering and date from a misaligned die hubbing.
Errors & Varieties
1943 Washington Quarter Doubled Die Obverse
A wartime-era doubled die variety of the Washington quarter showing clear doubling on obverse design elements, popular among collectors of Mint error and variety coins.
Errors & Varieties
1878 Shield Nickel (Proof Only)
Another proof-only rarity in the Shield Nickel series, struck exclusively for collectors with no business-strike coinage issued for circulation that year.
United States
1867 Shield Nickel No Rays
The revised Shield Nickel design with the rays removed from between the reverse stars, introduced to solve die-breakage problems experienced with the original 1866 design.
United States
1927-S Standing Liberty Quarter
A key date of the Standing Liberty quarter series, struck in relatively low numbers at San Francisco and notoriously difficult to find with a fully struck head.
United States
1917 Type 2 Standing Liberty Quarter
The revised Standing Liberty quarter design introduced later in 1917, adding chain mail over Liberty's chest and extra stars on the reverse, used through the end of the series in 1930.
United States
1916-D Mercury Dime
The key date of the Mercury Dime series, the 1916-D was struck at Denver in a very low quantity, making genuine examples scarce and highly sought after by collectors.
United States
1937-D Three-Legged Buffalo Nickel
One of the most famous U.S. mint errors, this Denver-struck Buffalo Nickel variety shows the bison missing its front leg after a Mint worker over-polished a damaged die.
Errors & Varieties
1982 Copper/Zinc Transition Lincoln Cent
The single year the Lincoln cent's composition changed mid-year from 95% copper bronze to copper-plated zinc, producing seven recognized date, mint, and metal varieties.
Errors & Varieties