Coin Encyclopedia
Search and identify coins from around the world — with country, denomination, metal, mint, history, and how to tell them apart.
Australian 50 Cent (round 1966 silver)
Australia's original round 50-cent coin from the 1966 decimal changeover, struck in 80% silver and withdrawn the same year once its bullion value exceeded face value.
Africa & Oceania
Japanese 50 Sen Silver (Meiji Phoenix)
An early Meiji-era Japanese silver coin featuring a coiled dragon on the obverse and a phoenix on the reverse, part of Japan's first modern decimal coinage system introduced after the Meiji Restoration.
Asian
Australian Lunar Series Gold
The gold counterpart to Perth Mint's Lunar bullion series, depicting the twelve Chinese zodiac animals across three evolving design generations since 1996.
Bullion
1921 Morgan Dollar
The final year of Morgan dollar production, struck in massive numbers at all three mints after the Pittman Act required replacement of melted silver dollars.
United States
Amphipolis Apollo Tetradrachm
Silver tetradrachm of Amphipolis in Macedon, famous for its masterfully engraved three-quarter facing head of Apollo, widely regarded as a high point of Greek coin art.
Ancient
Sun Yat-sen Junk Dollar
A Republic of China silver dollar depicting Sun Yat-sen and a traditional sailing junk, with the scarcer 1934 variety showing three birds overhead that is highly sought by collectors.
Asian
1921 Walking Liberty Half Dollar
The three 1921 mintmark varieties are the acknowledged key dates of the Walking Liberty half dollar series, each struck in unusually small numbers.
United States
Dutch Guilder (Gulden)
The guilder was the standard currency of the Netherlands for more than three centuries, struck in silver and later copper-nickel before being replaced by the euro in 2002.
European
1896-S Barber Quarter
One of the three classic key dates of the Barber quarter series, valued for its low original mintage and the difficulty of finding problem-free survivors.
United States
1793 Wreath Cent
The second cent design of 1793, replacing the controversial Chain cent with a wreath reverse, and one of three distinct cent types struck that founding year.
United States
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
1984 Los Angeles Olympics Commemorative Dollar
The second year of a two-year US commemorative coin program, this 1984-dated silver dollar helped fund the Los Angeles Olympic Games and featured Olympic-themed artwork struck at three US mints.
Commemorative
Pine Tree Shilling
Colonial Massachusetts silver shilling struck by John Hull and Robert Sanderson, famous for carrying the fixed date 1652 for roughly three decades of actual production.
United States
Western Satrap Silver Drachm
A silver drachm of the Western Satraps, Saka rulers of western India, easily identified by a crude Greek-style portrait obverse and a three-arched hill reverse.
Ancient
1934 Peace Dollar
A Depression-era Peace Dollar issue struck at three mints, with the low-mintage 1934-S standing out as a semi-key date prized by collectors.
United States
Australian Lunar Series Silver
Perth Mint's silver bullion series depicting the twelve animals of the Chinese zodiac in rotating annual designs, running since 1996 across three design series.
Bullion
Byzantine Solidus
The gold standard coin of the Byzantine Empire for over 700 years, the solidus funded an empire, financed trade across three continents, and remained one of history's most stable currencies.
Ancient
Tibetan Silver Tangka
The traditional silver coin denomination of Tibet, issued in many distinct types over roughly three centuries, from early Nepalese-struck coinage to native Tibetan and Sino-Tibetan issues.
Asian
Half Groat
A small hammered silver coin worth half the value of the groat, or two pence, struck across three centuries of English coinage from the reign of Edward III through the Stuart era.
British
Quarter Guinea
A rarely issued small gold coin worth one-quarter of a guinea, struck only in 1718 under George I and again briefly in 1762 under George III.
British
Higley Copper
A privately minted colonial Connecticut copper token, famous for its blunt 'VALUE ME AS YOU PLEASE' inscription after colonists balked at its initial overvalued threepence rating.
United States
Fifty Pence
The UK's distinctive seven-sided 50p coin, introduced in 1969 to replace the ten shilling note ahead of decimalisation.
British
Walking Liberty Half Dollar
Widely admired U.S. half dollar designed by Adolph A. Weinman, depicting Liberty striding toward the sun and a bold eagle on the reverse; its obverse design was later revived for the Silver Eagle.
United States
Coat of Arms Fifty Cents (Elizabeth II)
Canada's modern fifty-cent piece, showing the Canadian coat of arms on the reverse since 1959 under successive obverse portraits of Queen Elizabeth II and, later, King Charles III.
Canadian