Coin Encyclopedia
Search and identify coins from around the world — with country, denomination, metal, mint, history, and how to tell them apart.
Lincoln Shield Cent
The current Lincoln cent reverse, introduced in 2010, depicts a Union shield replacing the earlier Lincoln Memorial design as the fourth reverse in the cent's history.
United States
1943 Copper Lincoln Cent
An extremely rare mint error where a handful of 1943 cents were struck on leftover bronze planchets instead of the wartime steel used that year, making it one of the most famous US coin errors.
Errors & Varieties
Draped Bust Half Cent
An early U.S. copper coin depicting a draped bust of Liberty, struck for everyday small change in the first decade of the 19th century.
United States
1936 Doubled Die Lincoln Cent
A doubled die obverse variety of the 1936 wheat cent showing visible doubling in the date and lettering, recognized in two distinct doubling strengths by collectors.
Errors & Varieties
Lincoln Bicentennial Cent (2009)
A one-year series of four different reverse designs issued in 2009 to mark the 200th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's birth and the centennial of the Lincoln cent.
Commemorative
1974 Aluminum Cent
An extremely rare experimental pattern struck in aluminum as a potential replacement for the copper cent amid rising metal costs, almost none of which were legally released to the public.
Errors & Varieties
1909-S VDB Lincoln Cent
The most famous key date in the Lincoln cent series, struck only briefly at the San Francisco Mint with designer Victor D. Brenner's initials on the reverse.
United States
1955 Doubled Die Lincoln Cent
A famous doubled die error showing strong, plainly visible doubling on the date and lettering of the obverse, among the most recognizable die varieties in U.S. coinage.
Errors & Varieties
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
1936 Doubled Die Obverse Lincoln Cent
A collectible doubled die variety on the 1936 Lincoln wheat cent, known in a stronger, scarcer form and a weaker, more common form, both showing doubling in the obverse lettering.
Errors & Varieties
Leontini Lion Tetradrachm
Silver tetradrachm of the Sicilian city of Leontini, showing the laureate head of Apollo and a lion's head or lion with barley grains, alluding to the city's wheat production.
Ancient
1917 Doubled Die Obverse Lincoln Cent
One of the earliest known doubled die varieties in the Lincoln cent series, showing visible doubling in the date and lettering on an early 20th-century wheat cent.
Errors & Varieties
Third Farthing
An extremely small denomination worth one-twelfth of a penny, struck mainly to serve the currency needs of the British colony of Malta across the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
British
Anglo-Saxon Silver Sceat
Small, thick early Anglo-Saxon silver coin with enigmatic pagan and Christian imagery, the direct forerunner of the later English penny.
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
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