Coin Encyclopedia
Search and identify coins from around the world — with country, denomination, metal, mint, history, and how to tell them apart.
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
Groat (Fourpence)
A historic English silver coin worth four pence, first struck under Edward I in 1279 and periodically revived, later surviving mainly as a Maundy Money denomination.
British
Kellogg & Co. Gold Piece
Private gold coinage struck by the San Francisco firm Kellogg & Co. during the California Gold Rush, including the famous octagonal fifty-dollar 'slug' of 1855, filling a shortage of circulating coin.
United States
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
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
Canadian Loonie
Canada's eleven-sided one dollar coin, introduced in 1987 with a common loon on the reverse, giving rise to its popular nickname.
Canadian
1919-D Standing Liberty Quarter
A semi-key Denver-minted Standing Liberty quarter, scarcer than common dates of the series and notably difficult to find with a fully struck head.
United States
Constantine Sol Invictus Follis
A common bronze follis of Constantine the Great honoring Sol Invictus, the radiate sun god, struck empire-wide before his turn toward Christianity.
Ancient
Thebes Boeotian Shield Stater
A silver stater from Boeotia bearing the distinctive figure-eight-shaped Boeotian shield, the common civic emblem struck by Thebes and its allied cities for centuries.
Ancient
Brazilian 6400 Reis Gold (Peça)
A substantial colonial Brazilian gold coin nicknamed the "peça" (piece), widely known abroad as the "Johannes" or "Joe," and once common in trade across the Atlantic world.
Latin American
Netherlands East Indies VOC Duit
Copper coin struck by the Dutch East India Company (VOC) for circulation in its Asian trading territories, a common relic of 18th-century colonial commerce.
Asian
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
Maximinus Thrax Denarius
Silver denarius of Maximinus Thrax, the first Roman emperor risen from the common soldiery rather than the senatorial class, ruling amid the onset of the Crisis of the Third Century.
Ancient
1974 Eisenhower Dollar
A large dollar coin honoring President Dwight D. Eisenhower and the Apollo 11 moon landing, common in circulated grades but collected as part of the popular Ike dollar series.
United States
1987 Loon Dollar (Aureate)
Canada's first modern circulating dollar coin, introduced in 1987 to replace the paper dollar bill and nicknamed "the Loonie" after the common loon depicted on its reverse.
Canadian
Augustus Aureus Gaius and Lucius Caesar
One of the most common ancient gold coins, an Augustus aureus honoring his grandsons and intended heirs Gaius and Lucius Caesar, both of whom died young.
Ancient
1970-S Small Date Lincoln Cent
A scarcer date-size variety of the 1970-S Lincoln cent featuring a smaller, lower-positioned 7 in the date compared to the more common large date variety struck the same year.
Errors & Varieties
Touchstone Sovereign (Fine Sovereign)
A large, high-value English gold coin struck in especially pure 'fine gold,' valued at thirty shillings and distinguished from the more common crown-gold Sovereign of the same era.
British
Japanese Bunkyu Eiho (cash coin)
A late Edo-period Japanese cash coin worth 4 mon, larger than the common Kan'ei Tsūhō, issued in the final years of the Tokugawa Shogunate to help ease chronic small-coin shortages.
Asian
1955 Poor Man's Doubled Die Lincoln Cent
A more common, lower-value doubled die variety on the 1955 Lincoln cent, nicknamed the 'poor man's' version because it offers a similar doubled-image look to the famous 1955 Doubled Die Obverse at a fraction of the price.
Errors & Varieties
Parthian Silver Drachm
Long-running silver coin of the Parthian Empire, showing the king's portrait on the obverse and the dynasty's founder as a seated archer on the reverse.
Ancient
Omani Rial (Baisa Coinage)
Decimal currency of Oman introduced in 1970, dividing the rial into 1,000 baisa and typically featuring the Sultan's portrait and the national khanjar emblem.
Asian
Straits Settlements Dollar
The official silver dollar of Britain's Straits Settlements colony, bearing the reigning monarch's portrait and trilingual denomination on the reverse.
Asian
Lincoln-Illinois Centennial Half Dollar
A 1918 U.S. commemorative half dollar marking Illinois's 100th anniversary of statehood, featuring a portrait of Abraham Lincoln.
Commemorative