Coin Encyclopedia
Search and identify coins from around the world — with country, denomination, metal, mint, history, and how to tell them apart.
Crown
Large British coin traditionally worth five shillings, historically struck in silver and famed for elaborate designs, now issued mainly as a cupro-nickel commemorative.
British
Broad
A gold twenty-shilling coin nicknamed the 'Broad' for its wide, thin flan, struck under the Commonwealth and Oliver Cromwell and continued briefly into the early reign of Charles II.
British
Maundy Twopence
A small silver twopence struck each year as part of the Royal Maundy set, historically descended from the medieval silver half groat and still distributed in the annual royal alms ceremony.
British
Unite
A gold twenty-shilling coin introduced by James I in 1604 to celebrate the union of the English and Scottish crowns, its name literally symbolizing the joining of the two kingdoms.
British
2 Euro Coin
The highest-denomination circulating euro coin, with a silver-colored center inside a gold-colored ring, widely used by member states to issue popular commemorative designs collected across Europe.
European
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
Cartwheel Twopence (1797)
An enormous two-ounce copper twopence struck in 1797, the largest coin ever produced for circulation in Britain, made famous for its heavy raised cartwheel-style rim.
British
Gold Half Sovereign
Smaller companion to the gold sovereign, struck since 1817 at half the weight and value, sharing the same monarch portraits and often the same St George reverse design.
British
Ryal
A large Scottish silver coin issued under Mary, Queen of Scots and Henry Stewart, Lord Darnley, nicknamed the 'sword dollar' for the crowned sword on its reverse.
British
Double Sovereign
A British gold coin worth two pounds, twice the value of the standard sovereign, struck intermittently since the nineteenth century for commemorative and bullion purposes.
British
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
Euro €2 Commemorative Coins
Since 2004, Eurozone countries have issued special-design €2 coins commemorating anniversaries and events while keeping the coin's normal size, weight, and legal-tender status.
Commemorative
Testoon
The earliest English coin to carry a realistic royal portrait, introduced under Henry VII around 1487 as the forerunner of the shilling, later continued and debased under Henry VIII.
British
Canadian Toonie
Canada's bimetallic two dollar coin, introduced in 1996 with a polar bear reverse, whose nickname blends "two" with "loonie."
Canadian
Mexican 8 Reales Pillar Dollar
Minted in colonial Mexico City from 1732 to the early 1770s, the pillar dollar's crowned globes and Pillars of Hercules design made it one of the most widely trusted silver trade coins in the world.
Latin American
Spanish 2 Reales Pillar
The Pillar 2 Reales was a fractional Spanish colonial silver coin featuring the famous Pillars of Hercules design, struck at mints across Spanish America and widely used in international trade.
Latin American
Wood's Hibernia Halfpenny
A British copper coinage patented by William Wood for Ireland, controversially rejected there but widely circulated instead in colonial America, where large surplus shipments ended up in everyday trade.
United States
British Guinea
England's premier gold coin for over 150 years, named for the West African region that supplied much of its gold and eventually valued at 21 shillings.
British
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
Fifty Pence
The UK's distinctive seven-sided 50p coin, introduced in 1969 to replace the ten shilling note ahead of decimalisation.
British
Swedish Riksdaler
Sweden's traditional silver dollar denomination, used for roughly two centuries before being replaced by the krona in the 1870s currency reform.
European
Korean Sangpyeong Tongbo Cash
The standard cash coin of Joseon-dynasty Korea, cast for over two centuries with a huge range of mint and workshop marks on the reverse.
Asian
1932-S Washington Quarter
One of the two key dates of the Washington quarter series, struck at San Francisco in the design's debut year with a very limited mintage.
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