Coin Encyclopedia
Search and identify coins from around the world — with country, denomination, metal, mint, history, and how to tell them apart.
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
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
Katane (Catania) Apollo Tetradrachm
Silver tetradrachm of Katane in Sicily, admired for its finely engraved Apollo portrait and dynamic quadriga scene, sometimes signed by celebrated die engravers.
Ancient
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
Lydian Croeseid (Croesus Stater)
One of history's earliest bimetallic coinages, struck under the legendary King Croesus of Lydia, featuring the confronting foreparts of a lion and a bull.
Ancient
Kroisos (Croeseid) Gold Stater of Lydia
A pure gold stater struck under King Croesus of Lydia, part of history's first coinage issued in separate fixed-purity gold and silver denominations.
Ancient
Augustus Denarius
The main silver coin of Rome's first emperor, Augustus, whose long reign established the imperial monetary system that would last for centuries.
Ancient
St George Sovereign (Pistrucci)
The modern gold sovereign's iconic reverse showing St George slaying the dragon, engraved by Benedetto Pistrucci in 1817 and still used on British sovereigns to this day.
British
Constantine URBS ROMA Commemorative
A small bronze commemorative honoring the city of Rome with a helmeted Roma obverse and the iconic she-wolf suckling Romulus and Remus on the reverse.
Ancient
2008 Beijing Olympics Commemorative Coins
China issued a large multi-year coin program ahead of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, spanning circulating 1 Yuan pieces and extensive gold and silver proof series depicting Olympic sports and Beijing landmarks.
Commemorative
Spanish 8 Reales Portrait Dollar
The globally trusted "Spanish dollar" bearing a king's portrait, minted across Spain's vast colonial empire and so widely circulated it directly inspired the U.S. dollar sign and denomination.
European
Spanish Gold Escudo (Doubloon)
The gold denomination of the Spanish Empire, whose larger multiples became famous as "doubloons," struck both in Spain and across its American colonial mints for centuries.
European
Celtic Gold Stater
Iron Age gold coins struck by Celtic tribes across Gaul and Britain, evolving from close imitations of Macedonian staters into strikingly abstract, stylized designs.
Ancient
Hamburg Thaler
A silver thaler struck by the free city-state of Hamburg, bearing the city's iconic castle-and-towers coat of arms, reflecting Hamburg's status as a leading Hanseatic trading center.
European
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
Seljuk Copper Fals
Base-metal copper coin of everyday commerce in the Seljuk Turkish world, notable for unusually rich figural imagery such as lions, suns, and double-headed eagles.
Asian
German Hamburg Ducat
A small, exceptionally high-purity gold trade coin struck for centuries by the free city of Hamburg, prized for its consistent fineness and long production history.
European
Twenty Pence
A seven-sided UK coin introduced in 1982 to fill a gap between the ten pence and fifty pence denominations.
British
Aureus of Augustus
The gold coin of Rome's first emperor, Augustus, who standardized the aureus at roughly 1/40 of a Roman pound and set the gold standard for the empire.
Ancient
Dutch Ducat
A small, nearly pure gold coin showing an armored knight, minted for centuries by the Dutch provinces and later the Kingdom of the Netherlands as a trusted international trade coin.
European
1909-S Indian Head Cent
The final and lowest-mintage Indian Head cent, struck at the San Francisco Mint in the series' last year before the Lincoln cent debuted.
United States
Theodosius I Solidus
A gold solidus of Theodosius I, the last emperor to rule a united Roman Empire and the ruler who made Nicene Christianity the state religion.
Ancient
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
Japanese Wado Kaichin
Japan's earliest officially minted coin, cast in 708 AD in imitation of Tang Chinese cash, with a round shape and square center hole.
Asian