Coin Encyclopedia
Search and identify coins from around the world — with country, denomination, metal, mint, history, and how to tell them apart.
1894-S Barber Dime
One of the most famous rarities in American numismatics, struck in an extremely limited quantity at the San Francisco Mint with only a small number known today.
United States
1921 Mercury Dime
A key date of the Mercury dime series, struck in unusually low numbers amid a post-World War I economic slowdown that reduced coinage demand nationwide.
United States
1872-CC Seated Liberty Dime
A scarce early Carson City dime struck in limited numbers during the mint's formative years, sought after by Seated Liberty and CC-mint specialists alike.
United States
1913-S Barber Quarter
A famous low-mintage key date near the end of the Barber quarter series, prized by collectors despite its worn survivors due to its very small original production.
United States
Indian Head Cent
A long-running 19th-century one-cent coin depicting Liberty in a Native American-style feathered headdress, popular with collectors for its accessible half-century run.
United States
1787 Brasher Doubloon
An extraordinarily rare private gold coin struck by New York goldsmith Ephraim Brasher in 1787, now one of the most valuable and famous coins in American numismatics.
United States
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
Kyrene Silphium Tetradrachm
A silver tetradrachm from the North African Greek city of Kyrene featuring the now-extinct silphium plant, the source of the city's legendary wealth as a prized ancient medicinal herb.
Ancient
Portuguese 1000 Reis
A large silver crown of the Kingdom of Portugal, bearing the reigning monarch's portrait and national arms, serving as the country's principal high-value silver coin before the 1910 republic.
European
1900-O/CC Morgan Dollar
A well-known Morgan dollar overmintmark variety showing an O mintmark punched over a CC, created when a leftover Carson City die was repurposed and repunched for use at New Orleans.
Errors & Varieties
1888/7 Indian Head Cent Overdate
A scarce overdate variety of the Indian Head cent in which traces of an underlying 7 are visible beneath the final 8 in the 1888 date, from a working die repunched with a new year.
Errors & Varieties
1983 Doubled Die Reverse Lincoln Cent
A notable doubled die variety showing bold doubling on the reverse lettering of the Lincoln Memorial cent, particularly visible on ONE CENT, from the first full year of the copper-plated zinc cent.
Errors & Varieties
Italian 100 Lire Gold
The largest gold denomination of the Kingdom of Italy's Latin Monetary Union coinage, struck under Vittorio Emanuele II and Umberto I in relatively limited numbers.
European
Type 3 Indian Princess Gold Dollar
The final and longest-running design of the U.S. gold dollar, featuring a larger, better-struck Native American princess portrait than its short-lived Type 2 predecessor.
United States
1913 Barber Quarter
A lower-mintage date in the Barber Quarter series designed by Charles E. Barber, notable among collectors for the relatively small number struck at the Philadelphia Mint that year.
United States
1965 Silver Washington Quarter (Transitional Error)
An extremely rare transitional error in which a 1965-dated quarter, meant to be struck in new copper-nickel clad metal, was accidentally struck on a leftover 90% silver planchet.
Errors & Varieties
Kai Yuan Tong Bao Cash
A landmark Tang dynasty cash coin whose four-character reign-title inscription became the standard template for Chinese, and much of East Asian, coinage for the next 1,300 years.
Ancient
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
Florin (Two Shillings)
A British silver coin worth two shillings, notable for the controversial 1849 'Godless Florin' that omitted the customary religious motto, and for foreshadowing decimal coinage.
British
Byzantine Gold Semissis
A scarce half-value gold fraction of the Byzantine solidus, struck in smaller numbers than the tremissis and often associated with ceremonial or donative purposes.
Ancient
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
Turban Head Eagle
The first U.S. $10 gold coin, struck 1795-1804 and nicknamed 'Turban Head' for Liberty's cap-like headdress; the earliest examples pair her portrait with a small, spread-winged eagle.
United States
1876-CC Twenty-Cent Piece
One of the great rarities of United States coinage: a Carson City twenty-cent piece of which nearly the entire mintage was melted, leaving only a small number of survivors known.
United States
Syracuse Decadrachm
A large, exquisitely engraved silver coin from the Greek city of Syracuse, celebrated as one of the finest achievements of ancient Greek numismatic art, featuring the nymph Arethusa and a victorious chariot.
Ancient