Coin Encyclopedia
Search and identify coins from around the world — with country, denomination, metal, mint, history, and how to tell them apart.
Lincoln Wheat Cent
U.S. one-cent coin struck 1909–1958 with Lincoln's profile and a pair of wheat ears framing ONE CENT; the 1909-S here is a scarce first-year San Francisco issue.
Small Cent
100 Soles de Oro
Peru's largest gold Sol de Oro—a heavy .900 gold coin of the Lima Mint. This reverse-only 1965 example shows a fortress emblem and CASA DE MONEDA DE LIMA.
Circulation
Una and the Lion Five Pounds
William Wyon's 1839 gold Five Pounds pairs a young Queen Victoria with Una guiding a lion — widely praised as one of the most beautiful British coins ever struck.
British Isles
East India Company Quarter Anna
Large copper 1/4 anna of the East India Company dated 1835, with a heraldic lion-and-shield obverse and a laurel-wreath reverse.
British India
Nummus of Magnentius
A late Roman bronze struck for the usurper Magnentius (AD 350-353), noted for its bold bare-headed portrait and large Chi-Rho reverses.
Ancient
Guinea Counter (Imitation)
A brass or bronze gaming counter made to imitate a George III guinea, showing a faint male profile and a shield reverse; a token, not money.
Token
Groat of Henry VIII
A hand-struck Tudor silver groat (fourpence) of Henry VIII, showing the quartered royal arms within a circle and a long cross reverse.
Hammered
Edward I Penny
Hammered silver penny of Edward I, showing a crowned facing bust on the obverse and a long voided cross with pellets in the quadrants on the reverse.
Medieval Coins
Shilling of George III
A milled silver shilling of George III from the Great Recoinage, with his laureate bust facing right and a crowned quartered royal shield within the Garter.
Milled
Irish Gun Money Shilling
A base-metal Irish emergency shilling struck for James II in 1689-1690, with his laureate bust and a crowned reverse dated by month, here October 1689.
Emergency Coinage
Newfoundland Five Cents
Tiny sterling-silver 5-cent piece of the Dominion of Newfoundland; the 1929 issue bears King George V and a crowned denomination reverse.
Canadian & Provincial
Maundy Money Twopence
A tiny sterling-silver British twopence with a crowned Roman numeral II reverse; this example bears the profile of King James II, dated 1687.
Maundy
San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge Half Dollar
A 1936 U.S. silver commemorative half dollar celebrating the opening of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, with a bridge span and a California grizzly bear.
Classic Commemorative
American Plantations Token
A 1688 tin token struck under James II for England's American colonies, valued at 1/24 of a Spanish real — the first regal-authorized coinage for British America.
Colonial
George Washington 250th Anniversary Half Dollar
A 1982 U.S. silver half dollar honoring the 250th anniversary of George Washington's birth; it revived both the commemorative program and 90% silver coinage.
Modern Commemorative
Antoninianus of Caracalla
The antoninianus introduced by Caracalla around AD 215, a radiate-crowned double denarius in debased silver that reshaped Roman coinage.
Ancient
Alexander the Great Gold Quarter Stater
A small gold fraction of the Alexander the Great coinage, showing the head of Heracles and an eagle perched on a thunderbolt, the attributes of Zeus.
Ancient
Penny of Cynethryth
Anglo-Saxon silver penny of Cynethryth, queen of Mercia and wife of Offa, and the only Anglo-Saxon queen named on her own coinage.
Medieval Coins
Irish Groat of Henry VIII
A hand-hammered silver fourpence struck for Ireland under Henry VIII, famed for introducing the crowned harp to Irish coinage.
Hammered
20 Soles de Oro
A Peruvian gold 20 soles de oro showing a seated Liberty with crown, torch and radiant sun, part of Peru's mid-20th-century gold coinage.
Circulation
Fatimid Dinar of Imam Nizar
An 11th-century Fatimid gold dinar with concentric circular Kufic inscriptions naming the ruler and Shi'a invocations, a hallmark of Fatimid coinage.
Islamic (Medieval)
Charles II Halfpenny
A milled copper halfpenny of Charles II showing his laureate bust and a seated Britannia, part of the first regal copper coinage of England, dated 1675.
Milled
Sierra Leone 20 Cents
A 1964 Sierra Leone 20 cents from the country's first decimal coinage, showing a portrait profile on one side and the national coat of arms with its lion on the other.
World
Three Graces Pattern Crown
A celebrated 1817 silver pattern crown of George III, engraved by William Wyon and never issued for circulation — a prized masterpiece of British coinage.
Pattern