Coin Encyclopedia
Search and identify coins from around the world — with country, denomination, metal, mint, history, and how to tell them apart.
Australian Crown
Australia's only crown (five-shilling) coin, a large sterling-silver piece struck in 1937 and 1938 with a George VI portrait and a crown reverse.
AustralianVictorian Crown
Large Victorian silver crown showing Queen Victoria's veiled "Old Head" portrait and Pistrucci's Saint George slaying the dragon, dated 1893.
World CoinsEdward I Groat
Rare early English silver fourpence of Edward I, showing his crowned facing-profile bust and a long-cross reverse with pellets in the quarters.
Medieval CoinsGuangdong 20 Cents
A silver 20-cent coin of Kwangtung (Guangdong) province, struck under the Guangxu Emperor with a coiled dragon on one side and Chinese legends on the other.
CirculationGeorge IV One Sixteenth Spanish Dollar
A small George IV silver coin of the "Anchor Money" series, worth one-sixteenth of a Spanish dollar and marked with an anchor and Roman numeral XVI.
ColonialCentral American Republic 8 Reales
A silver 8 reales of the Central American Republic, showing a rayed sun rising over mountains on one side and a tree on the other, dated 1824.
CirculationBarber Dime
U.S. ten-cent silver coin struck 1892–1916, showing a right-facing Liberty head and a wreath enclosing "ONE DIME" on the reverse.
DimeTexas Centennial Half Dollar
A U.S. silver commemorative half dollar (1934–1938) marking a century of Texas independence, with a spread-winged eagle over a large star on the obverse.
Classic CommemorativeSan 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 CommemorativeNew Zealand Sixpence
New Zealand's small silver sixpence, famed for its native-bird reverse. This 1934 example shows King George V and the bird design with NEW ZEALAND SIXPENCE.
New ZealandNew Rochelle Half Dollar
A 1938 U.S. silver half dollar marking the 250th anniversary of New Rochelle, New York, with a Huguenot founder leading a fatted calf and a fleur-de-lis reverse.
Classic CommemorativeDirham of Sistan
A silver Umayyad dirham struck at the Sijistan (Sistan) mint in AH 82 (701–702 CE), its faces filled with Kufic Arabic inscriptions ringed by concentric borders.
Islamic (Medieval)Xuantong Yuanbao 20 Cents
A small late-Qing silver 20-cent coin with a Western-style dragon, the English legend FIRST YEAR OF HSUAN TUNG, and Chinese characters reading Xuantong Yuanbao.
CirculationFollis of Galerius
A large silvered bronze follis of the emperor Galerius (Augustus AD 305-311), struck across the Tetrarchic mints with a laureate portrait and a standing deity reverse.
AncientAthenian Owl Tetradrachm
Broad silver 'New Style' tetradrachm of Athens (c. 165-42 BC): helmeted Athena on the front, owl on an amphora within an olive wreath on the back.
Ancient CoinsDenarius of Tiberius (Tribute Penny)
Silver denarius of Emperor Tiberius (14–37 AD), obverse his laureate head, reverse a seated female figure — the famous "Tribute Penny" of the Gospels.
AncientBrutus & Plaetorius Denarius
The silver EID MAR denarius: M. Junius Brutus on the obverse, a Phrygian cap between two daggers and EID MAR on the reverse, struck 42 BC.
AncientJoachimsthaler (Thaler)
A large early-16th-century Bohemian silver thaler from Joachimsthal, dated 1525; the coin whose name gave rise to the words 'thaler' and 'dollar'.
Early ModernHanover 2/3 Thaler
A large German States silver 2/3 Thaler of Brunswick-Luneburg (Hanover) dated 1694, with an ornate coat of arms and the leaping Saxon horse reverse.
German StatesFrankfurt am Main Taler
A 1772 silver Taler of the Free Imperial City of Frankfurt am Main, famed for its detailed city-view reverse with walls, towers and radiant sun.
German StatesSpanish Colonial 1 Real (Bourbon)
A small silver coin of Spain's American colonies from the early Bourbon era, showing a cross with ornaments on one side and the crowned royal arms on the other.
ColonialHoley Dollar
Australia's first struck coin: a Spanish silver dollar with its centre punched out, counterstamped NEW SOUTH WALES 1813 and revalued at five shillings.
AustralianVictoria Maundy Fourpence
A tiny sterling-silver ceremonial coin from a royal Maundy set. This 1889 example shows Victoria's crowned Jubilee Head and a crowned '4' in a wreath.
British IslesBritish Half Crown
British silver half crown of King George V, worth two shillings and sixpence, with the king's bare left-facing head and a crowned shield of arms.
British Isles