Coin Encyclopedia
Search and identify coins from around the world — with country, denomination, metal, mint, history, and how to tell them apart.
Elgin Illinois Centennial Half Dollar
A 1936 U.S. silver half dollar marking the centennial of Elgin, Illinois, with a bearded pioneer head and a pioneer-family memorial group on the reverse.
Classic Commemorative
Walking Liberty Half Dollar
A classic U.S. silver half dollar struck 1916–1947, showing Liberty striding toward the sunrise on the obverse and a perched eagle on the reverse.
Half Dollar
Bridgeport Centennial Half Dollar
A 1936 U.S. silver commemorative half dollar for Bridgeport, Connecticut's centennial, with a P.T. Barnum portrait and a bold Art Deco eagle.
Classic Commemorative
Seated Liberty Half Dollar
U.S. 90% silver fifty-cent piece struck 1839–1891, with a seated figure of Liberty by Christian Gobrecht and a heraldic eagle reverse.
Half Dollar
Seated Liberty Half Dime with Arrows
A tiny silver five-cent piece: Liberty seated with a shield, small arrows flanking the date to mark a reduced weight, over a wreath reverse.
Half Dime
Massachusetts Shilling (1 Shilling 6 Pence)
A colonial-era Massachusetts silver piece valued at one shilling and sixpence, joining a pine-tree obverse with a rising-sun reverse and the date 1779.
Colonial
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.
Australian
Victorian Crown
Large Victorian silver crown showing Queen Victoria's veiled "Old Head" portrait and Pistrucci's Saint George slaying the dragon, dated 1893.
World Coins
Edward 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 Coins
Guangdong 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.
Circulation
George 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.
Colonial
Central 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.
Circulation
New 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 Zealand
Roanoke Island Half Dollar
A 1937 U.S. silver half dollar marking 350 years since the Roanoke Island colony and the birth of Virginia Dare, with Sir Walter Raleigh and a sailing ship.
Classic Commemorative
Arkansas Centennial Half Dollar (Robinson)
A 1936 U.S. silver commemorative half dollar pairing a portrait of Senator Joseph T. Robinson with the Arkansas Centennial eagle; a scarce one-year Philadelphia issue.
Classic Commemorative
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.
Circulation
Brutus & 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.
Ancient
Prussian Taler
A large silver taler of the Kingdom of Prussia showing the crowned profile of Frederick II and a heraldic coat of arms, struck through the mid-to-late 1700s.
German States
Hanover 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 States
Frankfurt 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 States
Spanish 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.
Colonial
Holey 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.
Australian
Victoria 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 Isles
British 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