Coin Encyclopedia
Search and identify coins from around the world — with country, denomination, metal, mint, history, and how to tell them apart.
German East Africa 1 Rupie
A silver colonial rupee of German East Africa bearing the imperial eagle shield and the legend DEUTSCH OSTAFRIKA, struck for the German protectorate.
World
Tibetan Tangka
A silver tangka, the standard coin of old Tibet, its faces filled with Tibetan script and Buddhist ornamental motifs, struck from the late 18th into the 19th century.
Himalayan
Mercury Dime Centennial Gold
A 2016-W gold collector coin marking the centennial of the 1916 Mercury dime, struck in 1/10 oz of 24-karat gold at West Point.
Dime
1 Skilling
A copper 1 skilling of Denmark dated 1771, with a royal crown over ornament on one side and an inscribed value design on the other.
Early Modern
Chilean Peso (1875 Type)
A silver one-peso coin of Chile: the national coat of arms with its lone star and laurel wreaths on one side, and a large bird in flight on the other.
Circulation
2 Litai
A white base-metal 2 litai of newly independent Lithuania, dated 1991, showing the value in a radiating sunburst on one side and the Vytis mounted knight on the other.
Modern
Austrian Gold Ducat
A high-purity Austrian gold ducat of the Habsburg monarchy, showing a crowned ruler in military dress on the obverse and the double-headed imperial eagle on the reverse.
Bullion/gold
Alabama Centennial Half Dollar
A 1921 U.S. silver half dollar marking a century of Alabama statehood, with jugate governor busts and a state eagle; issued in plain and scarcer 2×2 varieties.
Classic Commemorative
Keicho Oban
A large, thin oval Japanese gold oban of the Keicho era, hammer-marked with horizontal striations and bearing brush-inked ink signatures and paulownia crests.
Historic
10 Forint
A Hungarian 10 Forint dated 1979, showing a standing allegorical female figure of Liberty holding a palm frond in silver.
Modern
British North Borneo One Cent
A colonial copper cent of the British North Borneo Company: company arms with Dyak supporters and a sailing ship on one side, ONE CENT in a wreath on the other.
Colonial
Newfoundland One Cent
Bronze large cent of the colony of Newfoundland; the example shown is a 1904 issue with Edward VII's profile and a wreath reverse.
Canadian & Provincial
Philip and Mary Shilling
Hammered silver shilling of Philip II of Spain and Mary I (1554-1558), showing their paired royal busts and a crowned quartered shield of arms.
Hammered
Wu Zhu Cash
A round Han-dynasty bronze cash coin with a central square hole and two seal-script characters, Wu Zhu, naming its weight of five zhu.
Cash Coin
Spanish Colonial Cob 1 Real
A small, crudely hand-struck silver cob of one real, made in Spain's American colonies with heraldic shield-and-cross designs.
Cob Coinage
Classic Head Half Cent
A small U.S. copper half cent of 1809–1836 showing Liberty in a beaded headband ringed by stars, with a plain wreath and HALF CENT on the reverse.
Half Cent
Artuqid Bronze Dirham
A 12th-century bronze coin of the Artuqid Turkmen dynasty, struck with Arabic inscriptions inside ornamental borders across eastern Anatolia.
Medieval Islamic
Antoninianus
Roman imperial coin of the crisis era, marked by a radiate (spiked) crown on the emperor's head; struck in debased silver-and-copper billon, c. 250-270 AD.
Ancient Coins
Ancient Greek Didrachm
An ancient Greek silver didrachm worth two drachms, here with a bearded male head and a horse-and-rider reverse in the tradition of Magna Graecia.
Ancient
1 Euro (10 Years EMU)
Dutch bi-metallic 1 Euro marking ten years of Economic and Monetary Union, with a stylized integration design and the twin dates 1999 and 2009.
Commemorative
Halve Rijksdaalder van Leicester
Silver half rijksdaalder of the Leicester type, struck in the rebelling Dutch provinces, showing an armored bust and a split provincial shield.
Early Modern
France 20 Centimes
A small gold-colored French Fifth Republic coin showing Marianne in profile, worth one-fifth of a franc, struck for four decades before the euro.
Circulation
British Brass Threepence
Chunky twelve-sided nickel-brass threepence of George VI, showing his head and a thrift plant reverse; the example shown is dated 1942.
British Isles
Almohad Silver Dirham
A distinctive square silver coin of the Almohad Caliphate, covered on both faces with geometric Arabic religious inscriptions.
World