Coin Encyclopedia
Search and identify coins from around the world — with country, denomination, metal, mint, history, and how to tell them apart.
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
Milled Sixpence of Elizabeth I
An early machine-struck English silver sixpence of Elizabeth I, showing her crowned draped bust with a rose and the royal shield above a date.
Milled
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
Barber 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.
Dime
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
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
Dirham 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.
Circulation
Athenian 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 Coins
Denarius 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.
Ancient
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
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
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
Australian Threepence
Australia's small pre-decimal silver threepence (3d), the country's tiniest coin, struck 1910-1964. The example shown carries a George V portrait.
Australian
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
Sixpence of Elizabeth I
A hammered silver sixpence of Elizabeth I, showing the crowned, ruff-collared queen in profile and the royal shield, most bearing a date beside a mint mark.
Hammered
Macao 1 Pataca
A silver-colored 1 Pataca circulation coin of Macao dated 2007, showing Chinese characters and denomination on one face and a lighthouse-and-harbor scene on the other.
Circulation
Capped Bust Dime
An early U.S. silver ten-cent piece showing Liberty in a cloth cap over a shield-breasted eagle, struck at Philadelphia from 1809 to 1837.
Dime
Capped Bust Half Dime
A small early U.S. silver five-cent piece showing Liberty in a Phrygian cap and a shielded eagle reverse, struck at Philadelphia from 1829 to 1837.
Half Dime
Follis 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.
Ancient
Austria-Hungary 10 Kreuzer
A small low-grade silver 10 Kreuzer of Emperor Franz Joseph I, pairing his laureate portrait with a crowned double-headed imperial eagle and a 10 value shield.
Circulation