Coin Encyclopedia
Search and identify coins from around the world — with country, denomination, metal, mint, history, and how to tell them apart.
Grant Memorial Gold Dollar
A commemorative gold dollar marking the centennial of Ulysses S. Grant's birth, famous for a rare small-star variety on the obverse.
Commemorative
1973 RCMP Centennial Dollar
A commemorative Canadian dollar marking the centennial of the founding of the North-West Mounted Police, forerunner of the RCMP, showing a mounted officer on the reverse.
Canadian
Long Island Tercentenary Half Dollar
A 1936 U.S. commemorative half dollar marking 300 years since the first European settlement on Long Island, New York.
Commemorative
1958 British Columbia Totem Pole Dollar
A commemorative Canadian silver dollar marking the centennial of the founding of the Colony of British Columbia in 1858, its reverse featuring a totem pole design.
Canadian
1939 Royal Visit Silver Dollar (Parliament)
A commemorative Canadian silver dollar marking the 1939 royal tour of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, with the Parliament Buildings depicted on the reverse.
Canadian
1949 Newfoundland Silver Dollar (Matthew ship)
A commemorative Canadian silver dollar marking Newfoundland's entry into Confederation in 1949, its reverse depicting John Cabot's ship the Matthew.
Canadian
Arkansas Centennial Half Dollar
A commemorative half dollar marking Arkansas's 100th anniversary of statehood, pairing a Native American profile with an idealized Liberty figure on the obverse.
Commemorative
1857 Flying Eagle Cent
The first-year circulation issue of the Flying Eagle Cent, marking the debut of the small-format cent that replaced the old large copper cent.
United States
1971 British Columbia Dollar
A commemorative Canadian dollar marking the centennial of British Columbia joining Canadian Confederation in 1871, issued in both nickel circulation and silver collector versions.
Canadian
California Diamond Jubilee Half Dollar
A 1925 commemorative half dollar marking California's 75th anniversary of statehood, featuring a kneeling gold prospector obverse and a walking grizzly bear reverse.
Commemorative
Massachusetts Willow Tree Shilling
The rarest of Massachusetts Bay's tree-series colonial shillings, struck in secret defiance of English law and all frozen with the date 1652 regardless of actual striking year.
United States
Texas Independence Centennial Half Dollar
A commemorative half dollar marking the 100th anniversary of Texas independence from Mexico, featuring an eagle on a lone star and figures of Sam Houston and Stephen F. Austin.
Commemorative
Ottoman Rashidi Kurus
A silver kurus variety struck to a distinct local standard within the Ottoman Arabian provinces, less standardized and less commonly catalogued than the empire's main Constantinople coinage.
World
Hawaiian Sesquicentennial Half Dollar
A rare, low-mintage 1928 commemorative half dollar marking 150 years since Captain James Cook's arrival in Hawaii, considered a key rarity of the classic commemorative series.
Commemorative
Ethiopian Birr (Menelik II)
Silver birr introduced by Emperor Menelik II of Ethiopia, modeled on the weight and fineness of the Maria Theresa thaler, featuring his crowned bust and the Lion of Judah.
Africa & Oceania
Zanzibar Riyal
Silver riyal issued by the Sultanate of Zanzibar under Sultan Barghash bin Said, designed to circulate alongside the widely trusted Maria Theresa thaler in East African trade.
Africa & Oceania
Wood's Hibernia Halfpenny
A British copper coinage patented by William Wood for Ireland, controversially rejected there but widely circulated instead in colonial America, where large surplus shipments ended up in everyday trade.
United States
Mende Dionysos on Donkey Tetradrachm
A striking Classical-era silver tetradrachm from the wine-city of Mende, showing the wine-god Dionysos reclining drunkenly on a donkey, one of ancient coinage's most whimsical designs.
Ancient
Pine Tree Shilling
Colonial Massachusetts silver shilling struck by John Hull and Robert Sanderson, famous for carrying the fixed date 1652 for roughly three decades of actual production.
United States
Kyrene Silphium Tetradrachm
A silver tetradrachm from the North African Greek city of Kyrene featuring the now-extinct silphium plant, the source of the city's legendary wealth as a prized ancient medicinal herb.
Ancient
Mexican Estados Unidos 1 Peso 'Morelos'
A mid-twentieth-century Mexican silver peso portraying independence hero José María Morelos, struck in fifty-percent silver for just a few years after World War II.
Latin American
Austrian Thaler (Joseph II)
A silver thaler bearing the portrait of Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II, struck in the late 18th century and, like the more famous Maria Theresa thaler, later restruck for use in Levant and African trade.
European
Viking Silver Penny of York
Silver penny struck by Norse rulers of the Viking Kingdom of York, blending Christian and pagan imagery such as crosses, swords, and Thor's hammers.
British
Egyptian Qirsh (Muhammad Ali Era)
Silver-billon piastre struck in Egypt under Muhammad Ali Pasha in the name of the Ottoman Sultan, reflecting Egypt's growing autonomy within the empire.
Africa & Oceania