Coin Encyclopedia
Search and identify coins from around the world — with country, denomination, metal, mint, history, and how to tell them apart.
Philippines 20 Centavos
A small wartime silver 20 centavos of the Commonwealth-era Philippines: a standing Liberty figure and Mayon volcano, with an eagle over a shield on the reverse.
Southeast Asia
Hawaiian Sesquicentennial Half Dollar
A scarce 1928 U.S. silver commemorative half dollar marking 150 years since Captain James Cook's arrival in the Hawaiian Islands.
Classic Commemorative
Lexington-Concord Sesquicentennial Half Dollar
A 1925 U.S. silver commemorative half dollar marking the 150th anniversary of the battles of Lexington and Concord, showing the Concord Minuteman and the Old Belfry.
Classic Commemorative
Cincinnati Music Center Half Dollar
A 1936 U.S. silver half dollar honoring Cincinnati as a music center, with composer Stephen Foster on the obverse and an allegorical figure with a lyre 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
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
Pine Tree Shilling
Silver shilling from the Boston mint, struck about 1667–1674 but dated 1652, showing a pine tree beside the legend MASSACHUSETTS.
Colonial
Eighth Thistle Merk
A small hammered silver Scottish coin of James VI, showing a crowned heraldic shield of arms on one side and a crowned thistle on the other.
Hammered
Gothic Florin
A silver two-shilling florin of Queen Victoria in the medieval-revival Gothic style, with an ornate crowned cruciform shield reverse dated 1869.
Milled
Spanish Colonial Half Real
The smallest milled silver coin of Spain's American empire: a tiny 1/2 real with a royal bust and the crowned arms between pillars.
Colonial
Spanish Colonial 4 Reales
A large silver colonial coin worth half a Spanish dollar, struck for Spain's American empire and bearing the crowned Spanish royal arms.
Colonial
Counterstamped 2 Reales
A Spanish silver 2 reales dated 1803 that was later punched with a WR-and-crown counterstamp, giving it a second, borrowed life as legal tender.
Colonial
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
10 Para
Small Ottoman silver 10 Para dated AH 1280 (1863-1864), with the sultan's calligraphic tughra on one side and an ornamental Arabic-script inscription on the other.
Early Modern
French Half Ecu (Demi-Ecu)
A silver half ecu of Louis XVI dated 1792, with his bust left and a standing winged genius reverse reading L'AN 4 DE LA LIBERTE.
Royal
British East Africa Half Shilling
A small low-fineness silver coin of British East Africa bearing King George VI; the half shilling equalled fifty cents in the East African system.
World
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
Syracuse Dekadrachm
Large silver dekadrachm of Syracuse, c. 405-380 BC, showing a racing quadriga crowned by Victory and a head of the nymph Arethusa with flowing hair.
Ancient
Denarius of M. Sanquinius
A silver denarius struck at Rome in 17 BC by the moneyer M. Sanquinius under Augustus, tied to the Secular Games, with a male portrait and a standing herald.
Ancient
Denarius of Cn. Pompeius Magnus
Silver Roman Republican denarius of the Pompeian party (46–45 BC), with a bearded portrait of Pompey the Great and a galley reverse reading PRO COS.
Ancient
Tymf
A debased Polish silver coin of 1663 tariffed at 30 groszy, famous for a Latin motto declaring the state's safety worth more than the metal.
Early Modern
Speciedaler
Large early-modern Norwegian silver crown of the Dano-Norwegian kingdom, showing a crowned royal bust and the Norwegian lion shield, dated 1628.
Early Modern
50 Korun
A 1944 silver 50 korun of the wartime Slovak State, showing the profile of Jozef Tiso and a shield with a double cross, struck for the state's fifth anniversary.
Modern
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