Coin Encyclopedia
Search and identify coins from around the world — with country, denomination, metal, mint, history, and how to tell them apart.
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
Three Cent Nickel
A small copper-nickel three-cent coin with a Liberty head obverse and a Roman numeral III inside a wreath; struck at Philadelphia from 1865 to 1889.
Three Cent
Fatimid Dinar of Imam Nizar
An 11th-century Fatimid gold dinar with concentric circular Kufic inscriptions naming the ruler and Shi'a invocations, a hallmark of Fatimid coinage.
Islamic (Medieval)
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
Julius Caesar Denarius
Silver Roman denarius of 44 BC bearing the bareheaded portrait of Julius Caesar, among the first Roman coins to show a living statesman's likeness.
Ancient
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
Half Groat of Henry VIII
A small hammered English silver coin worth twopence, struck across the reign of Henry VIII and bearing his crowned facing bust.
Hammered
Antoninianus of Aurelian
Late Roman billon coin of Emperor Aurelian, showing his radiate-crowned bust and a standing deity or personification on the reverse.
Ancient Coins
Pillar Dollar (Columnario)
Machine-struck Spanish colonial silver 8 reales showing two crowned globes between the Pillars of Hercules; a trusted world trade coin.
World Coins
Idrisid Gold Dinar
Gold dinar of Morocco's Idrisid dynasty: a purely epigraphic Islamic coin bearing Kufic Arabic religious legends, no images.
Medieval Islamic
Almohad Silver Dirham
A distinctive square silver coin of the Almohad Caliphate, covered on both faces with geometric Arabic religious inscriptions.
World
Medieval Penny
England's standard medieval coin: a small hammered silver penny with a crowned royal head on one side and a cross on the other, struck by hand across many reigns.
Medieval Coins
Cape Verde 5 Escudos
A small brass-toned Cape Verde circulation coin whose botanical face depicts the endemic Campanula jacobaea flower with legends around the rim.
World
Follis of Diocletian
A large silver-washed bronze coin of the Tetrarchy, introduced by Diocletian's currency reform around AD 294 with a stern laureate portrait.
Ancient
Anglo-Saxon Sceatta
Tiny thick silver coin of early Anglo-Saxon England, the example showing a stylized bird with geometric patterns and symbolic reverse designs.
Medieval Coins
Tanzania 200 Shillings
A golden-brass circulating coin of the United Republic of Tanzania, showing a large African animal in grass with a bold 200 and a Swahili shilling legend.
World
Islamic Gold Dinar (LACMA M.2006.143.8)
A medieval Islamic gold dinar in the LACMA collection, struck with purely calligraphic Arabic legends and a decorative border — the classic imageless coin of the caliphates.
Islamic (Medieval)
Australian Kookaburra
Perth Mint silver bullion coin with a changing kookaburra reverse and a Queen Elizabeth II obverse; this 2 Dollars piece is a 2 oz .999 fine silver coin dated 2012.
Bullion
Copper Fals of Muzaffar Hajji
A worn medieval Islamic copper fals bearing Arabic calligraphy and the name of the ruler al-Muzaffar Hajji, an aniconic base-metal coin used as everyday small change.
Islamic (Medieval)
2 Lire
Silver 2 Lire of the Papal States struck under Pope Pius IX, part of the Italian lira system adopted by Rome in the 1860s.
Modern
Swiss 2 Francs
A silver Swiss 2 Francs dated 1860, with the value and date in a wreath on one side and a seated Helvetia bearing the Swiss cross on the other.
Circulation
Coronet (Matron Head) Large Cent
A pure-copper U.S. one-cent piece from 1816–1839, showing Liberty in a beaded coronet on the obverse and ONE CENT inside a wreath.
Large Cent
Australian Sixpence
Small silver sixpence of the Commonwealth of Australia; this 1935 piece carries the crowned bust of King George V.
Australian
Mary I Groat
Hammered silver fourpence of Mary I (1553-1558), with her crowned bust left and the royal arms over a cross on the reverse.
Hammered