Coin Encyclopedia
Search and identify coins from around the world — with country, denomination, metal, mint, history, and how to tell them apart.
Persian Sassanid Silver Drachm
The standard silver coin of the Sasanian Persian Empire, showing an elaborately crowned royal bust and a Zoroastrian fire altar with attendants, struck for over four centuries.
Ancient
Somalia Elephant Silver Coin
A popular annually-redesigned bullion coin issued in the name of Somalia depicting an African elephant, part of a broader African Wildlife series struck by a German mint.
Africa & Oceania
Kwangtung Province Dragon Dollar
One of the earliest Chinese machine-struck silver dollars, issued by Kwangtung Province and featuring a coiled dragon reverse that became the template for Chinese provincial dollar coinage.
Asian
German Empire 5 Mark
A large silver crown of Imperial Germany bearing the portrait or arms of individual constituent states, unified under a common eagle reverse after German unification in 1871.
European
1799/8 Draped Bust Silver Dollar Overdate
A prized die variety of the Draped Bust silver dollar where an 1799 obverse die was punched over a leftover 1798 date, leaving overlapping digits visible under magnification.
Errors & Varieties
1983 Doubled Die Reverse Lincoln Cent
A notable doubled die variety showing bold doubling on the reverse lettering of the Lincoln Memorial cent, particularly visible on ONE CENT, from the first full year of the copper-plated zinc cent.
Errors & Varieties
Tibetan Silver Tangka
The traditional silver coin denomination of Tibet, issued in many distinct types over roughly three centuries, from early Nepalese-struck coinage to native Tibetan and Sino-Tibetan issues.
Asian
Netherlands East Indies Java Rupee
A Dutch colonial silver rupee struck specifically for the island of Java, issued to standardize local currency amid the many foreign trade coins circulating in the Dutch East Indies.
Asian
Visigothic Gold Tremissis
Small gold coin of the Visigothic kings of Spain, evolving from crude imitations of Roman/Byzantine coinage into the first distinctly national royal coinage of post-Roman Western Europe.
European
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
Japanese Meiji Gold 20 Yen
The largest and highest-denomination gold coin of Meiji-era Japan, featuring an imperial dragon design, struck to underpin Japan's modern gold-backed currency system.
Asian
1967 Centennial Silver Dollar (Goose)
A one-year commemorative Canadian silver dollar struck for the 1967 Centennial of Confederation, its reverse depicting a Canada goose in flight, designed by Alex Colville.
Canadian
Victoria Ten Cents (dime)
Canada's early silver ten-cent coin issued under Queen Victoria, struck intermittently from the introduction of decimal currency in 1858 through the end of her reign in 1901.
Canadian
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
Sybaris Bull Stater
An archaic incuse-fabric silver stater from the legendarily wealthy city of Sybaris, showing a bull looking back over its shoulder, struck before the city's destruction in 510 BC.
Ancient
Gallienus Antoninianus
Radiate coin of Gallienus, who ruled through the depths of the Crisis of the Third Century and is especially known for a colorful late-reign series of animal and mythological reverse types.
Ancient
Philip the Arab Antoninianus
Radiate coin of Philip the Arab, notable for celebrating Rome's 1,000th anniversary in 248 AD with a memorable series of animal-themed 'Saecular Games' reverse types.
Ancient
Lampsakos Electrum Stater
An electrum stater from Lampsakos on the Hellespont, another important early precious-metal trade coinage of Asia Minor, often featuring a winged horse or janiform head.
Ancient
Ptolemy I Soter Tetradrachm
A silver tetradrachm bearing the realistic portrait of Ptolemy I Soter, founder of the Ptolemaic dynasty of Egypt, whose eagle-on-thunderbolt reverse became the enduring badge of Ptolemaic coinage.
Ancient
1972 Eisenhower Dollar (Type 2)
A scarce reverse variety of the 1972 Eisenhower dollar, distinguished by a more detailed, higher-relief rendering of the Earth behind the moon-landing eagle, and prized by variety collectors.
Errors & Varieties
Presidential Dollar - Thomas Jefferson
The third coin in the Presidential Dollar series, honoring Thomas Jefferson, sharing the same edge-lettering format and Statue of Liberty reverse as the earliest issues in the program.
United States
Mexican 8 Reales Pillar Dollar
Minted in colonial Mexico City from 1732 to the early 1770s, the pillar dollar's crowned globes and Pillars of Hercules design made it one of the most widely trusted silver trade coins in the world.
Latin American
Kai Yuan Tong Bao Cash
A landmark Tang dynasty cash coin whose four-character reign-title inscription became the standard template for Chinese, and much of East Asian, coinage for the next 1,300 years.
Ancient
Double Sovereign
A British gold coin worth two pounds, twice the value of the standard sovereign, struck intermittently since the nineteenth century for commemorative and bullion purposes.
British