Coin Encyclopedia
Search and identify coins from around the world — with country, denomination, metal, mint, history, and how to tell them apart.
Half Crown
A long-lived British coin worth one-eighth of a pound, struck from the Tudor era until decimalisation in 1970, valued today mainly for its portraits and design variety.
British
Armorican Billon Stater
A debased silver-alloy stater struck by Celtic tribes of Armorica (modern Brittany), showing wildly abstracted horse and head designs derived from Greek prototypes.
Ancient
Half Crown Gold
A small gold coin worth half a gold crown, struck from the reign of Henry VIII through the English Civil War, distinct from the far more familiar silver half crown that circulated for centuries afterward.
British
Abbasid Gold Dinar
The standard gold coin of the Abbasid Caliphate centered on Baghdad, inscribed entirely in Arabic script and struck for roughly five centuries across a vast Islamic empire.
World
Byzantine Gold Semissis
A scarce half-value gold fraction of the Byzantine solidus, struck in smaller numbers than the tremissis and often associated with ceremonial or donative purposes.
Ancient
Testoon
The earliest English coin to carry a realistic royal portrait, introduced under Henry VII around 1487 as the forerunner of the shilling, later continued and debased under Henry VIII.
British
Maundy Twopence
A small silver twopence struck each year as part of the Royal Maundy set, historically descended from the medieval silver half groat and still distributed in the annual royal alms ceremony.
British
Quarter Farthing
The smallest fractional denomination in British coinage, worth one-sixteenth of a penny, struck primarily for use in colonial Ceylon during Victoria's reign.
British
Two Guinea (Double Guinea)
A substantial gold coin worth two guineas, struck intermittently from the reign of Charles II through George II as part of England and Great Britain's early guinea coinage system.
British
Una and the Lion Five Pound
A legendary 1839 gold proof depicting young Queen Victoria as Una leading a lion, widely considered one of the most beautiful coins ever struck and a benchmark of Victorian coin art.
British
Claudius Denarius
A silver denarius of Emperor Claudius, whose unexpected rise to power after Caligula's assassination was famously secured with the support of the Praetorian Guard.
Ancient
Athenian Owl Dekadrachm
An extremely rare large-format silver coin of classical Athens, struck in only a handful of surviving examples and prized as one of the great rarities of ancient Greek numismatics.
Ancient
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
Panama-Pacific Quarter Eagle Commemorative
A 1915 commemorative gold coin honoring the Panama-Pacific Exposition, showing Liberty riding a hippocampus (sea horse), symbolizing the Panama Canal's linking of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
Commemorative
1918/7-D Buffalo Nickel Overdate
A famous overdate error on the Buffalo Nickel where a leftover 1917 working die was hand-repunched with an 1918 date, leaving traces of the underlying 7 visible beneath the 8.
Errors & Varieties
1876-CC Twenty-Cent Piece
One of the great rarities of United States coinage: a Carson City twenty-cent piece of which nearly the entire mintage was melted, leaving only a small number of survivors known.
United States
1880 Shield Nickel
A major key date of the Shield Nickel series with an extremely low business-strike mintage, making genuine circulated examples much scarcer than the coin's proofs.
United States
Barber Dime
A late-19th and early-20th century silver dime designed by Charles E. Barber, featuring a classical Liberty head, part of a matching set with the Barber quarter and half dollar.
United States
American Gold Eagle
The official U.S. gold bullion coin series since 1986, pairing Augustus Saint-Gaudens' famous Liberty design with a family-of-eagles reverse, issued in four sizes.
Bullion
1913 Liberty Head Nickel
One of the most famous rarities in American numismatics: only five examples exist of a Liberty Head nickel dated 1913, a year in which the design was officially replaced by the Buffalo nickel.
United States
Kuwaiti Fils
Kuwait's everyday subsidiary coinage, introduced after independence in 1961 as 1/1000 of the Kuwaiti dinar, featuring the Emir's name and national emblems across several denominations.
Asian
US State Quarters Series
A landmark US Mint program issuing a new quarter reverse design for each of the 50 states in the order they joined the Union, sparking widespread collecting interest nationwide.
United States
1965 Kennedy Half Dollar (40% silver)
A transitional Kennedy half dollar struck with reduced 40% silver content after the Coinage Act of 1965 eliminated silver from dimes and quarters, honoring the assassinated president.
United States
Netherlands Rijksdaalder
A historic large silver crown-sized coin of the Low Countries, the rijksdaalder became a trusted trade coin across Europe for centuries and lent its name to the modern Dutch 2½-guilder piece.
European