Coin Encyclopedia
Search and identify coins from around the world — with country, denomination, metal, mint, history, and how to tell them apart.
Constantius II Centenionalis
A bronze centenionalis of Constantius II featuring the dramatic 'Fallen Horseman' reverse, one of the most famous designs of the Late Roman Empire.
Ancient
1916 Standing Liberty Quarter
The extremely low-mintage first-year issue of the Standing Liberty quarter, one of the most famous key dates in all of United States coinage.
United States
British Trade Dollar
A silver trade dollar struck by Britain to compete with the Mexican and Spanish dollars circulating across Hong Kong, China, and Southeast Asia.
Asian
Gothic Crown
An ornate Victorian silver crown featuring a young Queen Victoria in Gothic-script lettering, widely admired as one of the most artistically accomplished coins in British history.
British
2012 London Olympics 50p Series
The Royal Mint issued 29 different circulating 50 pence coins in 2011, each honoring a different sport of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, sparking a nationwide coin-collecting craze in Britain.
Commemorative
Philippine 50 Centavos (Commonwealth, 1936)
A special 1936 silver 50-centavo coin marking the establishment of the Commonwealth of the Philippines, issued in two paired-portrait varieties honoring Quezon alongside Murphy or Roosevelt.
Asian
Mexican Gold Centenario (50 Pesos)
Mexico's iconic gold coin, first struck in 1921 to mark a century of independence, depicting the Angel of Independence and still produced today as bullion.
Bullion
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
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
Spanish Colonial 8 Reales Ferdinand VII
A large silver 8 reales coin struck across Spain's American colonies bearing the portrait of King Ferdinand VII, widely circulated internationally and historically linked to the origin of the US dollar sign.
World
Mexican 8 Reales Cap and Rays
The classic silver dollar of independent Mexico, showing a radiant Phrygian liberty cap over mountains, widely trusted and traded across the Americas and Asia for most of the 19th century.
Latin American
Guptas 'Horseman' Silver Coin
Silver coin of the Gupta Empire showing the king on horseback, struck after Gupta conquest of western India in imitation of earlier Western Kshatrapa silver coinage.
Ancient
1976 Montreal Olympics Silver Coin Series
A landmark seven-series program of sterling silver $5 and $10 coins issued by Canada to help finance and celebrate the 1976 Montreal Summer Olympics.
Commemorative
2000 Sydney Olympics Coin Series
The Royal Australian Mint issued one of the largest circulating commemorative coin programs ever produced for a single Olympics, featuring numerous $5 designs alongside premium silver and gold proof coins for the Sydney 2000 Games.
Commemorative
1793 Wreath Cent
The second cent design of 1793, replacing the controversial Chain cent with a wreath reverse, and one of three distinct cent types struck that founding year.
United States
Classic Head Half Cent
A half cent design used from 1809 to 1836, featuring a Liberty head with a headband inscribed LIBERTY, succeeding the Draped Bust type.
United States
Celtic Gold Stater
Iron Age gold coins struck by Celtic tribes across Gaul and Britain, evolving from close imitations of Macedonian staters into strikingly abstract, stylized designs.
Ancient
Fugio Cent
The first coin authorized by the United States government, featuring a sundial, the word 'Fugio,' and the motto 'Mind Your Business,' often linked to Benjamin Franklin.
United States
Celtic Gold Stater of the Parisii
A gold stater struck by the Parisii, the Gallic tribe that gave its name to Paris, showing highly abstracted, stylized versions of Greek prototype designs.
Ancient
1974 Aluminum Cent
An extremely rare experimental pattern struck in aluminum as a potential replacement for the copper cent amid rising metal costs, almost none of which were legally released to the public.
Errors & Varieties
Lincoln Wheat Cent
The first widely circulated U.S. coin to feature a real historical figure, Abraham Lincoln, with two stylized wheat stalks on the reverse; one of the most collected coins in America.
United States
1936 Dot Cent
One of Canada's rarest coins: a 1936-dated cent quietly struck in 1937 with a tiny raised dot below the date after King Edward VIII's abdication delayed new George VI dies.
Canadian
1793 Chain Cent
The very first cent struck for circulation by the U.S. Mint, dated 1793, famous for its short-lived and controversial 15-link chain reverse.
United States
1943 Steel Cent
A one-year-only zinc-coated steel cent struck to conserve copper for World War II ammunition and equipment production, easily recognized by its silvery color.
United States