Coin Encyclopedia
Search and identify coins from around the world — with country, denomination, metal, mint, history, and how to tell them apart.
British Gold Guinea
Struck from 1663 to 1814 and named for the West African gold used in its earliest issues, the guinea was Britain's leading gold coin and gave its name to a unit of value still referenced today.
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
1836 Gobrecht Dollar
The first-year Gobrecht dollar, famous for its seated Liberty obverse and flying eagle reverse, and for briefly including engraver Christian Gobrecht's name on the design.
United States
1858 Victoria Five Cents (silver)
The first Canadian five-cent coin, a tiny sterling silver piece struck for the Province of Canada in 1858 when decimal currency was introduced to replace older colonial money.
Canadian
Persian Gold Toman (Qajar)
The principal gold coin of Qajar Persia, valued at ten silver kran, struck under a succession of shahs from the late 18th century until the dynasty's end in 1925.
Asian
Panama-Pacific Gold Dollar Commemorative
A 1915 gold dollar honoring the workers who built the Panama Canal, featuring a canal laborer's head on the obverse and two dolphins encircling the denomination on the reverse.
Commemorative
Five Pound Gold (Quintuple Sovereign)
The largest standard gold coin in the British sovereign family, worth five pounds and equal to five sovereigns, struck intermittently since 1820 for commemorative and collector purposes.
British
1951 Nickel Commemorative Five Cents
A special Canadian five-cent coin marking the 200th anniversary of the isolation of the element nickel, struck in the metal itself to honor Canada's role as a leading nickel producer.
Commemorative
Netherlands 2½ Gulden
The largest regularly circulating silver coin of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, popularly nicknamed "rijksdaalder," featuring the reigning monarch's portrait across more than a century of Dutch coinage.
European
Venezuela Bolivar Silver (Bolívar Fuerte)
A large silver five-bolívares coin nicknamed the "fuerte" (strong) for its full weight and fineness, featuring a portrait of independence hero Simón Bolívar.
Latin American
Victorian Silver Five Cents
The small sterling silver five-cent coin struck under Queen Victoria for the Province of Canada and later the Dominion of Canada, issued intermittently from 1858 to 1901.
Canadian
Netherlands Rijksdaalder Gulden
The 2.5 guilder coin of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, carrying forward the historic rijksdaalder name through the monarchy era until the euro's adoption.
European
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
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
Guinea
Historic British gold coin named for the West African region that supplied much of its gold, valued at 21 shillings for most of its history and predecessor to the modern sovereign.
British
Korean Gwangmu Half Won (1905)
Silver half-won coin from the short-lived Korean Empire's Gwangmu currency reform, struck shortly before Korea fell under increasing Japanese control.
Asian
British Guinea
England's premier gold coin for over 150 years, named for the West African region that supplied much of its gold and eventually valued at 21 shillings.
British
Crown of the Double Rose
A gold coin introduced by Henry VIII in 1526 as part of his coinage reform, named for the crowned Tudor double rose on its reverse.
British
US America the Beautiful Quarters
A successor to the State Quarters program honoring national parks and other national sites from every US state and territory, including a unique 5-ounce silver bullion companion series.
United States
Touchstone Sovereign (Fine Sovereign)
A large, high-value English gold coin struck in especially pure 'fine gold,' valued at thirty shillings and distinguished from the more common crown-gold Sovereign of the same era.
British
Broad
A gold twenty-shilling coin nicknamed the 'Broad' for its wide, thin flan, struck under the Commonwealth and Oliver Cromwell and continued briefly into the early reign of Charles II.
British
Half Guinea
Smaller companion gold coin to the guinea, worth half its value, struck across the same reigns from Charles II through George III for mid-value transactions.
British
Laurel
A gold twenty-shilling coin issued from 1619, named for its laureate royal portrait styled after Roman emperors, replacing the earlier Unite as James I's principal gold denomination.
British