Coin Encyclopedia
Search and identify coins from around the world — with country, denomination, metal, mint, history, and how to tell them apart.
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
Rama IV Siamese Baht (first machine-struck)
Landmark Siamese silver coin introduced under King Mongkut (Rama IV), marking the country's shift from traditional bullet-shaped money to modern, flat, machine-struck coinage.
Asian
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
Italian 20 Lire Gold (Vittorio Emanuele)
The Kingdom of Italy's standard 20 lire gold coin, issued under kings including Vittorio Emanuele II, sharing the Latin Monetary Union's gold specifications with coins like the French Napoleon.
European
1870 Victoria Twenty-Five Cents
The first twenty-five-cent coin struck for the newly formed Dominion of Canada, issued in 1870 to replace the earlier, often-confused 1858 twenty-cent piece.
Canadian
Vietnamese Silver Bar (Lang / Thoi Bac)
Traditional Vietnamese ingot currency from the Nguyen Dynasty, cast or hammered silver bars denominated in lang (tael) rather than struck as round coins.
Asian
Victoria Fifty Cents (half dollar)
Canada's silver fifty-cent piece struck under Queen Victoria from 1870 to 1901, featuring her portrait and a heraldic shield-and-wreath reverse.
Canadian
Vietnamese Tu Duc Thong Bao (cash coin)
A cast bronze or zinc cash coin issued under Emperor Tự Đức of Vietnam's Nguyễn Dynasty, round with a square center hole in the traditional East Asian style.
Asian
Hong Kong Silver Dollar (1866–1868, Victoria)
A short-lived silver dollar struck at Britain's ill-fated Hong Kong Mint, bearing a young portrait of Queen Victoria; the mint closed within two years.
Asian
British India Silver Rupee (Victoria Empress)
Silver rupee of British India struck under Queen Victoria as Empress of India, the workhorse coin of the Raj's monetary system from 1877 to 1901.
Asian
Yemeni Riyal (Ahmadi/Imadi Kingdom Coinage)
Silver riyal coinage struck under Yemen's ruling imams in the Mutawakkilite Kingdom period, following the traditional weight standard of the Maria Theresa thaler.
Asian
Quarter Guinea
A rarely issued small gold coin worth one-quarter of a guinea, struck only in 1718 under George I and again briefly in 1762 under George III.
British
Washington-Carver Half Dollar
A commemorative half dollar jointly honoring Booker T. Washington and George Washington Carver, promoting American ideals and opposing the spread of Communism.
Commemorative
Voyageur Silver Dollar
Canada's iconic silver dollar, first struck in 1935 to mark George V's Silver Jubilee, showing a voyageur and Indigenous guide paddling a canoe.
Canadian
Third Guinea
A small gold coin worth one-third of a guinea, or seven shillings, struck under George III in the years leading up to the introduction of the modern sovereign.
British
Lydian Croeseid (Croesus Stater)
One of history's earliest bimetallic coinages, struck under the legendary King Croesus of Lydia, featuring the confronting foreparts of a lion and a bull.
Ancient
Aksumite Gold Coin of Ezana
Gold coin of King Ezana of Aksum, historically important as among the earliest coins in the world to bear a Christian cross, marking Ezana's conversion.
Ancient
Lysimachos Tetradrachm (Alexander/Athena)
A silver tetradrachm struck by King Lysimachos, one of Alexander the Great's successors, showing the deified Alexander with a ram's horn and a seated Athena on the reverse.
Ancient
Anglo-Saxon Silver Penny
The standard silver coin of Anglo-Saxon England from the 8th century to the Norman Conquest, naming the issuing king and the moneyer who struck it.
British
British Sovereign (modern proof)
Contemporary proof-quality gold sovereign struck by the Royal Mint, continuing Benedetto Pistrucci's St George and the dragon reverse design used since the early 19th century.
British
Spanish 20 Pesetas Gold (Alfonso XII)
Spain's standard gold coin of the Latin Monetary Union era, struck under King Alfonso XII following the restoration of the Spanish monarchy in the 1870s.
European
1936 Voyageur Silver Dollar
The first regular-issue (non-commemorative) Canadian silver dollar, continuing the Voyageur canoe design introduced the previous year for George V's Silver Jubilee.
Canadian
Half Farthing
A tiny copper coin worth one-eighth of a penny, struck mainly for use in colonial Ceylon during the reigns of George IV, William IV, and Victoria.
British
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