Coin Encyclopedia
Search and identify coins from around the world — with country, denomination, metal, mint, history, and how to tell them apart.
Persian Kran (Qajar silver)
The standard silver coin of Qajar Persia, worth one-tenth of a gold toman, widely struck under Naser al-Din Shah and later rulers and commonly seen with the lion-and-sun emblem.
Asian
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
Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle
Widely regarded as one of the most beautiful U.S. coins ever produced, designed by sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens at the urging of President Theodore Roosevelt.
United States
1853 Seated Liberty Quarter (Arrows and Rays)
A popular one-year Seated Liberty type marked by arrows at the date and rays around the eagle, signaling a reduction in the coin's silver weight mandated by the Coinage Act of 1853.
United States
Panama-Pacific $50 Gold (Round)
A massive round commemorative gold piece struck for the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition, one of the rarest and most valuable U.S. commemorative coins ever issued.
Commemorative
Syracuse Arethusa Tetradrachm
A classic silver tetradrachm from ancient Syracuse depicting the nymph Arethusa surrounded by dolphins, one of the most admired coin types of the Greek world.
Ancient
1975 No S Proof Roosevelt Dime
One of the rarest and most valuable modern US coin errors: a 1975 proof dime struck without its San Francisco 'S' mintmark, with only a handful of examples known.
Errors & Varieties
Lincoln Memorial Cent
The long-running Lincoln cent reverse featuring the Lincoln Memorial, used for half a century and one of the most commonly encountered coins in American pockets and collections.
United States
1787 Brasher Doubloon
An extraordinarily rare private gold coin struck by New York goldsmith Ephraim Brasher in 1787, now one of the most valuable and famous coins in American numismatics.
United States
1796 Half Cent
One of the great rarities of American copper coinage, the 1796 half cent was struck in the Liberty Cap design in a very limited quantity, with 'With Pole' and rarer 'No Pole' varieties known.
United States
2000-P Sacagawea/Washington Quarter Mule
An extraordinarily rare mint error pairing the golden Sacagawea dollar obverse with a Washington quarter reverse die, one of the most famous modern mule errors in U.S. coinage.
Errors & Varieties
Austrian Silver Philharmonic
Austria's modern one-ounce silver bullion coin, launched in 2008 as a companion to the long-running gold Philharmonic, featuring the instruments of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra.
Bullion
Chinese Auto Dollar (Kweichow, 1928)
Famous Chinese provincial silver dollar depicting an automobile, struck in Kweichow province in 1928 and celebrated by collectors as one of the most distinctive Chinese coin designs.
Asian
Indian Head Quarter Eagle ($2.50)
A small gold coin featuring Bela Lyon Pratt's distinctive incuse Native American design, one of only two U.S. denominations ever struck with recessed devices.
United States
American Silver Eagle
The official one-ounce silver bullion coin of the United States, first struck in 1986, pairing Adolph Weinman's Walking Liberty design with a modern heraldic eagle.
Bullion
Aegina Sea Turtle Stater
One of the earliest widely circulated Greek silver coins, struck by the island city-state of Aegina, featuring a sea turtle and later a land tortoise, and nicknamed simply 'turtles' by ancient traders.
Ancient
New Zealand Waitangi Crown (1935)
Rare 1935 New Zealand silver crown depicting the meeting between Governor Hobson and Maori chiefs, one of the most valuable coins in British Commonwealth crown collecting.
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
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
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
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
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
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
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