Coin Encyclopedia
Search and identify coins from around the world — with country, denomination, metal, mint, history, and how to tell them apart.
Western Satrap Silver Drachm
A silver drachm of the Western Satraps, Saka rulers of western India, easily identified by a crude Greek-style portrait obverse and a three-arched hill reverse.
Ancient
Byzantine Follis
The large bronze workhorse coin of everyday Byzantine commerce, reformed by Emperor Anastasius I in 498 AD with a prominent Greek numeral denoting its value of 40 nummi.
Ancient
Tibetan Silver Srang (Ganden Tangka type)
A native Tibetan silver coin issued by the Ganden Phodrang government in Lhasa, featuring the Tibetan snow lion and traditional Tibetan script rather than Chinese imperial designs.
Asian
Byzantine Gold Solidus
The gold standard coin of the Byzantine Empire for over 700 years, prized in medieval trade as far away as India and Scandinavia under the nickname "bezant."
Ancient
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
Byzantine Solidus
The gold standard coin of the Byzantine Empire for over 700 years, the solidus funded an empire, financed trade across three continents, and remained one of history's most stable currencies.
Ancient
Byzantine Gold Tremissis
A small gold fractional coin worth one-third of a solidus, widely struck across the early Byzantine world and imitated by Germanic successor kingdoms in the former Western Roman Empire.
Ancient
Byzantine Miliaresion
The main large silver coin of the middle Byzantine Empire, introduced in the 8th century and typically featuring a plain cross on steps, reflecting the era's Iconoclast religious tensions.
Ancient
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
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
Five Guinea
The largest regularly issued gold denomination of the guinea coinage system, worth five guineas, struck from the reign of Charles II through George II for major transactions and presentation purposes.
British
Rosa Americana Coinage
A British-issued colonial coinage for America under a patent granted to William Wood, showing a rose and King George I, that was widely rejected by colonists for its poor metal and overvaluation.
United States
Napoleon 20 Franc Gold Coin
A historic French gold coin first struck under Napoleon Bonaparte in 1803, later issued under successive French governments and long used as a benchmark gold coin across Europe.
European
Buffalo Nickel
Beloved American five-cent coin featuring a Native American portrait and an American bison, designed by James Earle Fraser and celebrated for its distinctly American imagery.
United States
Wood's Hibernia Halfpenny
A British copper coinage patented by William Wood for Ireland, controversially rejected there but widely circulated instead in colonial America, where large surplus shipments ended up in everyday trade.
United States
1938-D Buffalo Nickel
The final year of the Buffalo Nickel series, the 1938-D was widely saved by the public at the time and remains a popular, affordable last-year issue for collectors.
United States
Threepence
A small British coin worth three pence, issued first as a tiny silver piece and later as the distinctive 12-sided brass 'threepenny bit' beloved for its unusual shape.
British
Saudi Arabian Gold Guinea (Sovereign)
A gold coin issued by Saudi Arabia sized like the British sovereign, popularly called a guinea, historically important for Hajj pilgrims and gold-based savings rather than everyday circulation.
Asian
Three-Dollar Gold Piece
An unusual and short-lived gold denomination created partly to simplify buying sheets of three-cent postage stamps, now a favorite oddity among gold coin collectors.
United States
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
1937 Doubled Die Obverse Buffalo Nickel
A doubled die variety of the 1937 Buffalo nickel showing visible doubling in the obverse date and lettering, collected alongside other notable varieties from the final years of the Buffalo nickel series.
Errors & Varieties
1938-D/S Buffalo Nickel Overmintmark
The famous final-year Buffalo nickel variety showing a D mintmark punched over a leftover S, created when Denver reused a die originally prepared for San Francisco.
Errors & Varieties
Kushan Gold Dinar of Kanishka
A gold dinar of the great Kushan emperor Kanishka I, famous for its rich mix of Greek, Iranian, Indian, and Buddhist deities depicted on the reverse.
Ancient
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