Coin Encyclopedia
Search and identify coins from around the world — with country, denomination, metal, mint, history, and how to tell them apart.
Mughal Silver Rupee (Akbar)
A silver rupee struck under Emperor Akbar, who standardized the denomination's weight and calligraphic design, establishing a coin type that shaped Indian currency for centuries.
Asian
Straits Settlements Silver Dollar
A large British colonial silver dollar struck for Singapore, Penang, and Malacca, created to give the Straits Settlements a standardized coin after decades of competing foreign trade dollars.
Asian
Twenty Pence
A seven-sided UK coin introduced in 1982 to fill a gap between the ten pence and fifty pence denominations.
British
Vijayanagara Gold Pagoda
A small, thick gold coin of the South Indian Vijayanagara Empire, typically showing Hindu deities or a bull, whose type became so trusted it was widely imitated as the standard South Indian trade "pagoda."
Asian
Gold Sovereign
Iconic British gold pound coin, revived in 1817 with Benedict Pistrucci's celebrated St George and the Dragon design, struck for centuries in London and branch mints worldwide.
British
Straits Settlements Dollar
The official silver dollar of Britain's Straits Settlements colony, bearing the reigning monarch's portrait and trilingual denomination on the reverse.
Asian
Crown
Large British coin traditionally worth five shillings, historically struck in silver and famed for elaborate designs, now issued mainly as a cupro-nickel commemorative.
British
Mughal Gold Mohur
The premier gold coin of the Mughal Empire, prized for its bold Persian calligraphy, occasional portraiture, and the wealth and artistry of Mughal court culture.
Asian
Fifty Pence
The UK's distinctive seven-sided 50p coin, introduced in 1969 to replace the ten shilling note ahead of decimalisation.
British
Two Pound Coin
The UK's bimetallic £2 coin, standardized for circulation in the late 1990s, widely used for a rotating series of commemorative reverse designs.
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
Gold Half Sovereign
Smaller companion to the gold sovereign, struck since 1817 at half the weight and value, sharing the same monarch portraits and often the same St George reverse design.
British
Hong Kong Dollar (1866–1868 Silver Dollar)
A short-lived silver dollar struck at Britain's ill-fated Hong Kong Mint, bearing Queen Victoria's portrait and intended to compete with Mexican and Chinese silver in Asian trade.
Asian
Pound Coin
The United Kingdom's £1 coin, introduced in 1983 to replace the paper pound note, redesigned as a 12-sided bimetallic coin in 2017.
British
Chola Dynasty Gold Kahavanu
A gold coin of the powerful medieval South Indian Chola dynasty, typically bearing the dynastic tiger, fish, and bow emblem alongside a standing or seated royal figure.
Asian
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
Royal Mint £5 Crown Commemorative
The modern British £5 coin descends from the historic crown and is issued almost exclusively for commemorative purposes, marking royal events, anniversaries, and national milestones.
Commemorative
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
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 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
Immune Columbia Copper
An extremely rare Confederation-era copper carrying the Latin legend 'IMMUNIS COLUMBIA,' known for numerous unusual die combinations and mules with other early American and British designs.
United States
Spade Guinea
A George III gold guinea nicknamed for its spade-shaped shield reverse, one of the last widely circulated guinea types before the denomination was phased out in the early 1800s.
British
Cartwheel Twopence (1797)
An enormous two-ounce copper twopence struck in 1797, the largest coin ever produced for circulation in Britain, made famous for its heavy raised cartwheel-style rim.
British