Coin Encyclopedia
Search and identify coins from around the world — with country, denomination, metal, mint, history, and how to tell them apart.
Somalia Elephant Silver Coin
A popular annually-redesigned bullion coin issued in the name of Somalia depicting an African elephant, part of a broader African Wildlife series struck by a German mint.
Africa & Oceania
Indian Head Gold Quarter Eagle ($2.50)
A small early 20th-century $2.50 gold coin notable for its incuse design and Native American war bonnet portrait, designed by sculptor Bela Lyon Pratt.
United States
Japanese Nishu-kin (gold coin)
Small rectangular gold coin from Tokugawa Japan valued at two shu, or one-eighth of a ryo, part of a fractional gold denomination system unique to Edo-period currency.
Asian
1988 Seoul Olympics Coins
South Korea issued a multi-metal coin program for the 1988 Seoul Summer Olympics, ranging from circulating cupronickel coins to gold and silver collector pieces featuring mascots and sporting themes.
Commemorative
1875-S Twenty-Cent Piece
The most commonly encountered date in the short-lived US twenty-cent piece series, struck in large numbers at San Francisco in the coin's debut year.
United States
1967 Centennial Gold $20 Coin
A gold $20 coin struck to mark the 100th anniversary of Canadian Confederation in 1967, sold mainly to collectors as part of the country's centennial commemorative coinage.
Commemorative
Double Sovereign
A British gold coin worth two pounds, twice the value of the standard sovereign, struck intermittently since the nineteenth century for commemorative and bullion purposes.
British
Canadian Toonie
Canada's bimetallic two dollar coin, introduced in 1996 with a polar bear reverse, whose nickname blends "two" with "loonie."
Canadian
Philippine 20 Centavos (US-Philippines)
A small silver coin from the US administration of the Philippines, showing Liberty striking an anvil before Mount Mayon on the obverse and a heraldic eagle on the reverse.
Asian
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
Lincoln Bicentennial Cent (2009)
A one-year series of four different reverse designs issued in 2009 to mark the 200th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's birth and the centennial of the Lincoln cent.
Commemorative
New Zealand Half Crown (pre-decimal)
The largest denomination in New Zealand's regular pre-decimal coin series, featuring the national coat of arms, circulated from 1933 until decimalization in 1967.
Africa & Oceania
Somali Elephant Gold
The gold version of Somalia's popular African Wildlife elephant coin series, produced by the Bavarian State Mint with a design refreshed nearly every year.
Bullion
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
Half Groat
A small hammered silver coin worth half the value of the groat, or two pence, struck across three centuries of English coinage from the reign of Edward III through the Stuart era.
British
India Gold Pagoda (Madras Presidency)
Small gold coin traditionally used across South India, later adopted and standardized by the East India Company's Madras Presidency before being phased out for rupee-based currency.
Asian
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
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
Ottoman 20 Kurus
Ottoman silver coin denominated in kuruş, bearing the sultan's ornate calligraphic tughra rather than a portrait, in keeping with Islamic artistic tradition.
World
Two Pound Gold (Double Sovereign)
A gold coin worth two pounds sterling and roughly twice the weight of a sovereign, struck mainly for jubilees, coronations, and modern proof or bullion sets rather than daily circulation.
British
Australian Holey Dollar and Dump
In 1813, colonial authorities in New South Wales punched the centers out of Spanish silver dollars to create two coins from one, easing a severe coin shortage while preventing the silver from leaving the colony.
Africa & Oceania
Brazilian 2000 Reis Silver
The largest common silver coin of the Brazilian Empire, bearing the portrait of Emperor Pedro II across several design types spanning his long reign.
Latin American
Chilean 20 Pesos Gold
The smallest of Chile's regular gold coin denominations, issued both in an earlier 19th-century gold peso series and later as part of the 1926 condor-themed gold reform.
Latin American
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