Coin Encyclopedia
Search and identify coins from around the world — with country, denomination, metal, mint, history, and how to tell them apart.
Australian Lunar Series (Perth Mint)
Modern Australian bullion and collector coin series from the Perth Mint featuring a different Chinese zodiac animal each year, popular worldwide with precious metal collectors.
Bullion
Italian 5 Lire
A large silver crown of the newly unified Kingdom of Italy, bearing the portrait of the reigning king and marking Italy's emergence as a single national currency after centuries of regional coinages.
European
Yuan Shih-kai Dollar ("Fat Man Dollar")
A widely circulated Republic of China silver dollar bearing the portrait of President Yuan Shikai, nicknamed the "Fat Man Dollar" for his rounded features and became China's standard silver coin for years.
Asian
Mexican 8 Reales Cap and Rays
The classic silver dollar of independent Mexico, showing a radiant Phrygian liberty cap over mountains, widely trusted and traded across the Americas and Asia for most of the 19th century.
Latin American
1960 Large Date over Small Date Lincoln Cent
A date-size variety of the 1960 Lincoln cent in which large and small date logotypes were both used during the year, with some pieces showing evidence of one date style impressed over the other.
Errors & Varieties
Netherlands Rijksdaalder
A historic large silver crown-sized coin of the Low Countries, the rijksdaalder became a trusted trade coin across Europe for centuries and lent its name to the modern Dutch 2½-guilder piece.
European
1955 Poor Man's Doubled Die Lincoln Cent
A more common, lower-value doubled die variety on the 1955 Lincoln cent, nicknamed the 'poor man's' version because it offers a similar doubled-image look to the famous 1955 Doubled Die Obverse at a fraction of the price.
Errors & Varieties
1943 Copper Lincoln Cent
An extremely rare mint error where a handful of 1943 cents were struck on leftover bronze planchets instead of the wartime steel used that year, making it one of the most famous US coin errors.
Errors & Varieties
Guatemala Quetzal Silver
Guatemala's modern national currency unit, named after the resplendent quetzal bird, introduced in the 1920s with a substantial silver coin marking the country's monetary modernization.
Latin American
Argentine Peso Moneda Nacional (Patacón)
Argentina's long-standing peso moneda nacional coinage, informally nicknamed the patacón, formed the backbone of the country's currency from the 1880s well into the twentieth century.
Latin American
Japanese 50 Sen Silver (Meiji Phoenix)
An early Meiji-era Japanese silver coin featuring a coiled dragon on the obverse and a phoenix on the reverse, part of Japan's first modern decimal coinage system introduced after the Meiji Restoration.
Asian
French Indochina Piastre de Commerce
A large silver trade dollar issued by colonial French Indochina, weighted to match the Mexican and Spanish trade dollars already circulating throughout Southeast Asian and Chinese commerce.
Asian
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
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
Brasher Doubloon
A famous privately struck gold coin made in 1787 by New York goldsmith Ephraim Brasher, a neighbor of George Washington, and one of the most valuable and celebrated coins in American numismatics.
United States
Kellogg & Co. Gold Piece
Private gold coinage struck by the San Francisco firm Kellogg & Co. during the California Gold Rush, including the famous octagonal fifty-dollar 'slug' of 1855, filling a shortage of circulating coin.
United States
Saxony Thaler
Saxony was one of the earliest and most prolific issuers of thalers, with the electorate and later kingdom producing large silver coins from the 16th century until German unification.
European
Netherlands 10 Gulden Gold (Wilhelmina)
The gold 10 Gulden coin featuring Queen Wilhelmina was the Netherlands' standard gold circulation and reserve coin in the early 20th century, later restruck as a recognized gold bullion piece.
European
Spanish 2 Reales Pillar
The Pillar 2 Reales was a fractional Spanish colonial silver coin featuring the famous Pillars of Hercules design, struck at mints across Spanish America and widely used in international trade.
Latin American
Finnish Markka
Finland's national currency from the era of Russian imperial rule until the adoption of the euro, issued in a range of coin denominations reflecting the country's changing political history.
European
Swiss 10 Francs Gold Vreneli
The smallest denomination of Switzerland's iconic "Vreneli" gold series, featuring a Swiss maiden's profile, prized by collectors and gold buyers alike for its classic design and modest size.
European
English Angel
A gold coin depicting the Archangel Michael slaying a dragon, issued for nearly two centuries and later famous for its use as a royal 'touch-piece' for the healing ceremony of the King's Evil.
British
English Sovereign of Henry VII
The first English sovereign, introduced by Henry VII in 1489 as a large, prestigious gold coin showing the king enthroned in majesty, meant to project royal power after the Wars of the Roses.
British
Nepal Silver Mohar
A traditional silver denomination issued by the Malla city-kingdoms and later the unifying Shah dynasty of Nepal, typically bearing Devanagari script rather than portraits.
Asian