Coin Encyclopedia
Search and identify coins from around the world — with country, denomination, metal, mint, history, and how to tell them apart.
Chinese Song Dynasty Cash Coin
A round bronze coin with a square center hole issued during China's Song Dynasty, among the most massively produced and commonly collected pre-modern Chinese coin types.
Asian
Draped Bust Eagle
The formal catalog name for the first U.S. ten-dollar gold coin once it adopted a bold heraldic eagle reverse in 1797, the same coin popularly nicknamed the 'Turban Head' eagle.
United States
Panama-Pacific Gold Dollar Commemorative
A 1915 gold dollar honoring the workers who built the Panama Canal, featuring a canal laborer's head on the obverse and two dolphins encircling the denomination on the reverse.
Commemorative
1976 Bicentennial Kennedy Half Dollar
A special dual-dated 1776-1976 Kennedy half dollar with a redesigned Independence Hall reverse, struck to commemorate the United States Bicentennial.
United States
1856-S Seated Liberty Quarter
A scarcer San Francisco-minted date in the Seated Liberty quarter series, struck in the mint's early years and prized by collectors, especially in higher grades.
United States
1982 Copper/Zinc Transition Lincoln Cent
The single year the Lincoln cent's composition changed mid-year from 95% copper bronze to copper-plated zinc, producing seven recognized date, mint, and metal varieties.
Errors & Varieties
1878 Shield Nickel (Proof Only)
Another proof-only rarity in the Shield Nickel series, struck exclusively for collectors with no business-strike coinage issued for circulation that year.
United States
1867 Shield Nickel No Rays
The revised Shield Nickel design with the rays removed from between the reverse stars, introduced to solve die-breakage problems experienced with the original 1866 design.
United States
Mercury Dime
Popular U.S. dime nicknamed for its winged Liberty head, mistaken by many for the Roman god Mercury, designed by Adolph A. Weinman and struck from 1916 to 1945.
United States
Gold Britannia
The United Kingdom's premier gold bullion coin series, launched in 1987, featuring Britannia on the reverse and available in one-ounce and fractional weights.
Bullion
Halfpenny
A small British bronze coin worth half a penny, best known in its twentieth-century form featuring Sir Francis Drake's ship the Golden Hind on the reverse.
British
Sixpence
A small British silver coin worth half a shilling, affectionately nicknamed the 'tanner,' beloved for its traditional role tucked into Christmas puddings.
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
Boeotia Federal Coinage Stater
A silver stater struck under the Boeotian League's shared coinage system, instantly recognizable by the distinctive figure-eight Boeotian shield on the obverse.
Ancient
Athens New Style Owl Tetradrachm
Later Athenian silver tetradrachm on a broad, thin flan showing the owl standing on an amphora within an olive wreath, distinct from the earlier classical owl coinage.
Ancient
Liberty Head Double Eagle
A large gold twenty-dollar coin featuring Liberty's coronet-crowned head, struck for decades amid the California Gold Rush and westward mint expansion.
United States
1972 Doubled Die Lincoln Cent
A famous Lincoln cent error showing strong doubling on the obverse date and lettering, caused by a misaligned die hub during production at the Philadelphia Mint.
Errors & Varieties
Iranian Pahlavi Gold Coin
A gold coin series named for Iran's Pahlavi dynasty, issued from the 1920s until the 1979 revolution and still widely traded today as a recognized gold bullion and savings coin.
Bullion
1969-S Doubled Die Obverse Lincoln Cent
A famous and dramatic doubled die obverse Lincoln cent from the San Francisco Mint, showing strong, easily visible doubling and ranking among the most valuable Lincoln cent doubled die varieties.
Errors & Varieties
2005 Kansas State Quarter In God We Rust
A popularly nicknamed error on the 2005 Kansas state quarter in which a filled or damaged die caused the T in TRUST to appear missing, making the motto read 'IN GOD WE RUST.'
Errors & Varieties
Peruvian Sol de Oro
Peru's long-running national currency unit, the Sol de Oro, was issued as coinage from the 1860s through the mid-1980s in both silver and later base-metal forms.
Latin American
Brazilian 6400 Reis Gold (Peça)
A substantial colonial Brazilian gold coin nicknamed the "peça" (piece), widely known abroad as the "Johannes" or "Joe," and once common in trade across the Atlantic world.
Latin American
Carolingian Silver Denier (Charlemagne)
Standardized silver penny introduced under Charlemagne's monetary reform, forming the template for medieval European currency for centuries afterward.
European
Ceylon (Sri Lanka) EIC Rixdollar
A colonial currency unit continued by the British East India Company administration in Ceylon, inherited from earlier Dutch VOC rule and featuring an elephant design.
Asian