Coin Encyclopedia
Search and identify coins from around the world — with country, denomination, metal, mint, history, and how to tell them apart.
Coat of Arms Fifty Cents (Elizabeth II)
Canada's modern fifty-cent piece, showing the Canadian coat of arms on the reverse since 1959 under successive obverse portraits of Queen Elizabeth II and, later, King Charles III.
Canadian
Austrian Thaler (Joseph II)
A silver thaler bearing the portrait of Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II, struck in the late 18th century and, like the more famous Maria Theresa thaler, later restruck for use in Levant and African trade.
European
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
Texas Independence Centennial Half Dollar
A commemorative half dollar marking the 100th anniversary of Texas independence from Mexico, featuring an eagle on a lone star and figures of Sam Houston and Stephen F. Austin.
Commemorative
Capped Bust Half Eagle
John Reich's 1807 redesign turned Liberty to face left and added drapery to her bust, replacing the earlier Capped Bust to Right half eagle for a five-year run before the Capped Head type arrived.
United States
Stone Mountain Memorial Half Dollar
A 1925 commemorative half dollar depicting Confederate generals Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson on horseback, issued to fund the massive Stone Mountain carving in Georgia.
Commemorative
California Diamond Jubilee Half Dollar
A 1925 commemorative half dollar marking California's 75th anniversary of statehood, featuring a kneeling gold prospector obverse and a walking grizzly bear reverse.
Commemorative
Seated Liberty Half Dime
The final United States half dime series, struck from 1837 to 1873, features Christian Gobrecht's seated Liberty design before the denomination was replaced by the copper-nickel Shield Nickel.
United States
British Sovereign (modern proof)
Contemporary proof-quality gold sovereign struck by the Royal Mint, continuing Benedetto Pistrucci's St George and the dragon reverse design used since the early 19th century.
British
Sun Yat-sen Junk Dollar
A Republic of China silver dollar depicting Sun Yat-sen and a traditional sailing junk, with the scarcer 1934 variety showing three birds overhead that is highly sought by collectors.
Asian
Prussian Vereinsthaler
A standardized silver thaler struck by the Kingdom of Prussia under the 1857 Vienna Monetary Treaty, unifying weight and fineness across many German and Austrian states before German unification.
European
Caribou Twenty-Five Cents (quarter)
Canada's long-running 25-cent piece featuring a caribou head on the reverse, designed by Emanuel Hahn and struck continuously (with special anniversary exceptions) since 1937.
Canadian
Fasces Three-Cent Nickel
A nickname sometimes applied to the copper-nickel Three-Cent Piece of 1865-1889, whose reverse wreath-and-numeral design is occasionally likened to classical fasces imagery from early pattern experiments.
United States
Bremen Thaler
A silver thaler of the free Hanseatic city of Bremen, typically featuring the city's key emblem, issued for centuries as an independent trading city's own coinage.
European
Chinese Hupeh Province Dragon Dollar
Silver dragon dollar struck by the Hupeh (Hubei) provincial mint in late Qing China, part of the wave of regional dragon-dollar coinage issued across the empire's provinces.
Asian
Faustina the Younger Denarius
Silver denarius of Faustina the Younger, daughter of Antoninus Pius and wife of Marcus Aurelius, whose coinage emphasizes fertility and family themes.
Ancient
Commodus Denarius
Silver denarius of Commodus, the erratic son of Marcus Aurelius, whose later coinage famously depicted him as Hercules with lion skin and club.
Ancient
Selinus (Selinunte) River God Tetradrachm
Silver coinage of the Sicilian city of Selinus, notable for depicting the local river god sacrificing at an altar, along with the celery leaf that puns on the city's name.
Ancient
Draped Bust Large Cent
An early American copper cent showing a classically draped Liberty, based on a Gilbert Stuart portrait, minted at the dawn of United States coinage.
United States
Tunisian Franc (Beylik Era)
French-franc-aligned coinage struck in the name of the Tunisian Bey during the era of French protectorate influence, blending Arabic and French inscriptions.
Africa & Oceania
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
Kroisos (Croeseid) Gold Stater of Lydia
A pure gold stater struck under King Croesus of Lydia, part of history's first coinage issued in separate fixed-purity gold and silver denominations.
Ancient
Lydian Croeseid (Croesus Stater)
One of history's earliest bimetallic coinages, struck under the legendary King Croesus of Lydia, featuring the confronting foreparts of a lion and a bull.
Ancient
2000-P Sacagawea/Washington Quarter Mule
An extraordinarily rare mint error pairing the golden Sacagawea dollar obverse with a Washington quarter reverse die, one of the most famous modern mule errors in U.S. coinage.
Errors & Varieties