Coin Encyclopedia
Search and identify coins from around the world — with country, denomination, metal, mint, history, and how to tell them apart.
Bavaria Thaler
The historic large silver coin of Bavaria, struck across centuries by its electors and kings, capturing the state's political and artistic history until Germany's currency unification in the 1870s.
European
South African Mandela R5 Coin
South African circulating commemorative five-rand coin honoring Nelson Mandela, first issued for his 90th birthday in 2008 and again for his birth centenary in 2018.
Commemorative
Dutch Guilder (Gulden)
The guilder was the standard currency of the Netherlands for more than three centuries, struck in silver and later copper-nickel before being replaced by the euro in 2002.
European
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
British Silver Lunar Series
The Royal Mint's own Chinese zodiac-themed silver bullion series, launched in 2014 as a rival to the long-established Perth Mint Lunar coins.
British
British Queen's Beasts Silver Series
A ten-coin Royal Mint bullion series honoring the heraldic Queen's Beasts statues from Queen Elizabeth II's 1953 coronation, issued 2016-2021.
British
Spanish Peseta
The peseta was Spain's national currency for over 130 years, evolving from silver coinage under a provisional 19th-century government to copper-nickel coins used until the euro replaced it in 2002.
European
1918/7-D Buffalo Nickel Overdate
A famous overdate error on the Buffalo Nickel where a leftover 1917 working die was hand-repunched with an 1918 date, leaving traces of the underlying 7 visible beneath the 8.
Errors & Varieties
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
Portuguese Escudo
Portugal's national currency unit from the 1911 decimal reform, following the fall of the monarchy, until the Euro replaced it in the early 2000s.
European
Quarter Farthing
The smallest fractional denomination in British coinage, worth one-sixteenth of a penny, struck primarily for use in colonial Ceylon during Victoria's reign.
British
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
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
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
Third Farthing
An extremely small denomination worth one-twelfth of a penny, struck mainly to serve the currency needs of the British colony of Malta across the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
British
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
Shilling
One of Britain's oldest circulating silver denominations, nicknamed the 'bob,' equal to twelve pence and struck for over four centuries before decimalisation.
British
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
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
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
Venetian Gold Ducat
First struck in 1284, the Venetian gold ducat became medieval Europe's most trusted trade coin, prized for centuries for its unwavering weight and purity.
European
Demetrios Poliorketes Nike Tetradrachm
A Hellenistic silver tetradrachm of Demetrios I of Macedon, celebrated for its obverse image of Nike standing on a ship's prow, commemorating his naval victory at Salamis in Cyprus.
Ancient
Carolingian Silver Denier (Charlemagne)
Standardized silver penny introduced under Charlemagne's monetary reform, forming the template for medieval European currency for centuries afterward.
European
Prussian Thaler
The Prussian Thaler was the leading silver coin of the powerful Kingdom of Prussia, circulating from the mid-18th century until German unification replaced it with the mark in 1871–1873.
European