Coin Encyclopedia
Search and identify coins from around the world — with country, denomination, metal, mint, history, and how to tell them apart.
Australian Sovereign
22-carat gold sovereign struck at Australian branch mints; the 1855 Sydney Mint issue was the country's first gold coin.
Australian
India Half Pice
A small copper half pice from India carrying a crowned obverse with the word INDIA; the pice is a sub-unit of the old pre-decimal Indian coinage system.
Modern India
Silver Rupee of Ahmadabad
Hand-struck Mughal silver rupee of Emperor Akbar from the Ahmadabad mint in Gujarat, dated Regnal Year 47.
Mughal India
Tanzania 500 Shillings
A modern base-metal circulating coin of Tanzania carrying a right-facing portrait long associated with the nation's founding president and a Kiswahili legend.
World
Tealby Penny
Silver penny of Henry II, the Tealby or Cross-and-Crosslets type, with a crowned royal bust and a voided cross bearing small crosslets in its angles.
Medieval Coins
Draped Bust Large Cent
An early U.S. copper one-cent coin (1796–1807) showing a right-facing Liberty with flowing hair and drapery, larger and heavier than a modern cent.
United States
2.5 Escudos
A copper-nickel 2.5 Escudos of the Portuguese Republic, showing a sailing caravel on the obverse and the national shield with the value 2$50.
Modern
Alexander the Great Gold Quarter Stater
A small gold fraction of the Alexander the Great coinage, showing the head of Heracles and an eagle perched on a thunderbolt, the attributes of Zeus.
Ancient
500 Yen Bicolor Clad
Japan's large two-tone 500 yen circulation coin, with a floral blossom design and pearl-like beading on one face and bold value numerals on the other.
Circulation
Bronze Coin of Septimius Severus (Tyre)
Roman provincial bronze struck at Tyre (Phoenicia) under Septimius Severus, 193-211 AD, with the emperor's bust on the obverse and a temple or deity reverse.
Ancient
Draped Bust Half Dollar
Early U.S. silver fifty-cent piece of 1796–1807. The pictured 1796 Small Eagle with 15 stars is among the rarest of all American coins.
Half Dollar
Classic Head Half Cent
A small U.S. copper half cent of 1809–1836 showing Liberty in a beaded headband ringed by stars, with a plain wreath and HALF CENT on the reverse.
Half Cent
Agathokles Commemorative Tetradrachm for Alexander the Great
Silver tetradrachm of Agathokles of Syracuse, c. 310-300 BC, struck in the Alexander tradition with a bearded head and an enthroned deity reverse.
Ancient
Japanese 20 Yen
Early Meiji-era Japanese gold coin showing a dragon among clouds on one side and a floral design with the 20 yen denomination on the other.
World Coins
Braided Hair Large Cent
The last U.S. large copper cent: Liberty in a beaded coronet with braided hair, ringed by stars, over a laurel-wreath ONE CENT reverse.
Large Cent
25 Pesetas (Franco)
Spain's common Franco-era 25 pesetas, a silvery copper-nickel coin bearing the national coat of arms and the value 25; dated 1957 but struck into the 1970s.
Modern
French 30 Sols
A silver coin of the early French Revolution showing Louis XVI as constitutional king on one side and a standing Liberty on the other.
Revolutionary
French Constitutional Ecu
A large 1792 French silver ecu of the constitutional monarchy, with a bust of Louis XVI and an allegorical figure of Liberty with fasces.
Revolutionary
Indian Silver Coin
A silver coin of British India bearing Persian/Urdu calligraphy and a mint mark, in the Mughal-derived inscriptional style of Company-era coinage.
British India
France 2 Euro Bleuet de France Commemorative
A French bi-metallic 2 euro commemorative showing the Bleuet de France cornflower, France's remembrance flower, paired with the shared European 2 euro side.
Commemorative
France 1 Euro
France's bimetallic 1 euro coin, with a stylized leafy tree inside a hexagon on the national side and the euro value with a map of Europe on the common side.
Euro
French Indochina Piastre
A 1928 silver piastre of French Indochina, its obverse showing seated Liberty with torch and laurel, its reverse reading UNION INDOCHINE FRANÇAISE in a floral wreath.
Southeast Asia
5 Roubles (Alexander III)
An Imperial Russian gold 5 Roubles of Alexander III, showing the tsar's bearded profile and the crowned double-headed eagle, struck in the late 1880s.
Modern
1 Yen (Silver)
An early Meiji silver 1 Yen struck in Meiji 3 (1870), showing a coiled dragon with a radiant sun on one side and a wreathed imperial crest on the other.
Circulation