Coin Encyclopedia
Search and identify coins from around the world — with country, denomination, metal, mint, history, and how to tell them apart.
20 Francs Napoleon
A small 21 mm French gold coin bearing Napoleon III's profile and a wreathed 20 FRANCS reverse — the classic gold Napoleon, here dated 1857.
Bullion
Half Sovereign
A small British 22-carat gold coin worth ten shillings; this example shows Queen Victoria's veiled, crowned Jubilee Head portrait and is dated 1887.
World Coins
Bangladesh One Taka
A small nickel-plated steel coin of Bangladesh worth one Taka, showing a jute plant with stars on the obverse and the numeral 1 with Bengali text and date on the reverse.
South Asia
Edward IV Angel
Medieval English gold coin showing Saint Michael the Archangel slaying a dragon-demon, with a heraldic cross-and-shield reverse.
Medieval Coins
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
Erstein Notgeld 5 Pfennigs
A World War I emergency small-change coin issued by the town of Erstein in 1917, with the civic coat of arms on one side and a large 5 on the other.
Token/notgeld
Belize 1 Cent
A small bronze one-cent coin from the Caribbean nation now called Belize, carrying a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II and dated 1954.
Circulation
Ottoman Silver Coin
A silver coin of the Ottoman Empire bearing the sultan's tughra monogram amid floral ornament, with Arabic-script inscriptions on the reverse.
World
Bahawalpur Gold Coin
A gold coin or medallic piece linked to the princely state of Bahawalpur, its obverse bearing a uniformed royal portrait and its reverse an ornate coat of arms.
South Asia
Matapan (Serbian imitation)
A medieval Serbian coin modeled on the Venetian matapan (grosso), showing standing figures on the obverse and a cross on the reverse.
Medieval
Unattributed Gold Coin
A gold-colored coin of uncertain origin: a portrait with East Asian calligraphy on one face and a radiating sunburst within a decorative border on the other.
Unknown
New Zealand Halfpenny
New Zealand's small bronze halfpenny, struck from 1940, with a royal portrait obverse and a Maori hei-tiki reverse. The coin shown is a 1940 George VI issue.
New Zealand
Antiochos III Tetradrachm
A large Seleucid silver coin of Antiochos III the Great, showing his diademed head and a seated deity holding shield and spear.
Ancient
Edward IV Ryal
English medieval gold coin of Edward IV showing the king armored in a ship with a shield, and a radiant rose-on-sun design on the reverse.
Medieval Coins
Roman Quadrans
A small Roman bronze quadrans, worth a quarter of an as, here a heavily corroded piece with a laureate head facing right.
Ancient
Edward III Noble
Large medieval English gold coin of King Edward III, showing the crowned king standing in a ship and an ornate floral cross on the reverse.
Medieval Coins
Edward IV Half Angel
Medieval English gold coin of King Edward IV, half the value of the angel, showing Saint Michael slaying a dragon with a spear and shield.
Medieval Coins
Hryvnia
Medieval silver money unit of Kievan Rus, circulating as cast silver ingots and weight-money rather than as a struck, portrait-bearing coin.
Medieval
Australian Halfpenny
Small bronze pre-decimal Australian half penny; the George VI kangaroo type shown here was struck through the early 1950s.
Australian
2 Fillér
A small early-20th-century Hungarian 2 fillér in copper-based bronze, showing the crowned Hungarian coat of arms on the obverse and the value with date on the reverse.
Modern
Tunisia 1 Franc
A small golden aluminum-bronze 1 franc of French-protectorate Tunisia, reading TUNISIE with a wreath and 'BON POUR 1 FRANC' beside Arabic script.
World
Manchukuo 1 Fen
A small bronze 1 fen from Manchukuo, dated 1944, with a large numeral 1 and Chinese inscriptions on one side and an ornamental circular design on the other.
Circulation
Follis of Licinius I
A small bronze follis of the emperor Licinius I (AD 308-324), showing his portrait and a standing deity reverse, struck around AD 320-321.
Ancient
Antoninianus of Carinus
Bronze radiate coin of the emperor Carinus (283-285 AD), recognizable by his spiked crown and a standing or seated deity on the reverse.
Ancient