Coin Encyclopedia
Search and identify coins from around the world — with country, denomination, metal, mint, history, and how to tell them apart.
20 Reales (Isabel II)
Crown-sized Spanish silver 20 Reales of Queen Isabel II, with her crowned right-facing profile and a crowned pillared shield, dated 1854.
Modern
East African 1 Cent
A small holed copper 1 Cent of British East Africa dated 1924, with a crown and decorative rings on one face and the value framing the central hole on the other.
World
20 Soles de Oro
A Peruvian gold 20 soles de oro showing a seated Liberty with crown, torch and radiant sun, part of Peru's mid-20th-century gold coinage.
Circulation
British Decimal Half Penny
The smallest UK decimal coin, a tiny bronze half-penny introduced with decimalisation in 1971, bearing a crown reverse and the Machin portrait of Elizabeth II.
British Isles
Half Pahlavi Gold Coin
A small Iranian gold coin worth half a Pahlavi, showing Reza Shah in a military cap on one side and the Lion and Sun with a crown on the other.
Persia / Iran
Antoninianus of Numerian
Late Roman radiate coin of the short-lived emperor Numerian (283-284 AD), showing his spiked crown and a Victory or standing deity on the reverse.
Ancient
Antoninianus
Roman imperial coin of the crisis era, marked by a radiate (spiked) crown on the emperor's head; struck in debased silver-and-copper billon, c. 250-270 AD.
Ancient Coins
Ecu of Louis XIV
A large silver crown of Louis XIV, the Sun King, showing his laureate or wigged bust facing left and a crowned French shield of fleur-de-lis, dated 1693.
Royal
Cambodia Two Francs
A crown-sized Cambodian Two Francs of King Norodom I, its obverse a royal profile and DEUX FRANCS reverse over a crowned coat of arms; dated 1860 but long restruck.
Southeast Asia
Qiran of Fath-Ali Shah Qajar
A hand-struck silver qiran of the Qajar shah Fath-Ali, carrying Persian calligraphy, a decorative border and crown motif, dated AH 1240–1241 (AD 1825–1826).
Persia / Iran
Guangxu Yuanbao Dollar
A crown-sized silver dragon dollar of Qing China inscribed 光緒元寶 (Guangxu Yuanbao), with a coiled dragon reverse and a provincial mint inscription; this piece dated 1905.
Circulation
Thistle Merk
A hammered silver Scottish merk of James VI, showing a crowned heraldic shield of Scotland and a crowned thistle with a Latin legend.
Hammered
British Florin
A Victorian silver two-shilling florin with a crowned, veiled Victoria and a heraldic crowned-shields reverse; the pictured coin is dated 1890.
World
Eighth Thistle Merk
A small hammered silver Scottish coin of James VI, showing a crowned heraldic shield of arms on one side and a crowned thistle on the other.
Hammered
British Shilling
Small Victorian silver shilling showing Queen Victoria's crowned, veiled Jubilee portrait and a crowned heraldic shield reverse.
World Coins
Maundy Money Penny
Tiny silver penny given as royal alms; this James II example (1687) shows a crowned bust and a crowned Roman numeral I reverse.
Maundy
Half Thistle Merk
A hammered Scottish silver half merk of James VI, showing a crowned coat of arms on one side and a crowned thistle on the other.
Hammered
Victoria Maundy Fourpence
A tiny sterling-silver ceremonial coin from a royal Maundy set. This 1889 example shows Victoria's crowned Jubilee Head and a crowned '4' in a wreath.
British Isles
Hungarian 9 Ducats
A large gold multiple-ducat piece of Hungary dated 1896, showing a bearded crowned figure with sword and shield and the crowned Hungarian arms.
Bullion/gold
Charles I Unite
A large hammered gold coin of Charles I worth twenty shillings, showing his crowned profile and a crowned quartered shield of lions and fleur-de-lis.
Hammered
Charles I Forty Pence
A hammered silver forty-pence piece of Charles I, showing his crowned armored bust and a crowned heraldic shield with the motto PRO REGE ET LEGE.
Hammered
Gustav I Silver Coin
Early-Renaissance Swedish silver of Gustav I Vasa (r. 1523–1560), pairing a crowned armored royal bust with a crowned heraldic lion.
Medieval
Eric XIV Silver Coin
Silver coin of Eric XIV of Sweden (r. 1560–1568), showing his crowned profile portrait and a heraldic Vasa/Three Crowns reverse, struck c. 1565.
Medieval
British Sixpence
Small British silver sixpence (6d); this example is an 1888 Queen Victoria 'Jubilee head' with the crowned, veiled bust.
British Isles