Coin Encyclopedia
Search and identify coins from around the world — with country, denomination, metal, mint, history, and how to tell them apart.
1793 Liberty Cap Half Cent
The first-year half cent, struck in 1793 with a distinctive 'Head Facing Left' Liberty Cap design used only that single year before the design was revised.
United States
1965 Kennedy Half Dollar (40% silver)
A transitional Kennedy half dollar struck with reduced 40% silver content after the Coinage Act of 1965 eliminated silver from dimes and quarters, honoring the assassinated president.
United States
1938-D Walking Liberty Half Dollar
A low-mintage Denver issue widely regarded as the key date of the later Walking Liberty half dollar run, second in scarcity only to the 1921 dates.
United States
Booker T. Washington Memorial Half Dollar
A commemorative half dollar honoring educator Booker T. Washington, notable as the first U.S. coin designed by an African American sculptor and the first to depict a Black American.
Commemorative
New Zealand Half Crown (pre-decimal)
The largest denomination in New Zealand's regular pre-decimal coin series, featuring the national coat of arms, circulated from 1933 until decimalization in 1967.
Africa & Oceania
San Diego Pacific Exposition Half Dollar
A 1935-1936 U.S. commemorative half dollar sold at the California Pacific International Exposition in San Diego's Balboa Park.
Commemorative
1964 Kennedy Half Dollar (90% Silver)
The first-year Kennedy half dollar, rushed into production after President Kennedy's assassination, struck only in 1964 with a 90% silver composition before the alloy was reduced.
United States
1965-1970 Kennedy Half Dollar (40% Silver)
Kennedy half dollars struck with a reduced 40% silver clad composition after the Coinage Act of 1965, bridging the gap between full silver coinage and today's copper-nickel clad coins.
United States
Lincoln Memorial Cent
The long-running Lincoln cent reverse featuring the Lincoln Memorial, used for half a century and one of the most commonly encountered coins in American pockets and collections.
United States
1943 Bronze Lincoln Cent
An extremely rare mint error in which a small number of 1943 Lincoln cents were accidentally struck in leftover bronze rather than the intended wartime zinc-coated steel.
Errors & Varieties
1943 Bronze Cent
An extremely rare Lincoln cent mistakenly struck in leftover bronze planchets in 1943, a year when cents were officially made of zinc-coated steel to save copper for World War II.
Errors & Varieties
Indian Head Cent
A long-running 19th-century one-cent coin depicting Liberty in a Native American-style feathered headdress, popular with collectors for its accessible half-century run.
United States
Lincoln Wheat Cent
The first widely circulated U.S. coin to feature a real historical figure, Abraham Lincoln, with two stylized wheat stalks on the reverse; one of the most collected coins in America.
United States
1943 Steel Cent
A one-year-only zinc-coated steel cent struck to conserve copper for World War II ammunition and equipment production, easily recognized by its silvery color.
United States
Carolingian Silver Denier (Charlemagne)
Standardized silver penny introduced under Charlemagne's monetary reform, forming the template for medieval European currency for centuries afterward.
European
Farthing
The smallest-value British bronze coin, worth a quarter of a penny, fondly remembered for its charming wren reverse design used from 1937 until its withdrawal.
British
Lincoln Shield Cent
The current Lincoln cent reverse, introduced in 2010, depicts a Union shield replacing the earlier Lincoln Memorial design as the fourth reverse in the cent's history.
United States
1944 Steel Cent
A rare Lincoln cent mistakenly struck on leftover steel planchets in 1944, the reverse counterpart to the famous 1943 bronze cent error.
Errors & Varieties
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
1943 Copper Lincoln Cent
An extremely rare mint error where a handful of 1943 cents were struck on leftover bronze planchets instead of the wartime steel used that year, making it one of the most famous US coin errors.
Errors & Varieties
1931-S Lincoln Wheat Cent
A Great Depression-era key date with a comparatively low mintage from the San Francisco Mint, long recognized as one of the more important dates in the Lincoln Wheat cent series.
United States
1914-D Lincoln Wheat Cent
A famous key-date Lincoln cent struck at the Denver Mint in 1914 in a comparatively low quantity, making it one of the most sought-after dates in the series.
United States
Lincoln Bicentennial Cent (2009)
A one-year series of four different reverse designs issued in 2009 to mark the 200th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's birth and the centennial of the Lincoln cent.
Commemorative
Byzantine Gold Semissis
A scarce half-value gold fraction of the Byzantine solidus, struck in smaller numbers than the tremissis and often associated with ceremonial or donative purposes.
Ancient