Coin Encyclopedia
Search and identify coins from around the world — with country, denomination, metal, mint, history, and how to tell them apart.
Caracalla Antoninianus
The first antoninianus coins, introduced by Caracalla in 215 AD as a debased double-denarius identified by the emperor's radiate crown.
Ancient
Antoninus Pius Denarius
Silver denarius of Antoninus Pius, whose long, peaceful reign is remembered for stability and prosperity, including coins marking Rome's 900th anniversary.
Ancient
Half Crown
A long-lived British coin worth one-eighth of a pound, struck from the Tudor era until decimalisation in 1970, valued today mainly for its portraits and design variety.
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
Amphipolis Apollo Tetradrachm
Silver tetradrachm of Amphipolis in Macedon, famous for its masterfully engraved three-quarter facing head of Apollo, widely regarded as a high point of Greek coin art.
Ancient
Syracuse Arethusa Tetradrachm
A classic silver tetradrachm from ancient Syracuse depicting the nymph Arethusa surrounded by dolphins, one of the most admired coin types of the Greek world.
Ancient
Syracuse Dekadrachm (Kimon)
A magnificent silver dekadrachm from ancient Syracuse signed by the master engraver Kimon, prized as one of the finest achievements of Greek coin art.
Ancient
Aegina Sea Turtle Stater
One of the earliest widely circulated Greek silver coins, struck by the island city-state of Aegina, featuring a sea turtle and later a land tortoise, and nicknamed simply 'turtles' by ancient traders.
Ancient
Alexander the Great Tetradrachm
The widely circulated silver coin of Alexander the Great, showing Herakles wearing a lion skin on the obverse and an enthroned Zeus on the reverse, struck across his empire and for generations after his death.
Ancient
Panama-Pacific Quarter Eagle Commemorative
A 1915 commemorative gold coin honoring the Panama-Pacific Exposition, showing Liberty riding a hippocampus (sea horse), symbolizing the Panama Canal's linking of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
Commemorative
Syracuse Decadrachm
A large, exquisitely engraved silver coin from the Greek city of Syracuse, celebrated as one of the finest achievements of ancient Greek numismatic art, featuring the nymph Arethusa and a victorious chariot.
Ancient
Netherlands Rijksdaalder
A historic large silver crown-sized coin of the Low Countries, the rijksdaalder became a trusted trade coin across Europe for centuries and lent its name to the modern Dutch 2½-guilder piece.
European
Segesta Hound Tetradrachm
Silver coin of Segesta in western Sicily, an Elymian city whose coinage features a hunting hound, linked to local legend of the river god Krimisos.
Ancient
Larissa Nymph Facing Drachm
A celebrated Thessalian silver drachm showing the facing head of the nymph Larissa, considered one of the finest facing-portrait achievements in Greek coin art.
Ancient
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
Bactrian Silver Tetradrachm
Large silver coin of the Greco-Bactrian kings of Central Asia, celebrated for producing some of the finest realistic royal portraiture in all of ancient coinage.
Ancient
Chinese Ban Liang Cash
China's first standardized round coin with a square center hole, introduced under Qin Shi Huang to unify currency across the newly consolidated Chinese empire.
Ancient
Sassanian Drachm of Khusro II
A silver coin of the long-reigning Sasanian king Khusro II, among the most commonly found ancient Persian coins, showing his ornate crowned bust and a Zoroastrian fire altar.
Ancient
Chinese Wu Zhu Cash
One of history's longest-running coin types, cast continuously for over seven centuries across multiple Chinese dynasties after its introduction under Emperor Wu of Han.
Ancient
Maundy Penny
The smallest coin of the four-piece Royal Maundy set, a tiny silver penny given by the British monarch in an ancient Holy Thursday alms ceremony, minted every year in very limited numbers.
British
Boeotia Federal Coinage Stater
A silver stater struck under the Boeotian League's shared coinage system, instantly recognizable by the distinctive figure-eight Boeotian shield on the obverse.
Ancient
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
Capped Bust Quarter Eagle
An umbrella term for the earliest U.S. $2.50 gold coins (1796-1834), whose Liberty-in-a-cap portrait evolved through several sub-types, including the famous single-year 1808 issue.
United States
Twenty Pence
A seven-sided UK coin introduced in 1982 to fill a gap between the ten pence and fifty pence denominations.
British