Coin Encyclopedia
Search and identify coins from around the world — with country, denomination, metal, mint, history, and how to tell them apart.
Trinidad and Tobago 50 Cents
A large copper-nickel Caribbean circulation coin; the 1967 example carries the national coat of arms and country name on the obverse and the 50-cent value on the reverse.
Circulation
Spanish Colonial 2 Reales (Milled)
A small milled silver coin of the Spanish Empire, struck in colonial American mints; this example is dated 1776 and shows heraldic lions, castles and a crowned shield.
Colonial
Australian Fifty Cents
Australia's 50 cent coin bearing the national coat of arms. The 1966 round issue shown here was struck in silver; later 12-sided coins are cupronickel.
Australian
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
Bald Eagle Commemorative Half Eagle
A 2008 U.S. commemorative gold $5 half eagle honoring the recovery of the American bald eagle, featuring an eagle design and a heraldic Great Seal eagle.
Commemoratives
Paquet Double Eagle
An 1861 U.S. $20 gold piece with the standard Liberty Head obverse paired with Anthony Paquet's rare tall-letter reverse variety.
Gold Type Coin
Counterstamped 8 Reales
A Charles IV silver 8 reales later punched with counterstamps and pierced with a central hole, layering a second life onto the classic Spanish dollar.
Colonial
Capped Bust Half Eagle
Early U.S. five-dollar gold coin with a left-facing capped Liberty and a shield-breasted eagle marked "5 D."; the 1822 shown is a legendary rarity.
United States
Turban Head Half Eagle
First U.S. gold $5 coin, 1795: Liberty in a soft cap facing right, with a heraldic shield-breasted eagle reverse struck in 22-karat gold.
Half Eagle
Medal of Honor Commemorative Half Eagle
US 2011 gold $5 commemorative honoring the Medal of Honor, showing the Army version of the medal above a Corinthian column.
Commemoratives
Panama-Pacific Exposition $50 (Octagonal)
An eight-sided $50 gold commemorative struck for San Francisco's 1915 world's fair, showing Minerva and her owl — the largest U.S. coin of its era.
Classic Commemorative
Guangxu Yuanbao 50 Cents
A Qing-dynasty silver half-dollar bearing the legend Guangxu Yuanbao and a coiled dragon, struck by Chinese provincial mints during the Guangxu Emperor's reign.
Circulation
Gouden Dukaat
A Dutch gold trade ducat of the United Provinces, showing an armored standing knight and an inscribed heraldic tablet; this example is dated 1724.
Early Modern
Standing Liberty Quarter Centennial Gold
A 2016 U.S. quarter-dollar struck in 1/4 oz of .9999 fine gold, reviving Hermon MacNeil's Standing Liberty design for its 100th anniversary.
Quarter
Gold Chervonets
Soviet gold coin of 1923 worth one chervonets (10 rubles), showing a peasant sowing before a rising sun and factories, with the Soviet state emblem.
World
Gold Sovereign
The British gold sovereign: a one-pound gold coin. This 1817 George III example shows a laureate bust and a crowned heraldic shield of the royal arms.
World
Gold Guinea
English gold coin of the Guinea denomination; the example shown bears the right-facing bust of Charles II with a crowned cruciform shield reverse dated 1668.
World Coins
Swedish Gold Commemorative
An early-20th-century Swedish gold coin showing a right-facing royal profile with the legend SVERIGES KONUNG and the fatherland motto.
Commemorative
Austrian Gold Ducat
A high-purity Austrian gold ducat of the Habsburg monarchy, showing a crowned ruler in military dress on the obverse and the double-headed imperial eagle on the reverse.
Bullion/gold
American Gold Eagle
The United States' official gold bullion coin since 1986, struck in 22-karat gold in four sizes with a Saint-Gaudens striding Liberty obverse.
Bullion
Gold Mohur of Akbar
Aniconic gold coin of Mughal emperor Akbar (1556-1605), struck in Persian calligraphy in the Ilahi coinage style.
Mughal India
Gold Dinar of Jaqmaq
A hand-struck Mamluk gold dinar of Sultan al-Zahir Jaqmaq (r. 1438-1453 CE), covered in Arabic calligraphy with no figural imagery; this example is pierced.
Islamic (Medieval)
Lysimachos Gold Stater
Gold stater of Lysimachos, king in Thrace and Macedon c. 305-281 BC, with a deified head of Alexander the Great and an enthroned Athena reverse.
Ancient
2 Rigsdaler (Gold)
A gold striking of Denmark's 1863 2 rigsdaler, with the right-facing bust of Christian IX and the crowned royal arms — a rare early piece of his reign.
European