Coin Encyclopedia
Search and identify coins from around the world — with country, denomination, metal, mint, history, and how to tell them apart.
Guinea
Historic British gold coin named for the West African region that supplied much of its gold, valued at 21 shillings for most of its history and predecessor to the modern sovereign.
British
Mughal Silver Rupee (Akbar)
A silver rupee struck under Emperor Akbar, who standardized the denomination's weight and calligraphic design, establishing a coin type that shaped Indian currency for centuries.
Asian
Half Guinea
Smaller companion gold coin to the guinea, worth half its value, struck across the same reigns from Charles II through George III for mid-value transactions.
British
German Empire 5 Mark
A large silver crown of Imperial Germany bearing the portrait or arms of individual constituent states, unified under a common eagle reverse after German unification in 1871.
European
Viking Silver Penny of York
Silver penny struck by Norse rulers of the Viking Kingdom of York, blending Christian and pagan imagery such as crosses, swords, and Thor's hammers.
British
Demetrios Poliorketes Nike Tetradrachm
A Hellenistic silver tetradrachm of Demetrios I of Macedon, celebrated for its obverse image of Nike standing on a ship's prow, commemorating his naval victory at Salamis in Cyprus.
Ancient
Dutch Ducat
A small, nearly pure gold coin showing an armored knight, minted for centuries by the Dutch provinces and later the Kingdom of the Netherlands as a trusted international trade coin.
European
British Gold Guinea
Struck from 1663 to 1814 and named for the West African gold used in its earliest issues, the guinea was Britain's leading gold coin and gave its name to a unit of value still referenced today.
British
Persian Kran (Qajar silver)
The standard silver coin of Qajar Persia, worth one-tenth of a gold toman, widely struck under Naser al-Din Shah and later rulers and commonly seen with the lion-and-sun emblem.
Asian
Guptas 'Horseman' Silver Coin
Silver coin of the Gupta Empire showing the king on horseback, struck after Gupta conquest of western India in imitation of earlier Western Kshatrapa silver coinage.
Ancient
Unite
A gold twenty-shilling coin introduced by James I in 1604 to celebrate the union of the English and Scottish crowns, its name literally symbolizing the joining of the two kingdoms.
British
Gupta Empire Gold Dinar
Richly detailed gold coins of India's classical Gupta Empire, depicting kings as archers, horsemen, or lyrists, and often paired with a goddess on the reverse.
Ancient
Wood's Hibernia Halfpenny
A British copper coinage patented by William Wood for Ireland, controversially rejected there but widely circulated instead in colonial America, where large surplus shipments ended up in everyday trade.
United States
Pergamon Cistophoric Tetradrachm
A reduced-weight Hellenistic silver coin introduced by the Attalid kings of Pergamon, named for the sacred cista mystica chest depicted on the obverse and later adopted throughout Roman Asia.
Ancient
Byzantine Gold Tremissis
A small gold fractional coin worth one-third of a solidus, widely struck across the early Byzantine world and imitated by Germanic successor kingdoms in the former Western Roman Empire.
Ancient
Chinese Ming Dynasty Cash (Hong Wu Tong Bao)
The founding cash coin of the Ming Dynasty, issued under the Hongwu Emperor, marking the restoration of native Han Chinese rule after the collapse of the Mongol Yuan Dynasty.
Asian
Roman Aureus of Augustus
A gold coin struck under Rome's first emperor, Augustus, marking the establishment of a stable imperial gold coinage that funded and symbolized the new Roman Empire.
Ancient
Third Guinea
A small gold coin worth one-third of a guinea, or seven shillings, struck under George III in the years leading up to the introduction of the modern sovereign.
British
Vietnamese Gia Long Thong Bao (cash coin)
The founding cash coin of Vietnam's Nguyễn Dynasty, cast under Emperor Gia Long who reunified the country in 1802 and established Huế as the imperial capital.
Asian
Spanish 5 Pesetas Silver (Duro)
Spain's classic large silver crown coin, popularly nicknamed the 'duro,' issued under several monarchs and a provisional republic in the late 19th century.
European
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
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
Napoleon 20 Franc Gold Coin
A historic French gold coin first struck under Napoleon Bonaparte in 1803, later issued under successive French governments and long used as a benchmark gold coin across Europe.
European
Persian Gold Toman (Qajar)
The principal gold coin of Qajar Persia, valued at ten silver kran, struck under a succession of shahs from the late 18th century until the dynasty's end in 1925.
Asian