Coin Encyclopedia
Search and identify coins from around the world — with country, denomination, metal, mint, history, and how to tell them apart.
Colombian Peso Silver
Colombia's traditional silver dollar-sized coin, struck across different eras of the country's political evolution, from Nueva Granada through the modern Republic of Colombia.
Latin American
Ecuador Sucre Silver
Ecuador's historic silver one-sucre coin, named after independence hero Antonio Jose de Sucre, circulated for decades before Ecuador's currency was eventually replaced by the US dollar.
Latin American
Panama Balboa Silver
Panama's dollar-sized silver crown, named for explorer Vasco Nunez de Balboa and pegged 1:1 to the US dollar throughout its history.
Latin American
Cuba Peso 'Star' Silver (ABC Peso)
A silver dollar-sized Cuban peso featuring a prominent five-pointed star, popularly nicknamed the 'ABC Peso' and widely used interchangeably with the US silver dollar in the 1930s.
Latin American
George V Fifty Cents
Canada's fifty-cent silver coin issued under King George V, spanning a reduction in silver fineness in 1920 and including the famously rare 1921 date.
Canadian
Mexican Estados Unidos 1 Peso 'Morelos'
A mid-twentieth-century Mexican silver peso portraying independence hero José María Morelos, struck in fifty-percent silver for just a few years after World War II.
Latin American
Coat of Arms Fifty Cents (Elizabeth II)
Canada's modern fifty-cent piece, showing the Canadian coat of arms on the reverse since 1959 under successive obverse portraits of Queen Elizabeth II and, later, King Charles III.
Canadian
1921 Fifty Cents (King of Canadian Coins)
Canada's most famous rarity, the 1921 fifty-cent piece survives in only a small number of known examples after most of its mintage was melted, earning it the nickname King of Canadian Coins.
Canadian
Sixpence
A small British silver coin worth half a shilling, affectionately nicknamed the 'tanner,' beloved for its traditional role tucked into Christmas puddings.
British
Republican Quinarius
A half-denarius silver coin of the Roman Republic, often depicting the twin gods Castor and Pollux (the Dioscuri) riding on horseback.
Ancient
Mexican 8 Reales Cap and Rays
The classic silver dollar of independent Mexico, showing a radiant Phrygian liberty cap over mountains, widely trusted and traded across the Americas and Asia for most of the 19th century.
Latin American
Dutch Lion Daalder (Leeuwendaalder)
A silver trade coin of the Dutch Republic showing an armored knight and a rampant lion, exported in vast quantities to the Levant, Russia, and the American colonies.
European
Netherlands Lion Daalder (Leeuwendaalder)
A large silver trade coin of the Dutch provinces showing a knight and a rampant lion, widely circulated in colonial North America and the Ottoman world as the prototype 'lion dollar.'
European
Spanish Colonial 8 Reales Ferdinand VII
A large silver 8 reales coin struck across Spain's American colonies bearing the portrait of King Ferdinand VII, widely circulated internationally and historically linked to the origin of the US dollar sign.
World
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
Bolivia 8 Reales (Potosi Mint)
A major Spanish colonial and early Bolivian silver dollar struck at the legendary Potosí mint, fed by the immense silver deposits of the Cerro Rico mountain.
Latin American
Spanish Colonial Cob 8 Reales (Macuquina)
A crudely hand-struck Spanish colonial silver coin, cut from irregular silver bars and stamped with a cross and shield, famed worldwide as the original 'piece of eight'.
Latin American
Ryal
A large Scottish silver coin issued under Mary, Queen of Scots and Henry Stewart, Lord Darnley, nicknamed the 'sword dollar' for the crowned sword on its reverse.
British
Ethiopian Birr (Menelik II)
Silver birr introduced by Emperor Menelik II of Ethiopia, modeled on the weight and fineness of the Maria Theresa thaler, featuring his crowned bust and the Lion of Judah.
Africa & Oceania
French Indochina Piastre de Commerce
A large silver trade dollar issued by colonial French Indochina, weighted to match the Mexican and Spanish trade dollars already circulating throughout Southeast Asian and Chinese commerce.
Asian
Maria Theresa Thaler
An Austrian silver trade coin dated 1780 that has been restruck continuously for over two centuries, remaining a trusted currency across parts of Africa and the Middle East long after its original issue.
European
Spanish 8 Reales (Piece of Eight)
The legendary 'piece of eight,' Spain's silver dollar-sized coin that became the world's first truly global currency and the direct ancestor of the U.S. dollar.
World
1796 Draped Bust Quarter
The very first quarter dollar struck by the United States Mint, a one-year type coin with a tiny mintage that is treasured by collectors of early American silver.
United States
Spanish 2 Reales Pillar
The Pillar 2 Reales was a fractional Spanish colonial silver coin featuring the famous Pillars of Hercules design, struck at mints across Spanish America and widely used in international trade.
Latin American