Coin Encyclopedia
Search and identify coins from around the world — with country, denomination, metal, mint, history, and how to tell them apart.
1804 Draped Bust Dollar
One of the most famous rarities in American numismatics, a silver dollar dated 1804 but actually struck decades later, with only 15 known examples.
United States
Italian 20 Lire Gold (Vittorio Emanuele)
The Kingdom of Italy's standard 20 lire gold coin, issued under kings including Vittorio Emanuele II, sharing the Latin Monetary Union's gold specifications with coins like the French Napoleon.
European
German Bremen Thaler
A silver thaler issued by the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen before German unification, featuring the city's heraldic key, part of the patchwork of pre-1871 German state and city coinages.
European
German Bavaria Thaler
A large silver crown-sized coin issued by the Bavarian state, one of many German territorial thalers struck before German unification.
European
Bavaria Thaler
The historic large silver coin of Bavaria, struck across centuries by its electors and kings, capturing the state's political and artistic history until Germany's currency unification in the 1870s.
European
Augustus Denarius
The main silver coin of Rome's first emperor, Augustus, whose long reign established the imperial monetary system that would last for centuries.
Ancient
Touchstone Sovereign (Fine Sovereign)
A large, high-value English gold coin struck in especially pure 'fine gold,' valued at thirty shillings and distinguished from the more common crown-gold Sovereign of the same era.
British
Qatar and Dubai Riyal
A short-lived joint currency issued for Qatar and Dubai between 1966 and 1973, created to replace the Gulf Rupee and used until each formed its own separate national currency.
Asian
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
1858 Victoria Five Cents (silver)
The first Canadian five-cent coin, a tiny sterling silver piece struck for the Province of Canada in 1858 when decimal currency was introduced to replace older colonial money.
Canadian
Saxon Speciestaler
Full-weight silver taler issued by the Electors and later Kings of Saxony, distinguished from lesser-value "current" talers used for everyday commerce.
European
Hamburg Thaler
A silver thaler struck by the free city-state of Hamburg, bearing the city's iconic castle-and-towers coat of arms, reflecting Hamburg's status as a leading Hanseatic trading center.
European
Thurium (Thurii) Athena and Bull Nomos
Silver nomos of the Greek colony of Thurii in southern Italy, showing a helmeted Athena obverse and a butting bull reverse, a classic Magna Graecia type.
Ancient
Byzantine Solidus
The gold standard coin of the Byzantine Empire for over 700 years, the solidus funded an empire, financed trade across three continents, and remained one of history's most stable currencies.
Ancient
Victoria Large Cent
Canada's first bronze large cent, struck 1858-1901 under Queen Victoria, larger and heavier than the modern Canadian cent.
Canadian
Spanish 8 Reales Portrait Dollar
The globally trusted "Spanish dollar" bearing a king's portrait, minted across Spain's vast colonial empire and so widely circulated it directly inspired the U.S. dollar sign and denomination.
European
Byzantine Electrum Aspron Trachy (Scyphate)
A distinctive cup-shaped Byzantine coin struck in electrum after Alexios I Komnenos's currency reform, featuring religious imagery and a concave scyphate flan.
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
1970-S Washington Quarter Proof on 1941 Canadian Quarter
One of the most famous US mint errors: a 1970-S proof Washington quarter accidentally struck over a leftover silver 1941 Canadian quarter planchet at the San Francisco Mint.
Errors & Varieties
Italian 5 Lire
A large silver crown of the newly unified Kingdom of Italy, bearing the portrait of the reigning king and marking Italy's emergence as a single national currency after centuries of regional coinages.
European
1988 Seoul Olympics Coins
South Korea issued a multi-metal coin program for the 1988 Seoul Summer Olympics, ranging from circulating cupronickel coins to gold and silver collector pieces featuring mascots and sporting themes.
Commemorative
Egyptian Farouk 5 Piastres
Silver five-piastre coin of the Kingdom of Egypt struck during the reign of King Farouk, featuring his portrait or cipher alongside Arabic denomination legends.
Africa & Oceania
Mithradates VI Pontos Tetradrachm
A Hellenistic silver tetradrachm portraying Mithradates VI Eupator of Pontos, Rome's fiercest eastern rival, with his distinctive wind-swept diademed portrait and a grazing stag reverse.
Ancient
Danish 2 Rigsdaler
A large silver crown of the Kingdom of Denmark, double the standard rigsdaler denomination, often struck to commemorate specific royal events before Denmark adopted the krone in 1873.
European