Coin Encyclopedia
Search and identify coins from around the world — with country, denomination, metal, mint, history, and how to tell them apart.
Korean 5 Yang Silver Dollar (1892)
Korea's first Western-style, dollar-sized silver coin, struck in 1892 with a coiled dragon design as part of King Gojong's currency modernization.
Asian
Colombia 8 Reales
Silver 8 reales struck first under Spanish colonial rule in New Granada and later, after independence, in the name of the new Colombian republic.
Latin American
Zanzibar Riyal
Silver riyal issued by the Sultanate of Zanzibar under Sultan Barghash bin Said, designed to circulate alongside the widely trusted Maria Theresa thaler in East African trade.
Africa & Oceania
1943/2-P Jefferson Nickel Overdate
A wartime Jefferson nickel overdate variety in which traces of an underlying 2 can be seen beneath the 3 in the date, created when a working die was re-hubbed with a different year's date.
Errors & Varieties
Rwandan Silver African Wildlife
A modern bullion coin series issued under Rwandan sovereignty depicting various African animals, minted in Germany and produced in different subseries by animal theme.
Africa & Oceania
Argentine 8 Escudos Gold (1813)
An extremely rare gold coin from the earliest years of Argentine independence, struck briefly at Potosí under revolutionary authority and bearing the iconic Sun of May.
Latin American
Japanese Koban
A hand-hammered oval gold coin used in feudal Japan under the Tokugawa shogunate, valued at one ryo and stamped with ink calligraphy certifying its weight and fineness.
Asian
Broad
A gold twenty-shilling coin nicknamed the 'Broad' for its wide, thin flan, struck under the Commonwealth and Oliver Cromwell and continued briefly into the early reign of Charles II.
British
1936 Dot Cent
One of Canada's rarest coins: a 1936-dated cent quietly struck in 1937 with a tiny raised dot below the date after King Edward VIII's abdication delayed new George VI dies.
Canadian
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
Korean Gwangmu Half Won (1905)
Silver half-won coin from the short-lived Korean Empire's Gwangmu currency reform, struck shortly before Korea fell under increasing Japanese control.
Asian
Philippine Peso (US Administration, 1903)
Silver one-peso coin struck for the Philippines under early American colonial administration, part of a new US-designed coinage system introduced in 1903.
Asian
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
Byzantine Gold Solidus
The gold standard coin of the Byzantine Empire for over 700 years, prized in medieval trade as far away as India and Scandinavia under the nickname "bezant."
Ancient
Argentina 8 Reales
Silver 8 reales struck after Argentina's 1810 independence movement, replacing the Spanish king's portrait with the revolutionary Sun of May and clasped hands design.
Latin American
Ancient British Gold Stater (Cunobelin)
A gold stater of Cunobelin, the powerful pre-Roman British king later immortalized by Shakespeare as Cymbeline, notable for its ear-of-corn and horse reverse types.
Ancient
Anglo-Saxon Silver Penny
The standard silver coin of Anglo-Saxon England from the 8th century to the Norman Conquest, naming the issuing king and the moneyer who struck it.
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
Julius Caesar Elephant Denarius
One of the most widely recognized ancient Roman coins, struck under Julius Caesar's authority and depicting an elephant trampling a serpent, likely a symbolic image tied to Caesar's political struggles.
Ancient
Vermont Copper
Copper coinage struck under authority of the independent Vermont Republic in the 1780s, featuring an early landscape design and later a Britannia-style type.
United States
Vietnamese Tu Duc Thong Bao (cash coin)
A cast bronze or zinc cash coin issued under Emperor Tự Đức of Vietnam's Nguyễn Dynasty, round with a square center hole in the traditional East Asian style.
Asian
Carolingian Silver Denier (Charlemagne)
Standardized silver penny introduced under Charlemagne's monetary reform, forming the template for medieval European currency for centuries afterward.
European
Victorian Silver Five Cents
The small sterling silver five-cent coin struck under Queen Victoria for the Province of Canada and later the Dominion of Canada, issued intermittently from 1858 to 1901.
Canadian
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