Coin Encyclopedia
Search and identify coins from around the world — with country, denomination, metal, mint, history, and how to tell them apart.
Rosa Americana Coinage
A British-issued colonial coinage for America under a patent granted to William Wood, showing a rose and King George I, that was widely rejected by colonists for its poor metal and overvaluation.
United States
Colombian 8 Reales (Nueva Granada)
The classic Spanish colonial "piece of eight" struck at the mints of Bogotá and Popayán, continuing in modified form after Colombian independence before decimal reform.
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
Anglo-Saxon Silver Sceat
Small, thick early Anglo-Saxon silver coin with enigmatic pagan and Christian imagery, the direct forerunner of the later English penny.
British
Nova Constellatio Copper
Distinctive early American copper coin featuring a radiant eye within a circle of stars, associated with Gouverneur Morris's proposed decimal coinage plans of the early 1780s.
United States
Portuguese Real
Portugal's centuries-old pre-decimal currency unit, used from the medieval era until the 1911 introduction of the escudo, also struck for Brazil and other colonies.
European
Australian 50 Cent (round 1966 silver)
Australia's original round 50-cent coin from the 1966 decimal changeover, struck in 80% silver and withdrawn the same year once its bullion value exceeded face value.
Africa & Oceania
French 5 Francs "Napoleon"
A large silver crown-sized coin bearing the portrait of Napoleon Bonaparte, first as First Consul and later as Emperor, marking France's decimal franc system's early flagship silver denomination.
European
Peruvian Libra de Oro (Gold Pound)
Peru's gold pound, modeled on the British sovereign's weight and fineness, was struck intermittently to support Peru's participation in the international gold standard.
Latin American
Indian Princely State Silver Rupee (Hyderabad)
Silver rupee issued independently by the princely state of Hyderabad under the Nizam, notable for its distinct weight standard and Persian-Urdu inscriptions rather than British Indian designs.
Asian
Victoria Ten Cents (dime)
Canada's early silver ten-cent coin issued under Queen Victoria, struck intermittently from the introduction of decimal currency in 1858 through the end of her reign in 1901.
Canadian
Japanese 50 Sen Silver (Meiji Phoenix)
An early Meiji-era Japanese silver coin featuring a coiled dragon on the obverse and a phoenix on the reverse, part of Japan's first modern decimal coinage system introduced after the Meiji Restoration.
Asian
Threepence
A small British coin worth three pence, issued first as a tiny silver piece and later as the distinctive 12-sided brass 'threepenny bit' beloved for its unusual shape.
British
Double Sovereign
A British gold coin worth two pounds, twice the value of the standard sovereign, struck intermittently since the nineteenth century for commemorative and bullion purposes.
British
Saudi Arabian Gold Guinea (Sovereign)
A gold coin issued by Saudi Arabia sized like the British sovereign, popularly called a guinea, historically important for Hajj pilgrims and gold-based savings rather than everyday circulation.
Asian
St George Sovereign (Pistrucci)
The modern gold sovereign's iconic reverse showing St George slaying the dragon, engraved by Benedetto Pistrucci in 1817 and still used on British sovereigns to this day.
British
Gothic Crown
An ornate Victorian silver crown featuring a young Queen Victoria in Gothic-script lettering, widely admired as one of the most artistically accomplished coins in British history.
British
Five Pound Gold (Quintuple Sovereign)
The largest standard gold coin in the British sovereign family, worth five pounds and equal to five sovereigns, struck intermittently since 1820 for commemorative and collector purposes.
British
New Zealand Waitangi Crown (1935)
Rare 1935 New Zealand silver crown depicting the meeting between Governor Hobson and Maori chiefs, one of the most valuable coins in British Commonwealth crown collecting.
Africa & Oceania
Immune Columbia Copper
An extremely rare Confederation-era copper carrying the Latin legend 'IMMUNIS COLUMBIA,' known for numerous unusual die combinations and mules with other early American and British designs.
United States
Chinese Szechuan Rupee (Tibet-related)
Silver rupee struck by China's Szechuan provincial mint to compete with British Indian rupees circulating in Tibet, blending a Chinese ruler's portrait with an Indian-style coin format.
Asian
Postumus Antoninianus
Radiate coin of Postumus, the general who broke away from Rome to found the separatist Gallic Empire covering Gaul, Britain, Germania, and Hispania during the Crisis of the Third Century.
Ancient
Austrian Florin (Gulden)
The main silver coin of Austria-Hungary in the second half of the 19th century, used until the krone replaced it in the 1892 monetary reform.
European
Maximian Follis
Large bronze follis of Maximian, co-Augustus with Diocletian who ruled the western half of the empire as part of the Tetrarchy and shared the same reformed coinage design.
Ancient