Coin Encyclopedia
Search and identify coins from around the world — with country, denomination, metal, mint, history, and how to tell them apart.
1939 Royal Visit Silver Dollar (Parliament)
A commemorative Canadian silver dollar marking the 1939 royal tour of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, with the Parliament Buildings depicted on the reverse.
Canadian
Type 2 Indian Princess Gold Dollar
A short-lived, notoriously weakly struck redesign of the U.S. gold dollar, prized today for its brief production window and the striking difficulties that led to its quick replacement.
United States
Carson City Morgan Dollar (CC Mint)
Morgan silver dollars struck at the Carson City Mint, identified by the small CC mintmark, prized for their Wild West mystique and generally lower mintages than Philadelphia or New Orleans issues.
United States
Native American Dollar (Sacagawea Reverse Series)
A continuation of the Sacagawea dollar with an annually changing reverse honoring Native American history and culture, while keeping Sacagawea's portrait on the obverse.
United States
Type 1 Liberty Head Gold Dollar
The first United States gold dollar, a tiny coin introduced during the California Gold Rush and among the smallest coins ever struck by the U.S. Mint.
United States
1878 7/8 Tail Feathers Morgan Dollar
A famous first-year Morgan dollar variety showing an eagle with 7 tail feathers struck over an earlier 8-feather design, resulting from a mid-year design revision by chief engraver George T. Morgan.
Errors & Varieties
Japanese 1 Yen Silver 'Dragon' Trade Dollar
A Meiji-era Japanese silver yen featuring a coiled dragon, struck to standardize Japan's currency and, in a special trade dollar variant, to compete with Mexican and other silver dollars across East Asia.
Asian
1935 George V Silver Jubilee Dollar (Voyageur)
Canada's first-ever silver dollar, struck in 1935 to mark King George V's Silver Jubilee, introducing the famous Voyageur canoe reverse design.
Canadian
1951 Nickel Commemorative Five Cents
A special Canadian five-cent coin marking the 200th anniversary of the isolation of the element nickel, struck in the metal itself to honor Canada's role as a leading nickel producer.
Commemorative
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
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
Halfpenny
A small British bronze coin worth half a penny, best known in its twentieth-century form featuring Sir Francis Drake's ship the Golden Hind on the reverse.
British
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
Byzantine Gold Semissis
A scarce half-value gold fraction of the Byzantine solidus, struck in smaller numbers than the tremissis and often associated with ceremonial or donative purposes.
Ancient
Sixpence
A small British silver coin worth half a shilling, affectionately nicknamed the 'tanner,' beloved for its traditional role tucked into Christmas puddings.
British
Virginia Halfpenny
An official royal copper coinage struck in London specifically for the Colony of Virginia, showing King George III, whose distribution was disrupted by the approaching American Revolution.
United States
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
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
Chilean 50 Pesos Gold
A mid-sized Chilean gold coin issued as part of the 1926 gold standard reform, sharing the condor design theme with its larger and smaller companion denominations.
Latin American
Angel
An English gold coin depicting the Archangel Michael slaying a dragon, introduced in 1465 and famously used as a ceremonial 'touch piece' in royal healing rituals.
British
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
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
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
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