Coin Encyclopedia
Search and identify coins from around the world — with country, denomination, metal, mint, history, and how to tell them apart.
Capped Bust Half Dollar
A silver half dollar (1807-1839) designed by John Reich, showing Liberty in a cap and drapery, minted in large numbers and popular with type and variety collectors.
United States
Gobrecht Dollar
A transitional silver dollar designed by Christian Gobrecht featuring a seated Liberty obverse and a flying eagle reverse, bridging older and newer designs in U.S. coinage.
United States
Draped Bust Dollar
The first regular-issue U.S. silver dollar with the Draped Bust design, struck 1795-1804, featuring a small eagle reverse and later a heraldic eagle reverse.
United States
Seated Liberty Half Dollar
A 90% silver half dollar (1839-1891) featuring Liberty seated on a rock holding a shield and pole, designed by Christian Gobrecht.
United States
Grant Memorial Half Dollar
A 1922 U.S. commemorative half dollar honoring the 100th anniversary of Ulysses S. Grant's birth, famous for a rare 'star' variety.
Commemorative
Continental Dollar
A large 1776-dated piece bearing a sundial, 'MIND YOUR BUSINESS,' and a thirteen-link chain, long debated as either an intended Continental Congress dollar or a contemporary satirical piece.
United States
Barber Half Dollar
A 90% silver half dollar (1892-1915) with a right-facing Liberty head designed by Charles E. Barber, part of a matching Barber dime, quarter, and half dollar series.
United States
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
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
Flowing Hair Half Dollar
The first U.S. half dollar, struck only in 1794 and 1795, showing Liberty with flowing hair and a small, spread-winged eagle on the reverse.
United States
George VI Small Cent (Maple Twig)
Canada's bronze one-cent coin issued under King George VI, featuring two maple leaves on a twig, a design that helped modernize Canadian coinage in the late 1930s.
Canadian
Chinese Dragon Dollar
A coiled dragon dominates the reverse of these late Qing Dynasty silver dollars, struck by numerous Chinese provincial mints as China modernized its coinage using Western minting technology.
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
Kwangtung Province Dragon Dollar
One of the earliest Chinese machine-struck silver dollars, issued by Kwangtung Province and featuring a coiled dragon reverse that became the template for Chinese provincial dollar coinage.
Asian
Franklin Half Dollar
A 90% silver half dollar (1948-1963) depicting Benjamin Franklin on the obverse and the Liberty Bell on the reverse, designed by John R. Sinnock.
United States
Sun Yat-sen Junk Dollar
A Republic of China silver dollar depicting Sun Yat-sen and a traditional sailing junk, with the scarcer 1934 variety showing three birds overhead that is highly sought by collectors.
Asian
Draped Bust Half Dollar
A silver half dollar (1796-1807) showing a draped, classically styled Liberty bust, issued with a small eagle reverse (1796-1797) and later a heraldic eagle reverse (1801-1807).
United States
Panama-Pacific Gold Dollar Commemorative
A 1915 gold dollar honoring the workers who built the Panama Canal, featuring a canal laborer's head on the obverse and two dolphins encircling the denomination on the reverse.
Commemorative
Missouri Centennial Half Dollar
A 1921 U.S. commemorative half dollar marking Missouri's centennial of statehood, known for a scarcer '2★4' variety.
Commemorative
Hawaiian Sesquicentennial Half Dollar
A rare, low-mintage 1928 commemorative half dollar marking 150 years since Captain James Cook's arrival in Hawaii, considered a key rarity of the classic commemorative series.
Commemorative
Arkansas Centennial Half Dollar
A commemorative half dollar marking Arkansas's 100th anniversary of statehood, pairing a Native American profile with an idealized Liberty figure on the obverse.
Commemorative
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
US Seated Liberty Dollar
Mid-19th century American silver dollar showing Liberty seated on a rock, produced from 1840 until being replaced by the Trade Dollar in 1873.
United States
Ottoman Para
A small fractional Ottoman coin, historically 1/40 of a kurus, struck for centuries in varying metals as the empire's lowest everyday denomination.
World