Coin Encyclopedia
Search and identify coins from around the world — with country, denomination, metal, mint, history, and how to tell them apart.
Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle
United States $20 gold coin (1907–1933) designed by Augustus Saint-Gaudens, showing a striding Liberty with torch and olive branch before a radiant sun.
Gold Type Coin
Bald Eagle Commemorative Half Eagle
A 2008 U.S. commemorative gold $5 half eagle honoring the recovery of the American bald eagle, featuring an eagle design and a heraldic Great Seal eagle.
Commemoratives
Paquet Double Eagle
An 1861 U.S. $20 gold piece with the standard Liberty Head obverse paired with Anthony Paquet's rare tall-letter reverse variety.
Gold Type Coin
Capped Bust Half Eagle
Early U.S. five-dollar gold coin with a left-facing capped Liberty and a shield-breasted eagle marked "5 D."; the 1822 shown is a legendary rarity.
United States
Guangxu Yuanbao 50 Cents
A Qing-dynasty silver half-dollar bearing the legend Guangxu Yuanbao and a coiled dragon, struck by Chinese provincial mints during the Guangxu Emperor's reign.
Circulation
Turban Head Half Eagle
First U.S. gold $5 coin, 1795: Liberty in a soft cap facing right, with a heraldic shield-breasted eagle reverse struck in 22-karat gold.
Half Eagle
Medal of Honor Commemorative Half Eagle
US 2011 gold $5 commemorative honoring the Medal of Honor, showing the Army version of the medal above a Corinthian column.
Commemoratives
Panama-Pacific Exposition $50 (Octagonal)
An eight-sided $50 gold commemorative struck for San Francisco's 1915 world's fair, showing Minerva and her owl — the largest U.S. coin of its era.
Classic Commemorative
Hryvnia
Medieval silver money unit of Kievan Rus, circulating as cast silver ingots and weight-money rather than as a struck, portrait-bearing coin.
Medieval
Arles Miliarensis
A late Roman silver miliarensis of the 4th century AD, with a diademed imperial portrait and an armed standing figure holding spear and shield.
Ancient
Edward VI Crown
Hammered English silver crown of Edward VI (1547-1553), the first English crown coin and among the earliest English coins to carry a date.
Hammered
Miliarensis of Constantius II
A late Roman silver miliarensis of Emperor Constantius II (AD 327–361), showing his diademed portrait and a standing reverse figure.
Ancient
Medieval Penny
England's standard medieval coin: a small hammered silver penny with a crowned royal head on one side and a cross on the other, struck by hand across many reigns.
Medieval Coins
China 10 Yuan Temple of Heaven
A modern Chinese silver 10 Yuan commemorative bearing the Temple of Heaven's Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests, dated 1996.
World
1 Bu Gin
A small rectangular Japanese silver coin, the ichibu gin, worth one bu (a quarter ryo), bearing beaded borders, paulownia crests and Ginza inscriptions.
Historic
Denarius of Septimius Severus
Silver denarius of the Roman emperor Septimius Severus (193–211 AD), showing his laureate head and a standing reverse figure.
Ancient
Bhutan 500 Ngultrum Commemorative
Modern Bhutanese silver commemorative dated 2008, with a portrait of King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck and an ornate dragon-and-mythical-creature reverse.
Himalayan
Denarius of Commodus
A silver denarius of the Roman emperor Commodus (180–192 AD), with his laureate bearded portrait and a standing deity or personification on the reverse.
Ancient
1 Franc Semeuse
A small silver French franc showing Roty's Semeuse, the striding Sower scattering seed at dawn, with the 1916 date on the LIBERTE EGALITE FRATERNITE reverse.
Circulation
Mughal Rupee (Akbar)
A hand-struck Mughal silver rupee of Emperor Akbar dated AH 1003 (AD 1594), covered on both faces with flowing Persian calligraphy and ornamental borders.
Historic
5 Bolivares
A crown-sized silver 5 bolivares of Venezuela: the head of Bolivar the Liberator on one side and the national coat of arms on the other.
Circulation
India 10 Rupees
A silver-era Indian coin carrying the profile of King George VI, struck during the final years of British India and the transition to the Republic.
Circulation
Qiran of Fath-Ali Shah Qajar
A hand-struck silver qiran of the Qajar shah Fath-Ali, carrying Persian calligraphy, a decorative border and crown motif, dated AH 1240–1241 (AD 1825–1826).
Persia / Iran
10 Sen
A small Meiji-era Japanese silver 10 Sen: a coiled dragon and characters on one face, a rayed sunburst framed by branches on the other.
Circulation