Coin Encyclopedia
Search and identify coins from around the world — with country, denomination, metal, mint, history, and how to tell them apart.
German States Thaler
A large silver coin struck by the many independent states of the German-speaking world for over three centuries, and the direct linguistic ancestor of the word 'dollar.'
European
Capped Bust Dime
Struck from 1809 to 1837, the Capped Bust Dime features John Reich's Liberty in a mob cap and comes in a larger early size and a later, reduced-diameter version.
United States
Polish-Lithuanian Thaler
The large silver trade coin of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, struck under successive kings from the 16th through 18th centuries, bearing royal portraits paired with the combined Polish eagle and Lithuanian Vytis arms.
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
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
Eisenhower Dollar
A large copper-nickel clad dollar (1971-1978) honoring President Dwight D. Eisenhower and commemorating the Apollo 11 moon landing on its reverse.
United States
Spanish Gold Doubloon
A popular name for large Spanish colonial gold coins, typically two, four, or eight escudos, forever associated with pirate treasure and sunken Spanish galleons.
World
German Empire 5 Mark
A large silver crown of Imperial Germany bearing the portrait or arms of individual constituent states, unified under a common eagle reverse after German unification in 1871.
European
Diocletian Follis
Large bronze follis of Diocletian, whose sweeping reforms ended the Crisis of the Third Century, established the Tetrarchy, and introduced this new standardized coin denomination in 294 AD.
Ancient
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 Miliaresion
The main large silver coin of the middle Byzantine Empire, introduced in the 8th century and typically featuring a plain cross on steps, reflecting the era's Iconoclast religious tensions.
Ancient
Seated Liberty Dollar
A mid-19th century silver dollar depicting Liberty seated on a rock, the standard large silver dollar of the United States before the Trade dollar and Morgan dollar.
United States
Belgian 5 Francs
A large silver crown of the newly independent Kingdom of Belgium, bearing the portrait of Leopold I or Leopold II and the national coat of arms, a flagship coin of the young nation's currency.
European
Bavaria Thaler
The historic large silver coin of Bavaria, struck across centuries by its electors and kings, capturing the state's political and artistic history until Germany's currency unification in the 1870s.
European
Portuguese 1000 Reis
A large silver crown of the Kingdom of Portugal, bearing the reigning monarch's portrait and national arms, serving as the country's principal high-value silver coin before the 1910 republic.
European
Japanese 1 Yen Silver Coin
Japan's principal large silver coin of the Meiji era, featuring a coiled dragon, that became a major East Asian trade coin and a symbol of Japan's rapid currency modernization.
Asian
Italian 5 Lire
A large silver crown of the newly unified Kingdom of Italy, bearing the portrait of the reigning king and marking Italy's emergence as a single national currency after centuries of regional coinages.
European
French Indochina Piastre de Commerce
A large silver trade dollar issued by colonial French Indochina, weighted to match the Mexican and Spanish trade dollars already circulating throughout Southeast Asian and Chinese commerce.
Asian
French Indochina Sarraut Piastre (1931)
A reduced-weight silver piastre introduced in 1931 for French Indochina after rising world silver prices made the older, larger trade piastre worth more in bullion than in face value.
Asian
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
English Sovereign of Henry VII
The first English sovereign, introduced by Henry VII in 1489 as a large, prestigious gold coin showing the king enthroned in majesty, meant to project royal power after the Wars of the Roses.
British
Japanese Bunkyu Eiho (cash coin)
A late Edo-period Japanese cash coin worth 4 mon, larger than the common Kan'ei Tsūhō, issued in the final years of the Tokugawa Shogunate to help ease chronic small-coin shortages.
Asian
1846 Seated Liberty Dime
A famously low-mintage Seated Liberty dime, considered one of the key dates of the entire series and scarce in any collectible grade.
United States
1802 Draped Bust Half Dime
One of the great rarities of early U.S. coinage, with an extremely small original mintage and only a handful of genuine survivors known today.
United States