Coin Encyclopedia
Search and identify coins from around the world — with country, denomination, metal, mint, history, and how to tell them apart.
Classic Head Large Cent
A pure-copper U.S. large cent struck 1808–1814, showing John Reich's classical left-facing Liberty ringed by stars over a wreath reverse.
Large Cent
Coronet (Matron Head) Large Cent
A pure-copper U.S. one-cent piece from 1816–1839, showing Liberty in a beaded coronet on the obverse and ONE CENT inside a wreath.
Large Cent
Trade Dollar
U.S. 90% silver dollar struck 1873–1885 for trade with Asia, showing a seated Liberty facing the sea and an eagle holding arrows and an olive branch.
Dollar
Three Cent Nickel
A small copper-nickel three-cent coin with a Liberty head obverse and a Roman numeral III inside a wreath; struck at Philadelphia from 1865 to 1889.
Three Cent
Three-Dollar Gold Piece
An unusual U.S. gold coin of the $3 denomination struck 1854–1889, showing a Liberty head in a feathered Indian-style headdress. The photo shows the 1854 first year.
Gold Type Coin
Draped Bust Dollar
Early U.S. silver dollar struck 1795–1804, with a draped bust of Liberty and, from 1798, a heraldic eagle reverse.
Dollar
Lewis and Clark Bicentennial Dollar
A golden manganese-brass dollar marking the 2004 bicentennial of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, pairing the two explorers with Peace and Friendship imagery.
Commemorative
Barber Dime
U.S. ten-cent silver coin struck 1892–1916, showing a right-facing Liberty head and a wreath enclosing "ONE DIME" on the reverse.
Dime
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
McKinley Memorial Gold Dollar
A small U.S. gold commemorative dollar honoring President William McKinley, sold to fund the memorial at his Niles, Ohio birthplace.
Classic Commemorative
Panama-Pacific Exposition Dollar
An 1915 U.S. gold dollar struck for the Panama-Pacific International Exposition, showing a canal laborer and two dolphins encircling the denomination.
Classic Commemorative
Old Spanish Trail Half Dollar
A 1935 U.S. silver commemorative half dollar marking 400 years of the Old Spanish Trail, with a longhorn cow's head punning on explorer Cabeza de Vaca.
Classic Commemorative
Texas Centennial Half Dollar
A U.S. silver commemorative half dollar (1934–1938) marking a century of Texas independence, with a spread-winged eagle over a large star on the obverse.
Classic Commemorative
Norfolk Bicentennial Half Dollar
A 1936 U.S. silver half dollar honoring Norfolk, Virginia, with the city's Royal Mace on the reverse and dates 1636-1936; a low-mintage classic commemorative.
Classic Commemorative
San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge Half Dollar
A 1936 U.S. silver commemorative half dollar celebrating the opening of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, with a bridge span and a California grizzly bear.
Classic Commemorative
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
Central American Republic 8 Reales
A silver 8 reales of the Central American Republic, showing a rayed sun rising over mountains on one side and a tree on the other, dated 1824.
Circulation
Disarmament Commemorative Ruble
A 1988 Soviet copper-nickel commemorative ruble marking the US-Soviet treaty that scrapped intermediate- and shorter-range nuclear missiles.
World Coins
Massachusetts Shilling (1 Shilling 6 Pence)
A colonial-era Massachusetts silver piece valued at one shilling and sixpence, joining a pine-tree obverse with a rising-sun reverse and the date 1779.
Colonial
Mughal Islamic Rupee
A hand-struck silver rupee of the Mughal Empire, filled edge to edge with Persian and Arabic script naming the emperor, mint, and regnal year.
Islamic
Mithqal (Tilla) of Babur
A hand-struck gold mithqal (tilla) of Babur, founder of the Mughal Empire, carrying his ruler titles in Persian and the mint-and-date on the reverse.
Mughal India
2 Lire
Silver 2 Lire of the Papal States struck under Pope Pius IX, part of the Italian lira system adopted by Rome in the 1860s.
Modern
Sixpence of Elizabeth I
A hammered silver sixpence of Elizabeth I, showing the crowned, ruff-collared queen in profile and the royal shield, most bearing a date beside a mint mark.
Hammered
Canadian Silver Maple Leaf
Canada's flagship 1 oz silver bullion coin, struck in .9999 fine silver by the Royal Canadian Mint with a single sugar-maple leaf design.
Bullion