Coin Encyclopedia
Search and identify coins from around the world — with country, denomination, metal, mint, history, and how to tell them apart.
Portuguese Real
Portugal's centuries-old pre-decimal currency unit, used from the medieval era until the 1911 introduction of the escudo, also struck for Brazil and other colonies.
European
Argentina 8 Reales
Silver 8 reales struck after Argentina's 1810 independence movement, replacing the Spanish king's portrait with the revolutionary Sun of May and clasped hands design.
Latin American
Colombia 8 Reales
Silver 8 reales struck first under Spanish colonial rule in New Granada and later, after independence, in the name of the new Colombian republic.
Latin American
Guatemala 8 Reales
A silver piece of eight struck at the Guatemala City mint, first under Spanish colonial rule and later continued through the Central American Federation and independent Guatemala.
Latin American
Spanish 4 Reales
A mid-value denomination of Spain's traditional real-based coinage, struck for centuries in both Spain and its American colonies.
European
Spanish 8 Reales Portrait Dollar
The globally trusted "Spanish dollar" bearing a king's portrait, minted across Spain's vast colonial empire and so widely circulated it directly inspired the U.S. dollar sign and denomination.
European
Peru 8 Reales (Lima Mint)
The flagship silver dollar-size coin of colonial and early republican Peru, struck at the historic Lima mint from cob and pillar types through crowned-shield busts.
Latin American
Bolivia 8 Reales (Potosi Mint)
A major Spanish colonial and early Bolivian silver dollar struck at the legendary Potosí mint, fed by the immense silver deposits of the Cerro Rico mountain.
Latin American
Spanish 8 Reales (Piece of Eight)
The legendary 'piece of eight,' Spain's silver dollar-sized coin that became the world's first truly global currency and the direct ancestor of the U.S. dollar.
World
Spanish 2 Reales Pillar
The Pillar 2 Reales was a fractional Spanish colonial silver coin featuring the famous Pillars of Hercules design, struck at mints across Spanish America and widely used in international trade.
Latin American
1 Euro Coin
The standard circulating one-euro coin used across the Eurozone since 2002, bimetallic with a gold-colored center and silver-colored ring, and a national obverse that varies by issuing country.
European
Spanish Colonial 8 Reales Ferdinand VII
A large silver 8 reales coin struck across Spain's American colonies bearing the portrait of King Ferdinand VII, widely circulated internationally and historically linked to the origin of the US dollar sign.
World
Spanish 100 Reales Gold (Isabel II)
A mid-19th-century Spanish gold coin struck under Queen Isabel II, part of Spain's pre-peseta reales-based monetary system.
European
Mexican 8 Reales Cap and Rays
The classic silver dollar of independent Mexico, showing a radiant Phrygian liberty cap over mountains, widely trusted and traded across the Americas and Asia for most of the 19th century.
Latin American
Colombian 8 Reales (Nueva Granada)
The classic Spanish colonial "piece of eight" struck at the mints of Bogotá and Popayán, continuing in modified form after Colombian independence before decimal reform.
Latin American
Mexican 8 Reales Pillar Dollar
Minted in colonial Mexico City from 1732 to the early 1770s, the pillar dollar's crowned globes and Pillars of Hercules design made it one of the most widely trusted silver trade coins in the world.
Latin American
Argentine 1 Peso 'Liberty Head'
A short-lived Argentine silver peso from the early 1880s featuring a Liberty head design, struck only briefly before Argentina's monetary standards shifted.
Latin American
1942/1 Mercury Dime Overdate
A famous overdate error, this Philadelphia Mercury Dime shows remnants of a 1941 digit beneath the 1942 date, created when an old die hub was reused by mistake.
Errors & Varieties
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
Spanish-Philippine 8 Reales Counterstamped Dollar
Spanish colonial 8 reales silver dollar officially countermarked for circulation in the Philippines, a hybrid of Spanish American and Philippine monetary history.
Asian
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
Peru 1 Sol Silver 'Seated Liberty'
A classic Peruvian silver coin showing a seated female Liberty figure holding a shield and staff, struck intermittently over several decades at the Lima mint.
Latin American
1942/1-D Mercury Dime Overdate
The Denver counterpart to the famous 1942/1 overdate, this Mercury Dime shows a doubled date from reused 1941 die-making equipment and is scarcer than the Philadelphia version.
Errors & Varieties
Canadian Gold Maple Leaf (1 oz)
Canada's flagship gold bullion coin, struck in .9999 fine gold by the Royal Canadian Mint since 1979, among the purest gold coins ever issued.
Bullion