Coin Encyclopedia
Search and identify coins from around the world — with country, denomination, metal, mint, history, and how to tell them apart.
Buffalo Nickel
Beloved American five-cent coin featuring a Native American portrait and an American bison, designed by James Earle Fraser and celebrated for its distinctly American imagery.
United States
1918/7-D Buffalo Nickel
One of the most famous overdate errors in United States coinage, showing 1918 struck over an earlier 1917 date on a Buffalo nickel die reused at the Denver Mint.
Errors & Varieties
1938-D Buffalo Nickel
The final year of the Buffalo Nickel series, the 1938-D was widely saved by the public at the time and remains a popular, affordable last-year issue for collectors.
United States
1937-D Three-Legged Buffalo Nickel
One of the most famous U.S. mint errors, this Denver-struck Buffalo Nickel variety shows the bison missing its front leg after a Mint worker over-polished a damaged die.
Errors & Varieties
1938-D/S Buffalo Nickel Overmintmark
The famous final-year Buffalo nickel variety showing a D mintmark punched over a leftover S, created when Denver reused a die originally prepared for San Francisco.
Errors & Varieties
1937 Doubled Die Obverse Buffalo Nickel
A doubled die variety of the 1937 Buffalo nickel showing visible doubling in the obverse date and lettering, collected alongside other notable varieties from the final years of the Buffalo nickel series.
Errors & Varieties
1918/7-D Buffalo Nickel Overdate
A famous overdate error on the Buffalo Nickel where a leftover 1917 working die was hand-repunched with an 1918 date, leaving traces of the underlying 7 visible beneath the 8.
Errors & Varieties
American Gold Buffalo
The first 24-karat gold coin struck by the U.S. Mint, adapting James Earle Fraser's classic Buffalo Nickel design for a modern bullion product.
Bullion
1913 Liberty Head Nickel
One of the most famous rarities in American numismatics: only five examples exist of a Liberty Head nickel dated 1913, a year in which the design was officially replaced by the Buffalo nickel.
United States
Jefferson Nickel
Struck since 1938, the Jefferson Nickel pairs a portrait of Thomas Jefferson with his home, Monticello, and briefly switched to a silver alloy during World War II.
United States
Shield Nickel
The first copper-nickel five-cent coin, the Shield Nickel features a national shield on the obverse and was issued from 1866 to 1883, including rare rays and proof-only dates.
United States
War Nickel (Silver 1942-1945 Jefferson Nickel)
A special wartime Jefferson Nickel alloy struck without nickel metal to conserve it for military use, identifiable by a large mintmark placed above Monticello's dome.
United States
1880 Shield Nickel
A major key date of the Shield Nickel series with an extremely low business-strike mintage, making genuine circulated examples much scarcer than the coin's proofs.
United States
1939-S Jefferson Nickel
A scarce San Francisco Jefferson Nickel from the early series, notable for being one of two tougher 1939 issues and for a well-known doubled-die reverse variety showing a doubled MONTICELLO.
United States
1867 Shield Nickel No Rays
The revised Shield Nickel design with the rays removed from between the reverse stars, introduced to solve die-breakage problems experienced with the original 1866 design.
United States
1866 Shield Nickel With Rays
The first-year Shield Nickel design featuring thirteen rays between the reverse stars, marking the debut of the United States' first copper-nickel five-cent coin.
United States
1950-D Jefferson Nickel
The lowest-mintage business-strike Jefferson Nickel of the entire series, widely hoarded in rolls even as it was released, earning it the nickname the 'King of Jefferson Nickels.'
United States
Liberty Head V Nickel
Struck from 1883 to 1912 (with five secretly made 1913 examples), the Liberty Head Nickel is famous for its 1883 'No CENTS' variety and its ultra-rare 1913 issue.
United States
Nickel Three-Cent Piece
A post-Civil War small coin struck in copper-nickel to replace the fragile silver three-cent piece and small-denomination paper currency then in circulation.
United States
Fasces Three-Cent Nickel
A nickname sometimes applied to the copper-nickel Three-Cent Piece of 1865-1889, whose reverse wreath-and-numeral design is occasionally likened to classical fasces imagery from early pattern experiments.
United States
1939-D Jefferson Nickel
A scarce early Denver-mint Jefferson Nickel with one of the lowest mintages of the pre-war series, considered a semi-key date for collectors building a complete set.
United States
1878 Shield Nickel (Proof Only)
Another proof-only rarity in the Shield Nickel series, struck exclusively for collectors with no business-strike coinage issued for circulation that year.
United States
1877 Shield Nickel (Proof Only)
A major Shield Nickel rarity struck exclusively as proof coinage for collectors, with no business strikes produced for circulation that year.
United States
1883 No Cents Liberty Head Nickel
The first-year Liberty Head Nickel design that omitted the word CENTS from the reverse, later infamous as the 'Racketeer Nickel' after being gold-plated and passed off as a five-dollar coin.
United States