Coin Encyclopedia
Search and identify coins from around the world — with country, denomination, metal, mint, history, and how to tell them apart.
Louisiana Purchase Gold Dollar Commemorative
A 1903 commemorative gold dollar issued for the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis, struck in two varieties featuring the portraits of Thomas Jefferson and William McKinley.
Commemorative
Peace Silver Dollar
Silver dollar issued to commemorate peace after World War I, succeeding the Morgan dollar in 1921 with a striking Art Deco Liberty portrait and eagle-on-rock reverse.
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
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
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
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
1922 Canadian Nickel Five Cents
The first year Canada's five-cent coin was struck in solid nickel rather than silver, introducing the beaver reverse design that would define the coin for decades.
Canadian
1943-P/D Jefferson Nickel Doubled Mintmark
A wartime Jefferson nickel variety showing evidence of a doubled or repunched mint mark, with traces suggesting a D was punched before being corrected to a P, or vice versa, above Monticello on the reverse.
Errors & Varieties
1860 Indian Head Cent (Oak Wreath)
The redesigned Indian Head cent introducing the oak wreath and shield reverse that would remain in use, with only a metal change in 1864, through the end of the series in 1909.
United States
1859 Indian Head Cent (Laurel Wreath)
The first-year Indian Head cent, struck only in 1859 with a distinctive laurel wreath reverse that was replaced by an oak wreath and shield the following year.
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
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
1951 Nickel Commemorative Five Cents
A special Canadian five-cent coin marking the 200th anniversary of the isolation of the element nickel, struck in the metal itself to honor Canada's role as a leading nickel producer.
Commemorative
1943 'V' Victory Nickel (tombac)
A wartime Canadian five-cent coin struck in golden tombac with a bold V for Victory and a Morse code message around its edge, issued when nickel metal was diverted to the war effort.
Canadian
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
1965 Silver Washington Quarter (Transitional Error)
An extremely rare transitional error in which a 1965-dated quarter, meant to be struck in new copper-nickel clad metal, was accidentally struck on a leftover 90% silver planchet.
Errors & Varieties
Australian Threepence (pre-decimal)
Small pre-decimal Australian silver coin worth three pence, popularly recognized for its bundled wheat-ear reverse design used across most of the 20th century.
Africa & Oceania
1974 Aluminum Cent
An extremely rare experimental pattern struck in aluminum as a potential replacement for the copper cent amid rising metal costs, almost none of which were legally released to the public.
Errors & Varieties
Terina Nike Nomos
A silver nomos from the South Italian city of Terina, celebrated among collectors for its graceful depictions of Nike, the winged goddess of victory, on the reverse.
Ancient
Messana Hare and Biga Tetradrachm
Silver tetradrachm of Messana in Sicily, famous for its obverse mule-cart (biga) driven by a charioteer crowned by Nike, paired with a running hare on the reverse.
Ancient