Coin Encyclopedia
Search and identify coins from around the world — with country, denomination, metal, mint, history, and how to tell them apart.
Belgian Franc
Belgium's national currency from independence in 1830 through the Latin Monetary Union era and into the Euro age, minted in both French and Dutch legends.
European
Ephesus Bee Tetradrachm
A silver coin from the Ionian city of Ephesus featuring a bee, sacred symbol of the great Temple of Artemis, paired with a stag on the reverse.
Ancient
British Queen's Beasts Silver Series
A ten-coin Royal Mint bullion series honoring the heraldic Queen's Beasts statues from Queen Elizabeth II's 1953 coronation, issued 2016-2021.
British
2010 Hot Springs America the Beautiful Quarter
The first coin in the America the Beautiful Quarters series, honoring Hot Springs National Park in Arkansas with an image of its historic bathhouse row.
United States
US America the Beautiful Quarters
A successor to the State Quarters program honoring national parks and other national sites from every US state and territory, including a unique 5-ounce silver bullion companion series.
United States
Thebes Boeotian Shield Stater
A silver stater from Boeotia bearing the distinctive figure-eight-shaped Boeotian shield, the common civic emblem struck by Thebes and its allied cities for centuries.
Ancient
Greek Drachma
The modern national currency of Greece from shortly after independence until the adoption of the euro, reviving the name of the ancient Greek unit and featuring classical and historical imagery.
European
1955 Poor Man's Doubled Die Lincoln Cent
A more common, lower-value doubled die variety on the 1955 Lincoln cent, nicknamed the 'poor man's' version because it offers a similar doubled-image look to the famous 1955 Doubled Die Obverse at a fraction of the price.
Errors & Varieties
Papal States Scudo
The principal silver coin of the Papal States, bearing the portrait or arms of the reigning pope alongside religious imagery, struck for centuries until the Papal territories' loss of independence.
European
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
Lydian Lion Trite (Electrum)
An early electrum coin from the Kingdom of Lydia bearing a roaring lion's head, among the very earliest coins struck anywhere in the world.
Ancient
Korean Gwangmu Half Won (1905)
Silver half-won coin from the short-lived Korean Empire's Gwangmu currency reform, struck shortly before Korea fell under increasing Japanese control.
Asian
US Seated Liberty Dollar
Mid-19th century American silver dollar showing Liberty seated on a rock, produced from 1840 until being replaced by the Trade Dollar in 1873.
United States
British India Rupee (Silver)
Standardized silver rupee issued across British-ruled India from 1835 until independence, bearing the portrait of the reigning British monarch.
Asian
Aegina Land Tortoise Stater
A silver stater from the island of Aegina bearing a land tortoise, successor to the earlier sea-turtle design and among the earliest widely circulated coinages in the Greek world.
Ancient
Copper-Nickel Indian Head Cent
The earliest Indian Head cents, struck in copper-nickel from 1859 to 1864 before the Mint switched to a thinner bronze alloy, nicknamed 'white cents' for their pale color.
United States
Braided Hair Half Cent
The final United States half cent design, struck from 1840 to 1857, featuring Liberty with braided hair, before the denomination was discontinued.
United States
Eukratides I Gold Stater (Baktria)
A gold stater of Eukratides I, the powerful Greco-Bactrian king best known for issuing the largest gold coin surviving from antiquity, depicting the divine twins Dioskouroi on horseback.
Ancient
1888/7 Indian Head Cent Overdate
A scarce overdate variety of the Indian Head cent in which traces of an underlying 7 are visible beneath the final 8 in the 1888 date, from a working die repunched with a new year.
Errors & Varieties
Sybaris Bull Stater
An archaic incuse-fabric silver stater from the legendarily wealthy city of Sybaris, showing a bull looking back over its shoulder, struck before the city's destruction in 510 BC.
Ancient
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
Philippine 20 Centavos (US-Philippines)
A small silver coin from the US administration of the Philippines, showing Liberty striking an anvil before Mount Mayon on the obverse and a heraldic eagle on the reverse.
Asian
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
Bronze Indian Head Cent
The bronze-alloy Indian Head cent struck from 1864 through 1909, replacing the earlier copper-nickel version and serving as the last cent design before Lincoln's portrait appeared in 1909.
United States