Coin Encyclopedia
Search and identify coins from around the world — with country, denomination, metal, mint, history, and how to tell them apart.
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
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
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
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
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
1943/2-P Jefferson Nickel Overdate
A wartime Jefferson nickel overdate variety in which traces of an underlying 2 can be seen beneath the 3 in the date, created when a working die was re-hubbed with a different year's date.
Errors & Varieties
1955 Jefferson Nickel Poor Man's Doubled Die
A minor doubled-die variety on the 1955 Jefferson Nickel's date, nicknamed the 'Poor Man's Doubled Die' as a more affordable alternative to the famous 1955 doubled-die Lincoln Cent.
Errors & Varieties
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
1946-S/D Jefferson Nickel Repunched Mintmark
A hand-punched mintmark variety on the 1946 Jefferson nickel showing remnants of a D beneath the final S, created when a die intended for one mint was repunched with another mintmark.
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
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
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
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
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
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
1885 Liberty Head V Nickel
The key date of the Liberty Head V Nickel series, struck in one of the lowest mintages of the run and highly sought after to complete a date set.
United States
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
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
1883 With Cents Liberty Head Nickel
The corrected version of the 1883 Liberty Head Nickel with CENTS added below the wreath, issued later the same year to stop widespread gold-plating fraud tied to the earlier No Cents design.
United States
Victorian Silver Five Cents
The small sterling silver five-cent coin struck under Queen Victoria for the Province of Canada and later the Dominion of Canada, issued intermittently from 1858 to 1901.
Canadian
1858 Victoria Five Cents (silver)
The first Canadian five-cent coin, a tiny sterling silver piece struck for the Province of Canada in 1858 when decimal currency was introduced to replace older colonial money.
Canadian
1965-1970 Kennedy Half Dollar (40% Silver)
Kennedy half dollars struck with a reduced 40% silver clad composition after the Coinage Act of 1965, bridging the gap between full silver coinage and today's copper-nickel clad coins.
United States
1944 Steel Lincoln Cent
A scarce transitional error in which a small number of 1944 cents were struck on leftover steel planchets after the Mint had already returned to bronze, the mirror-image counterpart to the famous 1943 copper cent.
Errors & Varieties