To identify an unknown coin, read five things in order: the script, the country name, the denomination, the date and the metal. As of October 2026, most unknown coins turn out to be common 20th-century world coins worth about 10-50 cents each. Silver ones are worth their metal, often $3-10, and a gold coin is worth hundreds. Tokens and medals look like coins but are not money at all.
The tricky part is usually the date. Coins from Japan, Iran, Thailand, Israel, Nepal and much of the Arab world are dated in their own calendars, so a coin that seems to say 1384 or 2517 is not medieval or from the future. Once you can read the date system, almost any coin can be pinned down in a catalog in a few minutes.
Quick answer
- Start with the script: Arabic, Chinese or Japanese characters, Cyrillic, Greek, Hebrew, Thai or Devanagari narrow the country to a handful.
- Convert the date: Japanese era years (Showa 39 is 1964), Islamic AH years (1400 AH is 1979-80), Thai years (subtract 543) and Chinese Republic years (add 1911).
- Check the metal: weigh it, try a magnet and look at the edge. Silver coins are worth their metal, about $58 an ounce of pure silver as of October 2026.
- A piece with no denomination is a medal or token, not a coin. A US-made replica must be marked COPY.
- Most finds are common: 10-50 cents each, or $3-8 a pound in bulk.
How do you identify an unknown coin, step by step?
- Look at the script. The alphabet is the fastest clue to the region. See the table below.
- Find the country name. It is usually in the legend around the edge, often in the local language: HELVETIA is Switzerland, SUOMI is Finland, MAGYAR is Hungary. British and Commonwealth coins often name only the monarch, in Latin abbreviations such as D G REG F D.
- Read the denomination. The unit names the currency: sen and yen (Japan), fen, jiao and yuan (China), paisa and rupee (India, Pakistan, Nepal), fils and dinar (Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait and others), kurus and para (Turkey), satang and baht (Thailand), kopek and ruble (Russia), ore and krone or krona (Scandinavia), pfennig and mark (Germany), filler (Hungary), centavo and peso (Mexico and Latin America).
- Read the date and convert it. Use the date systems table. Watch for Arabic-Indic numerals and Chinese or Japanese numerals.
- Find any mint mark. Small letters near the date or under the design: Mo for Mexico City, A to J for German mints, H or KN on some British and Canadian coins, CC, O, S, D and P on US coins.
- Check the metal. Color, weight and a magnet. See how to tell if a coin is silver for the full set of tests.
- Decide whether it is a coin at all. No denomination usually means a medal or token. The word COPY means a replica.
- Look it up in a catalog. Numista lists most world coins with photos, weights and mintages, and NGC Coin Explorer covers US and world types with prices. Search by country, denomination and date, then compare the photo.
What script is on the coin, and where is it from?
| Script or clue | What it looks like | Likely origin |
|---|---|---|
| Arabic | Flowing right-to-left letters, Arabic-Indic numerals | Middle East, North Africa, Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Ottoman Empire |
| Chinese characters, four around a square hole | 乾隆通寶 and similar | Chinese cash coin, or Japanese, Korean or Vietnamese cash |
| Chinese characters with 日本 or 日本国 | "Japan" in kanji | Japan |
| 中華民國 | "Republic of China" | China 1912-1949, Taiwan after 1949 |
| 中华人民共和国 or 中國人民銀行 | People's Republic | China after 1949 |
| Hangul | 한국은행 | South Korea |
| Cyrillic | СССР, РОССИЯ, БЪЛГАРИЯ | Soviet Union, Russia, Bulgaria, Serbia, Yugoslavia, Ukraine |
| Greek | ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΗ ΔΗΜΟΚΡΑΤΙΑ, ΔΡΑΧΜΑΙ | Greece, Cyprus |
| Hebrew | Square letters, often with a Hebrew letter date | Israel, or Palestine before 1948 |
| Thai | Rounded looped letters, often with a portrait of the king | Thailand |
| Devanagari | Letters hanging from a top line | India, Nepal |
| Ge'ez (Amharic) | Syllable characters | Ethiopia |
| Latin, monarch only | GEORGIVS, ELIZABETH II D G REG F D | United Kingdom or Commonwealth |
For square-hole cash coins, which carry no date, read the four characters top, bottom, right, left; the first two give the reign. Our guide to Chinese coins explains how.
How do you read a date in another calendar?
| Date system | Where you see it | How it looks | How to convert |
|---|---|---|---|
| Islamic (AH, lunar) | Arab countries, Ottoman Empire, Pakistan, older Iran | Years in the 1200s-1400s, Arabic-Indic numerals | AD is about AH minus AH/33 plus 622. 1400 AH is 1979-80 |
| Solar Hijri (SH) | Iran from 1925, Afghanistan | Years in the 1300s-1400s | Add 621. 1350 SH is 1971-72 |
| Japanese era | Japan | Era name in kanji, a number, then 年 | Meiji add 1867, Taisho add 1911, Showa add 1925, Heisei add 1988, Reiwa add 2018. 元 means year 1 |
| Chinese Republic | China 1912-1949, Taiwan | 中華民國 plus a number and 年 | Add 1911. Year 38 is 1949 |
| Thai Buddhist Era (BE) | Thailand | Years in the 2400s-2500s | Subtract 543. 2520 is 1977 |
| Thai Rattanakosin Era (RS) | Thailand before about 1912 | Small numbers like 127 | Add 1781. RS 127 is 1908 |
| Vikram Samvat (VS) | Nepal | Years around 1900-2080 | Subtract 57 (or 56). VS 2020 is about 1963 |
| Hebrew | Israel | Hebrew letters such as תשל״ג | Subtract 3760 from the full year. 5733 is 1972-73 |
| Ethiopian (EE) | Ethiopia | Years about 7-8 behind | Add 7 or 8. EE 1969 is 1976-77 |
| Korean Dangi | South Korea, 1959 coins | Years in the 4290s | Subtract 2333. 4292 is 1959 |
Arabic-Indic numerals trip people up most. They read ٠ ١ ٢ ٣ ٤ ٥ ٦ ٧ ٨ ٩ for 0 to 9. The 0 is a small dot, the 5 looks like a zero, the 7 is a V and the 8 an upside-down V. Iran and Afghanistan use slightly different forms of 4, 5 and 6 (۴ ۵ ۶). Japanese and Chinese dates often use characters: 一 二 三 四 五 六 七 八 九 for 1 to 9, 十 for 10, so 三十九 is 39.
Is it a coin, a token, a medal or a copy?
Not everything coin-shaped was money. The difference matters because each is valued differently.
- A coin has a denomination and an issuing authority, usually a country.
- A token was issued by a business, transit system or town and is usually marked "GOOD FOR" an amount, or carries a store name, an arcade logo or a fare. Most common tokens sell for a few dollars or less; scarce towns and early dates bring more.
- A medal commemorates an event, person or place and has no denomination. Many are bronze or base metal. Silver medals and rounds are often marked STERLING, .925 or .999, and are worth their silver.
- A copy imitates a real coin. Under the US Hobby Protection Act rules, imitation numismatic items made or imported for sale in the US must be marked COPY in capital letters on the obverse or reverse, not the edge, at least 2 millimeters tall. Souvenir copies bought abroad often carry no mark at all, and copies of Chinese dollars, US trade dollars and Morgan dollars are especially common.
A worked example: a small silver coin with Japanese characters
Say you find a coin about the size of a US nickel, with a sheaf of rice on one side and Japanese characters on both. The characters 日本国 mean State of Japan and 百円 means 100 yen. On the other side, above a large 100, are 昭和 (Showa) and below it 三十九年: year 39.
Showa years plus 1925 give the Western year, so this coin is from 1964. The rice design was struck from 1959 to 1966 in 60 percent silver, according to Numista's catalog entry: 4.8 grams, 22.5 millimeters, with 2.88 grams of pure silver. At about $58 an ounce, that is roughly $5.35 of silver. Numista lists 10 million struck in 1964, the lowest of the series (none were made in 1962), and recent European auction sales of circulated examples ran about 5-6 euros. So an honest value is about $5-8. A 100 yen coin from 1967 onward, with cherry blossoms, is copper-nickel and worth its face value.
That is the typical outcome: the coin is identified for certain, it is silver, and it is worth a few dollars, not hundreds.
What are unknown coins usually worth?
As of October 2026, with silver at about $58 an ounce and gold at about $4,000 an ounce:
| What it turns out to be | Typical value |
|---|---|
| Post-1950 base metal world coin | About 10-50 cents, or $3-8 a pound in bulk |
| Japanese 100 yen, 1959-1966, silver | About $5-8 |
| Canadian quarter before 1967, 80 percent silver | About $8.70 in silver |
| Chinese cash coin, common Qing reign | About $1-10 |
| Common trade or transit token | A few dollars or less |
| One troy ounce .999 silver round or medal | About $58 in silver |
| British gold sovereign | About $940 in gold |
For a mixed bag of foreign coins, our guide to old foreign coins lists the silver cut-off years by country.
Common mistakes
- Reading a foreign calendar as a Western date. A coin dated 1384 is most likely Iranian from about 2005, not medieval.
- Mixing up Arabic-Indic numerals. The dot is a zero and the circle is a five.
- Assuming old means valuable. Billions of 20th-century coins exist; age alone adds little.
- Treating a medal as a coin. No denomination, no coin value, though silver medals are worth their metal.
- Believing a souvenir dollar is real. Weigh it and check it with a magnet.
- Cleaning it to read the date. Use angled light instead; cleaning cuts the value.
How WorthPic reads coin photos
WorthPic runs on the newest and most capable AI model available, tuned for exactly this kind of identification. It reads the script, legend, country, denomination, date and calendar, mint mark and design, converts the date, and gives an honest US dollar range with a most likely figure and what drives it. It says which extra photo would settle an open question, such as the date close up or the edge. What it cannot know is the weight, the metal or whether the coin is genuine, and it says so when the value depends on that. It identifies and estimates. It does not authenticate, grade or appraise. For a comparison with other tools, see the best coin identifier app.
What to photograph
- Both sides straight on, in daylight, filling the frame.
- The date close up, with light from one side so worn numerals show.
- The legend all the way around, in one or two shots.
- The edge, which shows reeding, lettering or a copper core.
- The weight on a kitchen scale beside the coin, in grams.
- Any small letters near the date or under the design.
When to get it looked at in person
A local coin dealer or a coin club can identify most coins in a minute, at no charge for a quick look. For a gold coin, a large silver coin, anything with a very low mintage or anything ancient, get a dealer's opinion before selling. Ancient coins have their own guide, ancient Roman coins. For a coin that might be worth several hundred dollars or more, PCGS or NGC will authenticate and grade it for a fee.
Sources
- Numista: Japan 100 yen, Showa, 1959-1966: composition, weight, size, mintages by year and recent sales for the worked example.
- NGC Coin Explorer: searchable catalog of US coins, tokens and medals with price guide and census.
- 16 CFR 304.6, marking requirements for imitation numismatic items: the COPY marking rules.
- Kitco silver price: silver spot near $58 an ounce in October 2026.