Collectable Coins
United States coins are collected by type, meaning the design on the coin rather than the year it was struck or the mint that struck it. A Morgan dollar made in Philadelphia in 1881 and one made in New Orleans the same week are the same type, and a collector choosing between them is usually weighing grade against price.
The 39 types below are derived from colonial pieces struck before the Mint existed to the bullion coins it sells today. Some ended after three years, like the Flying Eagle cent. Others have been struck continuously for over a century. What they have in common is that each one has its own market, its own key dates, and its own set of things worth checking before buying.
Each page covers where the design came from, what the coin is made of, what to look at on it, and every certified example Coinsel has priced.
Early American Coinage
Colonial Issues
1616-1792
Coins and tokens struck for the colonies and the young republic before the Mint opened, including the 1787 Fugio cent.
Draped Bust Coins
1795-1808
Robert Scot's draped portrait of Liberty, used across denominations from the half cent to the ten dollar eagle.
Capped Bust Coins
1807-1839
John Reich's Liberty in a soft cap, struck on presses that left the die marriages collectors still catalog today.
Cents and Two Cents
Flying Eagle Cents
1856-1858
The first small cent, struck for three years and headed by the 1856, which began as a pattern and ended up a rarity.
Indian Head Cents
1859-1909
Fifty years of James Longacre's Liberty in a feathered headdress, first in copper-nickel and then in bronze.
Lincoln Cent
1909 to date
The first circulating United States coin to carry a real person, and the longest running design in the series.
Shield Two-Cent
1864-1873
A denomination that lasted ten years, and the first coin struck with the motto IN GOD WE TRUST.
Nickels
Dimes and Half Dimes
Liberty Seated Half Dime
1837-1873
The last of the silver five cent pieces, retired once the nickel took the denomination over.
Liberty Seated Dime
1837-1891
Christian Gobrecht's seated Liberty, struck through arrows, legends and weight changes over five decades.
Barber Dime
1892-1916
Charles Barber's classical Liberty head, and the home of the 1894-S, of which two dozen were struck.
Mercury Dime
1916-1945
Adolph Weinman's winged Liberty, graded on whether the bands across the fasces separate cleanly.
Roosevelt Dime
1946 to date
Issued the year after Roosevelt's death, in 90 percent silver through 1964 and in clad alloy since.
Quarters
Liberty Seated Quarter
1838-1891
A quarter that ran through the Gold Rush, the Civil War and three separate weight standards.
Barber Quarter
1892-1916
Struck alongside the Barber dime and half dollar, and ended by the low mintage issues of 1916.
Washington Quarter
1932 to date
Struck for Washington's two hundredth birthday and kept, later carrying the state and national park reverses.
Pattern Quarter Dollar
1792-1916
Experimental quarter dollars struck to test designs, alloys and edges, most of which never reached circulation.
Half Dollars
Walking Liberty Half Dollar
1916-1947
Weinman's striding Liberty, brought back in 1986 for the obverse of the American Silver Eagle.
Franklin Half Dollar
1948-1963
Sixteen years of Franklin and the Liberty Bell, judged on whether the lines below the bell are full.
Kennedy Half Dollar
1964 to date
Authorized weeks after the assassination, struck in silver in 1964 and pulled from circulation almost as fast as it appeared.
Silver Dollars
Modern Dollars
Eisenhower Dollars
1971-1978
The last large dollar coin, including the Bicentennial reverse and the 40 percent silver collector issues.
Susan B. Anthony Dollar
1979-1999
The first circulating United States coin to depict a historical woman, and one the public kept mistaking for a quarter.
Sacagawea Dollar
2000 to date
Golden in color and struck in manganese brass, with a Native American reverse design that changes each year.
James Monroe One Dollar Coin
2008
The fifth Presidential dollar, known to collectors mainly for its edge lettering errors.
John Quincy Adams Dollar
2008
A Presidential dollar whose satin finish and missing edge lettering pieces are collected separately.
James Buchanan Dollar Coin
2010
The fifteenth Presidential dollar, from a year when the series reached collectors rather than cash registers.
Franklin Pierce Dollar
2010
The fourteenth Presidential dollar, struck at Philadelphia and Denver for collector sets.
Gold
Liberty Gold Dollar
1849-1889
The smallest gold coin the Mint struck for circulation, at roughly the diameter of a modern dime.
Liberty Head $2.50 Gold Coin
1840-1907
The quarter eagle of the Liberty Head era, struck at five mints including Charlotte and Dahlonega.
Indian Head $5 Gold Coin
1908-1929
Bela Lyon Pratt's incuse design, sunk into the field instead of raised above it, which no other circulating United States coin uses.
Liberty Head $20 Gold Coin
1850-1907
The double eagle the Gold Rush produced, carrying twenty dollars of gold when that was a month of wages.
St. Gaudens $20 Double Eagle
1907-1933
Commissioned by Theodore Roosevelt, and widely held to be the finest coin the Mint has produced.
Commemoratives and Bullion
Silver Commemoratives
1892-1954
Half dollars authorized for anniversaries, expositions and monuments, sold above face value to fund them.
Gold Commemorative Coins
1903-1926
Eleven classic gold commemoratives, from the Louisiana Purchase dollar to the Sesquicentennial quarter eagle.
Silver Eagle
1986 to date
The Mint's one ounce silver bullion coin, carrying Weinman's Walking Liberty on the obverse.
Gold Eagle
1986 to date
Gold bullion in four weights, struck in 22 karat alloy with the Saint-Gaudens Liberty on the obverse.
Looking for one specific coin? The tracked coins table lists every certified coin in the database by cert number, series and grade. Coins PCGS reports without a series are grouped under other issues.