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How to Identify an Octagon Silver Coin

Coins are typically round, but occasionally they are in odd shapes such as squares, rectangles or octagons. An octagon is an eight-sided form. While multiple countries have struck coins shaped like an octagon--including the United States--these coins can be identified in the same way that you would identify any coin.

Things You'll Need

A guide book to world, North American or Mexican coins

Instructions

- 1
  Identify what country struck the coin. Almost all countries place the name of the country of issue on the coin's surface.
- 2
  Identify the date of the coin. The date of the coin represents the year that the coin was struck, and will generally be on the obverse (front) of the coin.
- 3
  Identify the denomination. The denomination represents how much a coin is worth, and is either written out or in numerals, typically on the reverse (back).
- 4
  Look the coins up in a world coin book. Most libraries and book stores have general world coin books. As octagonal coins are mostly a 20th century phenomenon, the "Krause Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1901-2000 edition" is a good resource. It is published every year. The countries are listed in alphabetical order. You can then sort by denomination and then date. As octagonal coins are unusual, you will also quickly be able to find it by the picture.

Coin Collecting