Numista Coin Catalogue Scraper

Scrape Numista — the world's largest collaborative online catalogue of coins, banknotes, and exonumia (tokens, medals, and other collectibles), covering 250,000+ catalogue entries from every country and era. Search by keyword, or browse by issuing country, ruler, material, mint, theme tag, shape, minting/printing technique, or lettering script — and optionally refine any of those by face value, weight, diameter, width, lettering, engraver, or year in circulation. Get composition, weight, diameter, mintage years, catalogue references (KM#, Pick#, etc.), obverse/reverse descriptions, and images — no login, no API key, no cookies required.

What this actor does

• Ten modes: free-text search, plus eight taxonomy browsers (byIssuer, byRuler, byMaterial, byMint, byTag, byShape, byTechnique, byScript) and an exact byCoinId lookup
• Rich per-item data: face value, composition/material, weight, diameter, thickness, mintage years, ruler/period, catalogue references, tags, and obverse/reverse imagery
• Deep detail lookup: byCoinId fetches the full catalogue page for a coin/banknote/token — obverse & reverse descriptions, lettering, engraver, edge, mint list, related items, and swap-market availability
• Curated dropdowns: 187 issuing countries, 62 materials, 220 theme tags, 79 shapes, 32 minting/printing techniques, 113 lettering scripts, and popular rulers/mints — plus free-text overrides for anything not in the list
• Seven refinements, combinable with any search/browse mode: face value, weight (g), diameter (mm), width (mm, for banknotes), visible lettering/inscription (with * wildcard), engraver/designer, and year in circulation
• Empty fields are always omitted — you only ever see fields that have real data

Note: byCoinId (direct lookup by catalogue number) is the most reliable mode and is used by default. search and the taxonomy-browse modes (byIssuer, byRuler, byMaterial, byMint, byTag, byShape, byTechnique, byScript) depend on Numista's catalogue search pages, which are currently subject to the source site's own access restrictions and may return no results. If a search/browse run returns 0 items, switch to byCoinId with a known catalogue number, or try again later.

Output per item

Every record includes:

• coinId — Numista catalogue number
• title — catalogue title (e.g. 1 Dollar "Morgan Dollar")
• year, yearFrom, yearTo — mintage year or year range
• issuerName, issuerSlug — issuing country/entity
• categoryMain / categorySub — e.g. Coins › Standard circulation coins
• composition — e.g. Copper-nickel (75% Copper, 25% Nickel)
• weightGrams, diameterMm — coins; sizeText — banknotes
• catalogueReferences — e.g. ["KM# 22"]
• commemorativeNote — commemorative issue name, when applicable
• obverseImageUrl, reverseImageUrl
• swapAvailable — whether a Numista member currently lists it for swap
• numistaUrl — canonical catalogue page
• recordType — coin, banknote, or exonumia
• scrapedAt

byCoinId mode additionally returns: rulerName/rulerId/rulerYears/rulerRole, currencyName/currencyYears, material/materialId, thicknessMm, faceValue, shape, technique, orientation, references, photoCredit, obverseDescription/obverseScript/obverseLettering/obverseTranslation/obverseEngraver (and the reverse* equivalents), edgeDescription, mints[] (name + mint ID), tags[], notes (community notes), swapOffersCount.

Input

Field	Type	Default	Description
mode	select	byCoinId	byCoinId / search / byIssuer / byRuler / byMaterial / byMint / byTag / byShape / byTechnique / byScript
searchQuery	string	morgan dollar	Free-text query (mode=search). Quote a phrase for an exact match, use * as a wildcard, -word to exclude
issuer	select	–	Issuing country/entity — 187 curated options (mode=search refinement, mode=byIssuer)
customIssuerSlug	string	–	Advanced override for any issuer not in the dropdown
coinIds	array	["1492"]	Catalogue numbers or full URLs (mode=byCoinId)
ruler	select	–	Curated list of well-known rulers (mode=byRuler)
customRulerId	integer	–	Advanced override for any ruler ID
material	select	Copper-nickel	One of 62 materials (mode=byMaterial)
mint	select	–	Curated list of well-known mints (mode=byMint)
customMintId	integer	–	Advanced override for any mint ID
tags	array (multi-select)	–	One or more of 220 theme tags (mode=byTag)
shape	select	–	One of 79 physical shapes (mode=byShape) — round, square, scalloped, polygonal, etc.
mintingTechnique	select	–	One of 32 minting/printing techniques (mode=byTechnique) — hammered, milled, cast, offset-printed, etc.
script	select	–	One of 113 lettering scripts (mode=byScript) — Latin, Arabic, Chinese, Cyrillic, Devanagari, etc.
faceValue	string	–	Restrict any search/browse mode to a specific numeric face value (e.g. 5, 25), regardless of currency/denomination unit
weight	string	–	Restrict any search/browse mode to a weight in grams — a value (e.g. 9.5, ±0.5g tolerance) or a range (e.g. 7.5-10)
diameter	string	–	Restrict any search/browse mode to a diameter/size in mm — a value (e.g. 24, ±0.5mm tolerance) or a range (e.g. 20-25)
width	string	–	Restrict any search/browse mode to a width in mm (rectangular items, e.g. banknotes) — a value or range
lettering	string	–	Restrict any search/browse mode to items whose visible lettering matches this text — * as a wildcard for unreadable letters
engraver	string	–	Restrict any search/browse mode to items credited to this engraver/designer
usableInYear	string	–	Restrict any search/browse mode to currency in circulation in this year, or now for currency still in use today
recordTypeFilter	select	all	all / coin / banknote / exonumia
yearMin	integer	–	Drop items whose year is before this (client-side; combine both bounds to also narrow the server-side result set)
yearMax	integer	–	Drop items whose year is after this (client-side; combine both bounds to also narrow the server-side result set)
swapAvailableOnly	boolean	false	Only emit items listed for swap by a member
maxItems	integer	20	Hard cap on emitted records (1–50)

Example: search with an issuer refinement

{
  "mode": "search",
  "searchQuery": "morgan dollar",
  "issuer": "united-states",
  "maxItems": 20
}

Example: browse all coins/banknotes issued by a country

{
  "mode": "byIssuer",
  "issuer": "barbade",
  "recordTypeFilter": "coin",
  "maxItems": 30
}

Example: exact lookup by catalogue ID

{
  "mode": "byCoinId",
  "coinIds": ["1492", "https://en.numista.com/22693"]
}

Example: search refined by weight, diameter, and lettering

{
  "mode": "search",
  "searchQuery": "dollar",
  "issuer": "united-states",
  "weight": "26.73",
  "diameter": "38.1",
  "lettering": "LIBERTY",
  "maxItems": 20
}

Example: browse by ruler

{
  "mode": "byRuler",
  "ruler": "275",
  "maxItems": 25
}

Example: browse gold coins available for swap

{
  "mode": "byMaterial",
  "material": "6",
  "swapAvailableOnly": true
}

Example: browse coins with a scalloped shape

{
  "mode": "byShape",
  "shape": "15",
  "maxItems": 20
}

Example: browse hammered-struck coins

{
  "mode": "byTechnique",
  "mintingTechnique": "2",
  "maxItems": 20
}

Example: browse coins lettered in Arabic script

{
  "mode": "byScript",
  "script": "3",
  "maxItems": 20
}

Example: search refined to a specific face value

{
  "mode": "search",
  "searchQuery": "dollar",
  "faceValue": "25",
  "maxItems": 20
}

Use cases

• Coin dealers & marketplaces — enrich listings with composition, weight, and catalogue references
• Numismatic research — bulk-export a country's or ruler's coinage for cataloguing
• Collection management tools — pull structured metadata for a want-list or inventory
• Price-guide / appraisal apps — cross-reference catalogue numbers (KM#, Pick#) against your own database
• Educational content — source real mintage years, mint locations, and imagery for history/economics material
• Theme collectors — find every coin tagged with a subject (animals, ships, sports, independence, etc.)

FAQ

What's Numista? A free, collaborative online catalogue of coins, banknotes, and exonumia maintained by a community of collectors, covering nearly every country and historical period. See en.numista.com.

Do I need an account or API key? No. This actor only reads Numista's public catalogue pages — no login, cookies, or API key needed.

Why is maxItems capped at 50? Numista serves catalogue search/browse results one page at a time; the actor fetches that first page (up to 50 items) per run. Narrow your query with issuer, material, tags, shape, mintingTechnique, script, or faceValue — these are sent straight to Numista, so they change which 50 items come back. yearMin/yearMax and swapAvailableOnly, by contrast, only filter within that same fetched page of 50 (Numista has no year/swap query parameter), so a narrow year range on a broad browse mode can legitimately return fewer items — or zero — if none of the ~50 fetched items happen to fall in range. Run the actor multiple times with different filters, or use mode=search with a specific query, to cover more ground.

What's the difference between issuer and customIssuerSlug? issuer is a curated dropdown of 187 common issuing countries/entities. customIssuerSlug lets you target any of Numista's thousands of issuers (including historical states, colonies, and private/local issuers) by typing its catalogue slug directly — find it in the URL of a catalogue.numista.com/catalogue/<slug>-1.html page.

How does byRuler/byMint work if my ruler/mint isn't in the dropdown? Use customRulerId / customMintId with the numeric ID from the ruler or mint's Numista URL (ruler.php?id=... / mint.php?id=...).

What does recordType mean? coin for coins and coin-like tokens, banknote for paper money and banknote-format collectibles, exonumia for tokens, medals, and other non-coin/non-banknote items.

Why do some items lack weightGrams/diameterMm? Those fields only apply to coins. Banknotes report sizeText instead, and some exonumia entries don't have every physical measurement catalogued.

What is swapAvailable? Whether at least one Numista community member currently lists that exact catalogue item as available to swap. It reflects the live marketplace at scrape time.

How fresh is the data? Numista's catalogue is community-maintained and updated continuously; this actor always reads the live page at run time.

Why do search/browse modes sometimes return 0 results while byCoinId always works? byCoinId fetches one specific catalogue page directly, which is consistently accessible. search and the taxonomy-browse modes rely on Numista's catalogue search pages, which are occasionally subject to the source site's own access restrictions independent of this actor. If you hit 0 results on a search/browse mode, retry later or use byCoinId with a known catalogue number in the meantime.

Does Numista have an official API? Yes, but it requires creating a Numista account and generating an API key, so it's out of scope for this actor (no login/API key required, per design). This actor reads the same public catalogue pages any visitor sees.

Is this affiliated with the data source? No, this is a third-party actor using Numista's public catalogue pages. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Numista.