Catalog
1 Obol Without legend, open wings, facing right
| Issuer | Alba Fucens |
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| Year | 280 BC - 275 BC |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
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| Obverse description | Head of Athena facing right, wearing a Corinthian helmet adorned with a prominent upswept crest and cheekguards. The facial features are rendered in a refined late archaic to early Hellenistic style, with a strong profile and delicate modeling of the chin and neck. The helmet crest sweeps dramatically to the left across the field. No legend or inscription appears in the field. The flan is irregular, characteristic of hand-struck coinage of this period. |
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
Alba Fucens was a Latin colony planted by Rome in 303 BC deep in Aequian territory, sitting astride the Via Valeria at roughly 1000 meters elevation in the central Apennines. Its coinage is exceptionally brief — this obol belongs to a small autonomous issue struck in the years immediately following the Latin War settlement, before Rome systematically curtailed allied minting rights. The colony likely struck these pieces to facilitate local market exchange in a region where Roman coinage had not yet fully penetrated.
The series is rare by any measure, with surviving specimens spread thinly across a handful of major collections including the ANS.