Obol

Pherai was a minor Thessalian city whose coinage in this period is poorly documented and rarely surfaces in trade. The BCD collection reference anchors this piece to one of the most important specialist assemblages of Thessalian coins ever formed, that of the collector known only as BCD, whose holdings defined the modern understanding of the regional series when they were dispersed at auction by Leu Numismatik in the early 2000s.

Thessaly occupied an uneasy position during the Persian Wars — its ruling aristocracy, the Aleuadae, famously medized, collaborating with Xerxes during his 480 BC invasion.