Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
Obol
| Issuer | Athens |
|---|---|
| Year | 515 BC - 510 BC |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Round (irregular) |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Facing gorgoneion depicted in archaic style, rendered en face with bulging eyes, a broad flat nose, and a wide grimacing mouth with visible teeth. The visage fills the flan, with coiled serpentine hair rendered in low relief around the periphery. The features are boldly modelled in the severe archaic manner characteristic of late 6th-century Athenian coinage, with no inscription or legend in the field. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Athens |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
These early Athenian obols predate the city's iconic "owl" coinage and were struck during the period of Peisistratid tyranny — the regime of Hippias and Hipparchus, sons of Peisistratos. When Hipparchus was assassinated in 514 BC and Hippias grew increasingly brutal in response, the political atmosphere that surrounded the minting of these coins was deteriorating rapidly toward the expulsion of 510 BC. Surviving pieces are genuinely scarce; the fabric is crude and the flans frequently off-center, a product of archaic hand-hammering with minimal quality control.