Obol

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.