Obol

Samothrace, the island sanctuary famous for the Mysteries of the Great Gods, produced coinage primarily to serve the needs of pilgrims and traders passing through — not as a major commercial mint. The obol denomination at this weight places it among the smallest practical units of exchange in the northern Aegean, where Thasian and Macedonian issues dominated larger transactions. HGC 6, 307 is scarce; the island's output was never prolific, and pieces this small suffered attrition simply from handling.