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Obol
| Issuer | Abdera (Thrace) |
|---|---|
| Year | 475 BC - 450 BC |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Obol (⅙) |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Griffin seated to left in profile, body rendered in fine archaic style with feathered wings spread upward and outward, the right forepaw raised. The creature's leonine haunches and taloned hindquarters are depicted with careful detail, and the curved beak and crest are clearly articulated. The design fills the irregularly shaped flan characteristic of early Thracian coinage. No legend or inscription appears in the field. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
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| Mintage | ND (475 BC - 450 BC) |
| Additional information |
Abdera was destroyed by the Persians around 500 BC and subsequently refounded — likely with Clazomenian settlers — making its early post-destruction coinage a direct artifact of that resettlement. The city's silver issues of this period draw on rich ore sources from the Thracian interior, and the denomination structure Abdera employed was unusually consistent for a colonial foundation still consolidating its civic identity.
The May and Berlin references here cross-anchor a genuinely scarce type. At 0.6 g, attrition in ancient circulation was brutal for pieces this small, and surviving examples tend to come from hoards rather than site finds.