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Obol anonymous crescents
| Issuer | Châteaudun, Viscounty of |
|---|---|
| Year | 1180-1200 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Orientation | Variable alignment ↺ |
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| Obverse description | Stylized schematic head in the so-called 'bléso-chartraine' tradition, facing right, depicted in a highly abstracted manner characteristic of late 12th-century feudal coinage. A central annulet or pellet marks the field at mid-height, with a vertical omega symbol placed below the head. Two crescents flank the head on either side, serving as the principal decorative elements of the type. The design is contained within a beaded inner circle, itself surrounded by an irregular beaded border. The overall execution is crude but consistent with hammered billon issues of the Viscounty of Châteaudun. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | A plain cross divides the reverse field into four quarters, with a retrograde or ornamental S-form symbol placed in the second and fourth quarters. The legend surrounds the cross within a beaded inner circle, rendered in crude Latin letterforms typical of feudal hammered coinage of the period. The inscription references Châteaudun and is partially retrograde or deformed due to the irregularity of the die. The border is beaded and the flan is irregular, consistent with hand-hammered production of the late 12th century. |
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| Additional information |
The viscounts of Châteaudun occupied an awkward political position in the late twelfth century, caught between the competing pressures of the Capetian crown and the Counts of Blois, to whom they were nominally subordinate. Small billon fractions like this obol were the working currency of local markets and toll-roads — the Loire valley was commercially active enough that even a half-denier denomination needed to exist in quantity. Dunois-area hoards from this period tend to produce these in clusters, suggesting they circulated intensively within a tight geographic radius rather than traveling far.