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 - Charles II Bar-sur-Aube mint
| Issuer | West Francia, Kingdom of |
|---|---|
| Year | 864-875 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 1 Obol (1⁄480) |
| 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 | Log in to see details |
| 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 | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Latin |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | A bold plain cross with expanded arms occupies the central field, set within a beaded inner circle. The four quadrants formed by the cross arms are plain. A Latin legend reading the mint name surrounds the inner circle, all contained within a beaded outer border consistent with Carolingian hammered coinage of the period. |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
The Edict of Pîtres, issued by Charles II in June 864, represents one of the most deliberate attempts at monetary centralization in the Carolingian period — restricting minting rights to a defined list of royal and episcopal workshops and forbidding coin production anywhere else. Bar-sur-Aube was among the authorized locations. That the edict had to be issued at all suggests how badly fragmented production had become in the preceding decades.
Obols of this type are considerably scarcer than their denier counterparts from the same mint, a predictable consequence of lower striking volumes for fractional denominations throughout the Carolingian system.