Obol - Geoffrey III alpha and omega

Geoffrey III ruled Gien during a period when the Loire valley's smaller lordships were under sustained pressure from the expanding Capetian domain and the competing ambitions of the counts of Nevers and Auxerre. Obols of this weight and alloy were the workhorse of local market exchange — grain, tolls, river passage — and the County of Gien's mint output from this period is poorly documented, leaving precise dating dependent almost entirely on typological comparison with neighboring issues.

The alpha and omega designation distinguishes this type within Poey d'Avant's classification from related Gien obols sharing the same broad period, a distinction that collapses without careful die study.