Obol - Henry III / Henry IV / Henry V Lucca mint

Lucca was one of the most productive imperial mints in northern Italy during the eleventh and early twelfth centuries, its output sustaining commerce along the Via Francigena pilgrimage route. The long attribution span across three reigns — Henry III, IV, and V — reflects a practical reality: these small billon pieces were struck from dies that changed so slowly, and degraded so gradually, that modern scholars cannot always assign individual specimens to a single reign with confidence.

The Henrician coinage of Lucca continued well past the investiture crisis, surviving the prolonged conflict between Henry IV and the papacy that reshaped imperial authority in Italy after 1076.