Obol - James I Barcelona

Jaume I — "El Conqueridor" — ruled longer than almost any medieval Iberian monarch, and his coinage reflects the administrative pressure of a reign that absorbed Majorca in 1229 and Valencia in 1238. The Barcelona mint struck enormous quantities of small billon to supply newly conquered territories with a common transactional currency, which is why surviving obols are typically well-worn; they worked hard in active Mediterranean commerce.

The .167 fineness was fixed deliberately low — enough silver to retain credibility, cheap enough to mint in volume.