Obol - Kavad I

Kavad I's reign was anything but stable — he was deposed in 496, imprisoned in the Castle of Oblivion, escaped to the Hephthalites, and reclaimed the Sasanian throne in 499 with nomadic military backing. The fractional silver struck under his restored rule circulated through an empire simultaneously managing Mazdakite religious upheaval and perpetual war on the Byzantine frontier. At under half a gram, these obols saw real transactional use at the lowest level of daily commerce, which makes survivors in decent condition genuinely scarce.