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Obol - Louis I Bourges
| Issuer | Unified Carolingian Empire |
|---|---|
| Year | 819-822 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Diameter | Log in to see details |
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| Orientation | Variable alignment ↺ |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
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| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Central field occupied by a small cross pattée set within a beaded inner circle, itself enclosed by a plain ring. The legend BITVRIGES is distributed in two lines across the outer field, divided by the central motif, reading in four quadrants around the inner circle. The cross and circular arrangement are characteristic of the Carolingian monetary reform type attributed to Louis the Pious. The whole is surrounded by a beaded outer border following the contour of the irregular flan, typical of hammered Carolingian silver coinage from the Bourges mint. |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | BITVRIGES (Translation: Bourges.) |
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| Additional information |
Louis the Pious inherited Charlemagne's reformed monetary system and continued the monogram coinage at Bourges — a city whose mint had been active since the Merovingian period and retained strategic importance as an administrative center of Aquitaine, a region Louis had governed personally as sub-king before his accession. The narrow window of 819–822 corresponds to a period of relative internal stability before the succession crises of the 820s fractured Carolingian unity. Bourges output from these years is modest in surviving numbers, consistent with a regional mint serving local fiscal needs rather than long-distance trade.