Obole - Raymond IV

Raymond IV ruled Orange during a period when the principality's mint was asserting its autonomy with particular vigor, issuing small billon fractions that circulated alongside the dominant coinage of the Dauphiné and Provence. The obole was the workhorse of everyday petty transactions — bread, a handful of nails, a day's portion of a laborer's wage — and surviving examples have usually paid for all of it.

The billon alloy used by Orange's mint in this period was notoriously variable in silver content, a common characteristic of smaller feudal mints operating without the strict oversight imposed on royal issues.