Catalog
Obole with globule
| Issuer | Salyes |
|---|---|
| Year | 150 BC - 50 BC |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Round (irregular) |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Heavily worn and patinated field bearing only faint, barely discernible traces of a human head, the precise type and orientation of which is no longer determinable due to significant surface corrosion and die wear. No inscription or legend is present. The flan is irregular and slightly convex, characteristic of the hammered coinage of the Gaulish Salyes tribe. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | A four-spoked wheel motif occupying the full field, formed by two intersecting lines meeting at a central hub, with a single raised globule positioned on one of the branches adjacent to the hub, serving as the coin's distinguishing type element. A second globule appears near the hub itself. The design is rendered in a schematic, Celtic artistic tradition typical of Ligurian Gaulish coinage, with no surrounding legend or inscription. |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
The Salyes (also written Salluvii) were a Celto-Ligurian confederation occupying the coastal hinterland north of Massalia, and their small silver fractions were struck in direct imitation of Massalian coinage — the dominant currency of the western Mediterranean littoral. Rome crushed the confederation decisively in 123–122 BC under Gaius Sextius Calvinus, founding Aquae Sextiae on Salyan territory. Whether issues of this type predate or postdate that subjugation remains debated, but coinage continued under Roman supervision well into the following century.