According to Roman Provincial Coinage, "Cabellio (Cavaillon) struck a silver coinage under the governorship of Leipidus in 44-42 BC. This coinage consists mainly of obols (528), but a hemidrachm is also known (527). I picked up this little guy at NYINC and marvel at how it was ever even used in commerce. It's incredibly tiny. I've added a picture of a Lepidus denarius next to it for scale. Lepidus. Obol, Cabellio circa 44-42, AR 0.48 g. CABE Head of Apollo r. Rev. LE – PI Cornucopiae; all within wreath. Blanchet p. 439. RPC 528, Sear CRI 491.
Wonderful coin, and moreover, at some pont it might had been used by an ancestor of mine, since father was born 10 miles away from Cavaillon (Cabellio) Q
Amazing coin! There have been many times in coin history where really small coinage were in circulation. Lydia (Hemihektes) Lesbos/Phokia 1/48 Staters....
It's smaller. This is .48g and the AR Sestertius like I own averages just a touch over 1g. I actually don't have my Sestertius at the moment to compare, but I'll take picture of them against each other when they are reunited. It's not a common piece and you don't see it often in older catalogues. I have an old Hamburger catalogue from the early 20th century that actually lists this issue as a Sestertius.
Great coins, and a nice plug for ABAFIL. The attribution of the obverse as Apollo is interesting. Except for the Adam's apple, I would have guessed female for the head. Of course many depictions of Apollo look a bit feminine.
