Collectors and Collecting. A Coin of Sybaris

Lucania, Sybaris. AR Obol, circa 530-510 BC - Obv: Bull standing to left, head to right, Rev: Large M V

One thing I have noticed is that there are different kinds of coin collectors. For some collectors it is about the coin itself - what mint at what date by what engraver. For others it is about how the coin connects with history, stories and myths, both to validate them and to evidence the period. The collectors of the former persuasion are more detailed, precise and more likely to be completionists; the latter to have more breadth and to be more drawn by aesthetics. Both persuasions, and of course the ranges in between, have a valuable role to play in this fascinating endeavour. The former enforces the rigour, the latter spark the imagination. Of course, the balance may change over the lifetime of a collection, maybe starting out with a broad view on Greek coins and then honing into the detail of a particular city or type. In practice most collectors will fall in between the two extremes and indeed, while I collect mostly to bring to life contemporary texts of Herodotus, Strabo or Diodorus, sometimes I obtain a coin to try and understand how it fits into the existing corpus of research.

An example of this is the small coin of Sybaris in the banner, photographed beside a drachm on the left for comparison. It is clearly of the first period (so pre-510 BC) and coins of that period in Sybaris were fabricated on the Archaean standard of 7.90g to the tri-drachm nomos. The type of this coin this matches a recorded obol (HN Italy 1738). However this coins is 9.2mm and weighs 0.21g, which is about half the weight of an Achaean standard obol. So, is this a hemi-obol?

There is no reference to a hemi-obol of this period in the Handbook of Coins of Italy and Magna Graecia by Oliver D. Hoover, nor in Coins of Magna Graecia by W. A. Hands nor Greek Coins and their Values by Sear. Indeed Sear and Hands have the the lightest period one coin of Sybaris at 0.65g. The Inventory of Greek Hoards from the AMS does not record any smaller fractions for Sybaris (though that could be because they were not worth hoarding).

So is this evidence of smaller fractions existing in Sybaris before 510 BC?

Update: This is what I love about researching coins - there is always more to learn. So, from an excellent NGC article on incuse coins https://www.ngccoin.com/news/article/8345/Ancient-Greek-coins-Italy/, "Also from early phases of Sybarite coinage are the three fractional pieces above. First is a triobol showing an incuse amphora on its reverse, next is an obol with an incuse acorn on its reverse, and the last is a hemiobol, weighing merely 0.18 grams, which has an incuse bull on its reverse."