★ An unpublished Merovingian tremissis from Claye (?) ★

MEROVINGIANS. Claye (?). Tremissis (Gold, 12 mm, 1.26 g, 5 h), Bobolenus, moneyer, circa 620-640. +BOBOLENVS Male head to right. Rev. CL AV IO FITVR Cross set on globe; in angles, four stars. Depeyrot, l'Or, -. Prou -. Unpublished and unique. Attractive, clear and well struck. Very light marks, otherwise, good extremely fine.

Claium was the Latin name of what is nowadays known as Claye-Souilly, a small city east of Paris. Depeyrot knew just three Merovinian tremisses from Claium, A. Pol knows five, all of them with the city name in the form of CLAIO FIT on the obverse and the name of the moneyer in the form of BOBOLINO on the reverse. Our coin, on the other hand, differs from all the other examples stylistically, and in that it names the moneyer Bobolenus on the obverse, whereas the reverse reads CLAVIO FITVR. While it is possible that it was also struck in Claium-Claye, this is by no means certain and requires further research.