| Roma Numismatics Ltd > Auction XXX | Auction date: 21 March 2024 |
| Lot number: 332 Price realized: 2,650 GBP (Approx. 3,357 USD / 3,091 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | Show similar lots on CoinArchives Find similar lots in upcoming auctions on  |
| Lot description: Q. Hortensius Hortalus Æ 25mm of Cassandrea or Dium, Macedon. Struck as Proconsul, circa 43-42 BC. Q HORTENSI PRO • COS, bare head to right / PRAEF COLONI • DEDVC, ox yoke, plough and measuring rod(?) with vexillum. S. Kremydi-Sicilianou, The Coinage of the Roman Colony of Dion, Biblioteca 4 of the Hellenic Numismatic Society, Athens 1996, p. 257, 1-8 and pl. 32; RPC I 1509.24 (this coin); FITA, p. 33. 13.91g, 25mm, 12h. Good Very Fine. Extremely Rare. This coin published at Roman Provincial Coinage Online (rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk); Ex Roma Numismatics Ltd., Auction XXI, 24 March 2021, lot 371 (hammer: 2,600 GBP). A son of the famous orator of the same name, Quintus Hortensius was appointed proconsul of Macedonia by Caesar in January 44 BC. Caesar was assassinated in March, and a few months later, just as Hortensius was about to retire, the Civil War broke out and he went over to Brutus and the Republican party with the offer of military help. The Senate was obliged to accept Brutus once again as proconsul, but after the battle of Philippi in 42 BC Hortensius was executed. During his stay in Macedonia Hortensius struck an issue of bronze coins in three denominations, and the coins confirm that he was appointed 'praefectus coloniae deducendae' of a military colony the name of which is not mentioned - it was either at port of Kassanderia (Cassandreia) or the ancient shrine of Dion (Dium) in Macedonia where several examples have been found in official excavations and published by Kremydi-Sicilianou, op. cit., pp. 285-6. Estimate: 1750 GBP |  |
