| Maison Palombo > Auction 23 | Auction date: 27 March 2024 |
| Lot number: 52 Price realized: 80,000 CHF (Approx. 88,613 USD / 81,834 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: Victorin (269–271) Aureus – Cologne ou Trêves (fin 269) Magnifique exemplaire d'une grande rareté. Seulement 6 exemplaires connus. Légères traces de monture. Exemplaire de la collection Biaggi, N°1539, de la vente NAC 40 du 16 mai 2007, N°820, et de la vente NAC 54 du 24 mars 2010, N°571. 6.14g – Cal. 3811 (cet exemplaire), RIC V.4 514/5 (cet exemplaire), Sondermann 1.2 (cet exemplaire) Superbe - AU The Romano-Gallic emperors are of interest because their social origins alternate: Postumus (260-269) was a simple man, whom the Spanish aristocrat Laelianus (269) replaced, until the revolt of the common soldier Marius (269). He himself was then overthrown by the wealthy M. Piavonius Victorinus (269-271). The latter was not only well-born, but displayed both administrative and military talents, according to Aurelius Victor (Caes. 33.12). He had shared a consulship in 265 or 267 and was tribunus praetorianorum at Trier under Postumus. His reign was complicated by the opposition of the emperor in Rome, Claudius II Gothicus (268-270), and the reconquest by the Aedui of territories east of the Rhône, which he only recovered in the fall of 270 after the siege of Autun. His aurei are especially interesting because of a series that names various legions and portrays their badges, which confirms the importance of the army at that time. Nevertheless, he did not die at the hand of his political competitors but was apparently killed in Cologne by an officer who did not approve of the emperor's attempt at seducing his wife: "When Lollianus was eventually killed, Victorinus found himself the only figure in power, but this was not to last. He wasted his time chasing and molesting the wives of both soldiers and officers until one day, in the vicinity of Agrippina Colonia he was assassinated as the result of a plot organized by a clerk whose wife he had raped" (Historia Augusta). He was replaced – with the support of his mother Victoria – by another nobleman, the senator Tetricus (271-274), who gave him the honors of consecration, and Victorinus became the only Romano-Gallic emperor to receive that distinction. Estimate: CHF 80'000 |  |
Match 1:
| Maison Palombo > Auction 23 | Auction date: 27 March 2024 |
| Lot number: 53 Price realized: 85,000 CHF (Approx. 94,152 USD / 86,949 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: Maximien Hercule (286-305) Aureus - Rome (286-287) Monnaie d'une grande beauté et d'une qualité exceptionnelle. Exemplaire illustrant le Calicó. Exemplaire de la collection Ladislaus Von Hoffman vente Sotheby's du 5 juillet 1995, N°174 et de la vente NAC 24 « European Nobleman » du 5 décembre 2002, N°241 et de la vente Roma Numismatics XX du 29 octobre 2020, N°677 et de la vente Palombo 20 du 22 janvier 2022, N°97. 5.17g - Cal. 4698 (cet exemplaire) FDC - MS (5/5 et 4/5) Fine Style Estimate: CHF 80'000 |  |
Match 2:
| Maison Palombo > Auction 23 | Auction date: 27 March 2024 |
| Lot number: 43 Price realized: 68,000 CHF (Approx. 75,321 USD / 69,559 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: Auguste (27-14) Cistophore en argent - Pergame ou Ephèse ? (27-26) D'une qualité exceptionnelle. Magnifique patine médaillier. Un des plus beaux exemplaires connus, du meilleur style. Exemplaire de la collection U.N. (selon Kent & Hirmer), et de la vente NAC 59 du 4 avril 2011, N° 873 et de la vente Palombo 19 du 12 décembre 2020, N°83. Cet exemplaire publié dans : J. P. C. Kent, B. Overbeck, A. U. Stylow, M. Hirmer et A. Hirmer, Die römische Münze, Munich 1973, pp. 95-96, pl. 35, N° 137, et dans J. P. C. Kent, M. Hirmer et A. Hirmer, Roman Coins, Londres 1978, p. 277, pl. 37, N° 130. Seulement 22 exemplaires connus des auteurs du Roman Provincial Coinage. 11.91g - RPC I 2212 - BMC 699 - RIC 494 - CBN 955a Superbe à FDC – (photo grade) Choice AU (5/5 et 3/5) Fine style - Flan flaw The Res Gestae Divi Augusti ('the achievements of the deified Augustus'), inscribed on two columns near his Mausoleum in Rome, the text of which has survived as an inscription in the Temple of Roma and Augustus in Ancyra (Ankara), tells us that he was proud to have " freed the sea from pirates". Indeed, the wheat illustrated on the reverse of this coin was cultivated in the entire Roman empire, but especially south of the Mediterranean and notably in Egypt. At times of political unrest, Rome was always at risk of food shortages, and as grain was a key element of the Roman diet, one of Augustus' greatest achievements was his defeat of piracy which was critical for the successful shipment of grain to Rome. On this coin, therefore, the new emperor celebrates his ability to feed the people, following his reduction of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt to a Roman province, having invaded Egypt in August 30 BC after the battle of Actium and the death of Marc Antony and Cleopatra. Cistophori had been struck by the Attalid kings of Pergamon in the 190s BC, and later by the governors of Roman Asia (after the bequest of the kingdom to Rome in 133 BC). The first issues had depicted a cista mystica (a sacred basket containing serpents), which gave the name to these coins. In order to satisfy the local population of western Anatolia - which continued to use them until the 3rd century AD - Augustus continued to strike a number of these large and heavy silver coins (and many of Augustus's cistophori were used as flans for the strike of tetradrachms under Hadrian), with his own portrait on the obverse. It is unconfirmed that they were ever used in the Western empire, thought their weight, if one allows for some imprecision, was both that of 4 drachms and of 3 denarii. Estimate: CHF 70'000 |  |
Match 3:
| Maison Palombo > Auction 23 | Auction date: 27 March 2024 |
| Lot number: 42 Price realized: 62,000 CHF (Approx. 68,675 USD / 63,422 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: Auguste (27-14) Cistophore en argent - Pergame ou Ephèse ? (27-26) D'une qualité exceptionnelle - Magnifique patine médaillier. Probablement le plus bel exemplaire connu, du meilleur style. Exemplaire de la collection de Hans von Aulock (1906-1980), et de la vente Triton XI du 8 janvier 2008, N° 675 et de la vente Palombo 19 du 12 décembre 2020, N°84. Cet exemplaire publié dans : Sylloge Nummorum Graecorum. Deutschland. Sammlung von Aulock, vol. III, Berlin 1964, N° 6571, et dans A. Banti et L. Simonetti, Corpus Nummorum Romanorum, Florence 1979, vol. IV, N° 280. Seulement 6 exemplaires connus des auteurs du Roman Provincial Coinage. 11.28g - RPC I 2205 - BMC manque - RIC 489 - CNR 280 (cet exemplaire) - SNG von Aulock 6571 (cet exemplaire) Superbe à FDC - NGC Choice AU* (5/5 et 5/5) The Res Gestae Divi Augusti ('the achievements of the deified Augustus'), inscribed on two columns near his Mausoleum in Rome, the text of which has survived as an inscription in the Temple of Roma and Augustus in Ancyra (Ankara), tells us that he was proud to have " freed the sea from pirates". Indeed, the wheat illustrated on the reverse of this coin was cultivated in the entire Roman empire, but especially south of the Mediterranean and notably in Egypt. At times of political unrest, Rome was always at risk of food shortages, and as grain was a key element of the Roman diet, one of Augustus' greatest achievements was his defeat of piracy which was critical for the successful shipment of grain to Rome. On this coin, therefore, the new emperor celebrates his ability to feed the people, following his reduction of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt to a Roman province, having invaded Egypt in August 30 BC after the battle of Actium and the death of Marc Antony and Cleopatra. Cistophori had been struck by the Attalid kings of Pergamon in the 190s BC, and later by the governors of Roman Asia (after the bequest of the kingdom to Rome in 133 BC). The first issues had depicted a cista mystica (a sacred basket containing serpents), which gave the name to these coins. In order to satisfy the local population of western Anatolia - which continued to use them until the 3rd century AD - Augustus continued to strike a number of these large and heavy silver coins (and many of Augustus's cistophori were used as flans for the strike of tetradrachms under Hadrian), with his own portrait on the obverse. It is unconfirmed that they were ever used in the Western empire, thought their weight, if one allows for some imprecision, was both that of 4 drachms and of 3 denarii. Estimate: CHF 70'000 |  |
