| Classical Numismatic Group > Triton XXVII | Auction date: 9 January 2024 |
| Lot number: 664 Price realized: 1,800 USD (Approx. 1,649 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: Tiberius. AD 14-37. Æ Sestertius (31.5mm, 25.55 g, 6h). Rome mint. Struck AD 36-37. Hexastyle temple with flanking wings; Concordia seated within, Hercules and Mercury standing on flanking podia; Jupiter, Juno, Minerva and Victories above pediment / TI CAESAR • DIVI • AVG [• F • AV]GVST • P • M TR POT XXXIIX • around large S • C. RIC I 67; BMCRE 132-4; BN 119-21. Brown patina, minor smoothing. Good VF. From the Gilbert Steinberg Collection, purchased from Bowers & Ruddy Galleries, 20 July 1981. Estimate: 1500 USD |  |
Match 1:
| Classical Numismatic Group > Auction 126 | Auction date: 28 May 2024 |
| Lot number: 795 Price realized: This lot is for sale in an upcoming auction - Bid on this lot  | |
| Lot description: Diva Faustina Senior. Died AD 140/1. Æ Sestertius (31.5mm, 25.55 g, 6h). Rome mint. Struck under Antoninus Pius, circa AD 150-151. Draped bust right, wearing hair bound in pearls on top of her head / Temple of Diva Faustina: façade of hexastyle temple on podium of three steps, railing in front, statues before outer columns, relief in base and pediment, quadriga and Victories as acroteria; within, statue of Faustina seated left, holding globe in right hand and spear in left. RIC III 1115a (Antoninus Pius); Banti 27 (this coin illustrated); Elkins, Monuments, Figure 130. Dark green patina, smoothing. VF. From the Wild Rose Collection. Ex DMS Collection (Triton XXVI, 10 January 2023), lot 773 (hammer $4000); CNG inventory 998515 (April 2015); Morton & Eden 72 (15 December 2014), lot 112; Galerie des Monnaies (9 June 1978), lot 1745. Estimate: 2000 USD |  |
Match 2:
| Classical Numismatic Group > Triton XXVII | Auction date: 9 January 2024 |
| Lot number: 747 Price realized: 11,500 USD (Approx. 10,533 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: Trajan. AD 98-117. Æ Sestertius (32.5mm, 27.45 g, 6h). Rome mint. Struck circa AD 112-summer 114. IMP CAES NERVAE TRAIANO AVG GER DAC P M TR P COS VI P P, laureate bust right, slight drapery / SPQR OP TIMO [PRI] NCIPI, FORVM TRAIAN/ S • C in two lines in exergue, view of the Forum of Trajan: the front is formed by six columns, on a podium of two steps, carrying a heavy center pier and two smaller piers on each side: there are four recesses between the piers: both left and right the side is indicated by a column and a recess: in the intercolumniations of the front are a doorway in center, and four small shrines with statues, two to left, two to right: above each of these is a round shield: above, statues–in center, a facing quadriga with driver, to left and right, warriors leading the quadriga, to left and right, trophies and Victories (?). RIC II 630 var. (bust type); Woytek 465b2; Strack 425; Banti 70 var. (same); BMCRE 984; BN 715 var. (same). Green-brown patina. VF. Wonderful architectural reverse. Very rare. Ex Gemini IX (9 January 2012), lot 480 (hammer $8,500). Nearly every detail of the Forum Traiani was intended as a celebration and aggrandizement of the emperor's Dacian victory, so it is fitting that the forum's entrance doubled as Trajan's triumphal arch. In typical fashion, the arch is surmounted by a statuary group with figures of the emperor and Victory in a chariot, here drawn by six horses, and flanked by soldiers, trophies, and additional Victories. Estimate: 3000 USD |  |
Match 3:
| Classical Numismatic Group > Triton XXVII Online Sessions | Auction date: 17 January 2024 |
| Lot number: 6035 Price realized: 6,500 USD (Approx. 5,971 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: Gaius (Caligula). AD 37-41. Æ Sestertius (35.5mm, 28.13 g, 6h). Rome mint. Struck AD 37-38. C • CAESAR • AVG • GERMANICVS • PON • M • TR • POT •, laureate head right / AGRIPPINA on left, DRVSILLA above, IVLIA on right, S C in exergue, Gaius' three sisters standing facing: Agrippina (as Securitas), head right, holding cornucopia in right hand and leaning on column, holding cornucopia, and placing left hand on shoulder of Drusilla (as Concordia), head left, holding patera in right hand and cornucopia in left; on right, Julia (as Fortuna), head left, holding rudder in right hand and cornucopia in left. RIC I 33; BMCRE 36 -7; BN 47-9. Brown patina, minor roughness. VF. From the Gilbert Steinberg Collection, purchased from Bowers and Ruddy Galleries, 21 May 1981. Estimate: 2000 USD |  |
Match 4:
| Classical Numismatic Group > Triton XXVII | Auction date: 9 January 2024 |
| Lot number: 745 Price realized: 4,750 USD (Approx. 4,351 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: Trajan. AD 98-117. Æ Sestertius (34.5mm, 24.81 g, 6h). Rome mint. Struck circa AD 104/5-107. IMP CAES NERVAE TRAIANO AVG GER DAC P M TR P COS V P P, laureate bust right, slight drapery / SPQR OPTIMO PRINCIPI, S C in exergue, Danuvius (the Danube) standing left, with cloak floating in arch behind his head and drapery falling away from his thighs and thrown out to the right, placing knee on Dacia, whom he forces to the ground. RIC II 556 var. (bust type); Woytek 199bA; Strack 383 Banti 231; BMCRE 793 var. (bust type); BN 301 var. (same). Beautiful light green patina. Near EF. Ex Michael F. Price Collection (Stack's, 3 December 1996), lot 170. Estimate: 3000 USD |  |
Match 5:
| Classical Numismatic Group > Triton XXVII | Auction date: 9 January 2024 |
| Lot number: 733 Price realized: 4,000 USD (Approx. 3,664 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: Titus. AD 79-81. Æ Dupondius (28.5mm, 17.18 g, 6h). Rome mint. Struck AD 80-81 (or a 16th-17th century fantasy). IMP T CAES VESP AVG P M TR P COS VIII, radiate head left / Conical fountain set on plinth (Meta Sudans) with statues set within alternating squared and arched recesses, S C across field; LM in ink (old collector or museum initials) in upper left field. RIC II.1 205; BN III Faux Modernes 28; Asolati, M. Note sulla medaglia all'antica d'età rinascimentale tra invenzioni, rivisitazioni e "ritocchi" (Milano, 2018), pp. 155–6; Heenes and Jansen, Jacopo Strada's Magnum AC Novum Opus, A Sixteenth-Century Corpus Of Ancient Numismatics (Berlin, 2022), pp. 292, no. 5 (this coin illustrated). Yellow-brown surfaces, minor marks and scratches, tooled and smoothed. Good VF. An extreme rarity, the only specimen not in a museum collection. LOT SOLD AS IS, NO RETURNS – Not Suitable For Encapsulation. The Meta Sudans was a tall fountain located in front of the Flavian Amphitheater, it marked the spot where processions would turn from the Via Trumphalis along the Palatine and onto the Roman Forum. It was erected shortly after the completion of the amphitheater, between AD 89-96. This coin is not without controversy. The consignor showed photos of this coin to the late Ted Buttrey, curator at the Fitzwilliam Museum, in the mid 1990s who studied it intently. He concluded that the coin must be genuine and gave the following appraisal: "The two pieces, RIC 205 = L195A and [this] piece, were struck from the same obverse die, while Paris was struck from a very similar die by the same engraver, the way the wreath ends terminate at CO and OS respectively. However, the reverses were struck from three separate dies, distinguished by the nature and placing of the arches below the steeple. It is certainly beyond belief that an evil modern craftsman, attempting to create an un-struck type for Titus, would have - or even could have - stretched out his hand toward the mountains of random asses and dupondii still surviving, and come up with three pieces to work on which had been produced virtually at the same moment at the Rome mint amid the abundant bronze coinages of 80-81 AD. I think we have to accept it as genuinely ancient." More recently, the coin was studied in-hand by the current curator of the Coins and Medals department at the British Museum who commented that he had seen genuine Titus dupondii with similar surfaces and concave flans and since Ted Buttrey had said it was authentic, he had no reason to disagree. He did confirm that it had been tooled and smoothed in similar fashion as the BM and BN specimens. In the years since Professor Buttrey's comments, further research has been done on this coin as well as others of its type. New evidence supports this being a Paduan-era medallion of the 16th-17th century schools in Italy. The Asolati and Heenes references cited above, one of which included this very coin, detail the works of Giovanni Cavino, Jacopo Strada, and other 16th century artists. Both authors believe that every extant specimen, including the BM coin, are Paduan-era medallions and that no genuine ancient coins of the type exist. It is interesting to note that the sestertius of this type has a laureate base instead of the statues seen here. Had an ancient celator carved the dies, we would expect to see a similar scene on both denominations. This lends credence to the belief that the Renaissance engravers had not actually seen the fountain they were engraving. A note from the consignor: "Dr. Heenes did not study my coin in hand when preparing his book, he only worked from a photo." Cataloger note: Since cataloging this coin for Triton, a new Paduan-era sestertius of Vitellius has been found, CNG E-551, lot 770. The reverses share unmistakable similarities; the alternating squared and arched recesses, the beaded edges around the enclosures, and the base style lead me to believe that both coins are the work of the same Renaissance engraver. There are only five of this type known: one each in the British Museum, Bibliothèque National, Nationale di Venezia, Banca Regionale del Veneto, and the one offered here from a private collection. This coin is the only specimen available in the public market and has been in the consignor's collection for over 50 years. Estimate: 1000 USD |  |
