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| Numismatica Ars Classica > Auction 74 | Auction date: 18 November 2013 |
| Lot number: 300 | |
| Lot description: THE ROMAN EMPIRE AUGUSTUS, January 16 , 27 BC– August 19, 14. M. Salvius Otho. Triumphal bronze as or dupondius, Rome 7 BC, Æ 19.54 g. Obv. CAESAR AVGVST PONT MAX TRI-BVNIC POT Laureate head of Augustus left; in right field, Victory left adjusting Augustus' laurel-wreath with right hand and holding cornucopia in left hand; border of dots. Rev. . M ℵ? SALVIVS ℵ? OTHO ℵ? III ℵ? VIR ℵ? A ℵ? A ℵ? A ℵ? F ℵ? F ℵ? around S - C; border of dots. Literature Cohen 518–519 BMC RE I, 43, 224, pl. 20, 5 RIC I2, 75, 429; BN 686 R. Göbl, Antike Numismatik, Munich, 1978, 2819 (this coin) H. A. Grueber, "Roman Bronze Coinage from B.C. 45–3", NC 1904, 56, pl. XIV, 9 G. E. Rizzo, La base di Augusto, Rome, 1933, p. 101 (obverse, this coin) Kent-Hirmer pl. 39, 140 (obverse) Wealth of the Ancient World 122 (this coin) M.-M. Bendenoun, Coins of the Ancient World, A Portrait of the JDL Collection, Tradart, Genève, 2009, 46 (this coin). Condition Very rare and undoubtedly the finest specimen known. A wonderful portrait struck on a very large flan and an untouched dark green patina. Extremely fine. Provenance Sotheby's, Hunt sale I, New York 1990, lot 122. Bank Leu AG 10, Zürich 1974, lot 25. Naville & Co-Ars Classica 11, Luzern 1925, lot 224. Naville & Co 2, Genève 1922, Lot 176. From the Weintraub, Levis, and Vautier - Collignon collections. Note When Tiberius entered Rome in 7 B.C. to assume his second consulship, he also celebrated the triumph he had been awarded for his successful campaigns of recent years, notably in Germany. The distinctive bronzes that show Augustus crowned by Victory are linked to this event by Mattingly, Dressel, Giard, Carson, Kent and Sutherland. The moneyers M. Salvius Otho, P. Lurius Agrippa and M. Maecilius Tullus are thought to comprise the college of 7 B.C., as only they produced these bronzes. There is no consensus on denomination, as their weights range from less than 10 to more than 17 grams, and they are struck on planchets that sometimes are too small for the dies and other times are markedly oversized and with somewhat ornamented borders. It is possible that more than one denomination was intended, as Sutherland proposed by describing some as dupondii and others as asses. Mattingly tentatively describes them as dupondii, but refers to them as a 'Triumphal Coinage,' and Grant and Giard classify them as medallions rather than coins. After the event that merited this triumphal coinage had passed, Tiberius' honours continued in 6 B.C. with his being awarded the tribunician power for another five years. With Marcus Agrippa and Nero Claudius Drusus recently deceased, and Augustus' grandsons still young, everything pointed to Tiberius being Augustus' successor, even if he had never been the first choice. However, Tiberius soon found life in the capital intolerable: he disliked his civilian duties, detested his wife Julia, and he must have realised that his high honours were little more than interim measures by Augustus, who was awaiting the maturation of his grandsons Gaius Caesar and Lucius Caesar. Thus, in 6 B.C. he left Rome for eight years of self-exile on the island of Rhodes, returning only after Gaius and Lucius were dead, and Augustus had no other viable option for a successor. Estimate: 60000 CHF |  |
