Watch List notes:

The Roman Empire
The Civil Wars, 68 – 69

Aureus, Spain and Gaul (?) 68, AV 7.25 g. DIVVS – AVGVSTVS Radiate head of Augustus r. Rev. PAX Pax standing l., holding caduceus in r. hand, corn ears and poppies in l. C –. BMC –. RIC 114. Martin A24B (these dies). CBN 65. Calicó 454 (these dies). Villaronga Benages 4127 (this coin).
Extremely rare and an issue of tremendous fascination and historical importance.
Light traces of edge filing and a graffito on obverse field, otherwise very fine


Nfa XVIII, 1987, 445 and Rauch 50, 1993 234 sales.
In early A.D. 68, the governor of Gallia Lugdunensis, Gaius Julius Vindex, rose in open revolt against the regime in Rome. Perhaps he had had enough of excessive taxes, or he may simply have felt threatened. Whatever the case, the leadership under Nero was one of incompetence and mismanagement, and the threads of government had unraveled. Vindex, himself one of the 'new-men' (homines novi) whose family had only received Roman citizenship in the previous generation, was ineligible for the throne due to his status. He therefore allied with Galba, the governor of Hispania Tarraconensis and a blue-blooded patrician of veritable heritage, thus setting the stage for a change of regime and the end of the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Soon Nero was dead, having ended his life by his own hand, and Galba was hailed emperor in his stead.
During the tumultuous period at the beginning of the 'Year of the Four Emperors', as this episode in Roman history later became known, and again in early A.D. 69 when Vitellius rose in revolt, a plethora of coinage was issued by many of the principal actors, with mints located in Spain, Gaul, Germany, Northern Italy, and even Africa. In the main, the coin types served as propaganda for the various factions fighting the war. In addition to themes of Justice and Liberty, they often portray the loyalty of the legions and praetorians, although some harken back to the security of earlier times. The lovely 'anonymous' aureus offered here is one of the latter, recalling the issues of Divus Augustus struck under Gaius Caligula: although the legend is shortened, the portrait even retains some of the features of that deranged emperor.