Watch List notes:

The Roman Empire
Antoninus Pius, 138 – 161. Aureus, Roma 158-159, AV 7.25 g.

Description: ANTONINVS AVG - PIVS P P TR P XXII Laureate bust r., wearing aegis. Rev. TEMPLVM DIV AVG REST Octastyle temple, adorned with four statues and a quadriga, within which seated statues of divine Augustus and Livia on centre. In exergue, COS IIII.

References: C –
BMC 938
RIC 290c
Calicó 1627 (this coin)
Biaggi 755
Condition:Very rare and among the finest specimens known of this difficult issue. Virtually as struck and almost Fdc
Provenance: Münich sale March 1925, 539
Glendining sale September 1962, 196
Leu sale 45, 1988, 337
Rauch sale 92, 2013, 1313
Note: The great fire that devastated much of Rome during Titus' reign in 80 started on the Capitoline Hill and quickly spread into the Forum before engulfing the northern salient of the Palatine Hill. Amongst the many ruins of the inferno was the second Temple of Divus Augustus, which although its precise location is not known was probably located in the depression between the two hills. Initially commenced during the reign of Tiberius and finally consecrated during Caligula's reign, the temple was originally of the Ionic order and hexastyle, and was featured on sestertii of Caligula showing the emperor sacrificing at an altar in front of its garlanded façade. However, it was later rebuilt or restored, and on this superb aureus of Antoninus Pius it appears as Corinthian octastyle. When this major reconstructive change took place is not certain – it should perhaps be attributed to Domitian who had instituted a wide-scale policy of reconstruction in an effort to create an Augustan renaissance, although it is not recorded amongst his works in the Chronographia – but under Antoninus Pius it was again restored and features predominantly on his coinage of A.D. 158 and 159. The legend reads TEMPLVM DIV AVG REST COS IIII or AED DIVI AVG REST COS IIII, or a variant thereof, and the interior of the temple shows the statues of Divus Augustus and Livia seated in an elevated position to render a sense of perspective. Along the roofline and in the pediment are four statuary groupings, mostly imprecisely engraved and therefore not clear, although the central group appears to represent the emperor in a quadriga.