The New York Sale
Auction 40 11 January 2017
View prices realized
► Sale information
Find similar lots
ANCIENT COINS, ROMAN EMPIRE, Augustus. Silver Denarius (3.72 g), 27 BC-AD 14. Emerita(?), 17/6 BC. Bare head of Augustus right. Rev. AVGVSTVS, capricorn right, holding globe attached to rudder; above, cornucopiae. (RIC 126 (Colonia Patricia?); BN 1266-7; BMC 346-8; RSC 21). Rare. Well struck with wonderful surfaces and delicately toned. Extremely fine.
Augustus was born 23 September 63 BC and thus his solar zodiacal sign is Libra, yet he publicly identified as a Capricorn, his lunar zodiacal sign. Why he did so is not known, but must have been for personal reasons. The capricorn figures prominently not only in Augustan coinage (e.g., on certain Imperial denarii, on coins from Cibyra, Dioshieron, Leptis Magna, Parium, Smyrna, Tralles, and on the cistophori of Asia Minor, amongst others) but also in other mediums, such as beads and cameos, and in literature (both Manilius [Astron. 2.507-9] and Suetonius [Aug. 94.12] identify Augustus as a Capricorn).
Estimate: $ 2,000
Augustus was born 23 September 63 BC and thus his solar zodiacal sign is Libra, yet he publicly identified as a Capricorn, his lunar zodiacal sign. Why he did so is not known, but must have been for personal reasons. The capricorn figures prominently not only in Augustan coinage (e.g., on certain Imperial denarii, on coins from Cibyra, Dioshieron, Leptis Magna, Parium, Smyrna, Tralles, and on the cistophori of Asia Minor, amongst others) but also in other mediums, such as beads and cameos, and in literature (both Manilius [Astron. 2.507-9] and Suetonius [Aug. 94.12] identify Augustus as a Capricorn).
Estimate: $ 2,000