Heritage World Coin Auctions
NYINC Signature Sale 3051 8-9 January 2017
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Septimius Severus (AD 193-211), with Julia Domna, Caracalla and Geta. AV aureus (21mm, 7.26 gm, 6h). NGC Gem MS 5/5 - 5/5, Fine Style. Rome, AD 202. SEVERVS PIVS AVG P M TR P X, laureate, draped and cuirassed bust of Severus right / FELICITAS above, SAECVLI below, draped bust of Julia Domna facing; to either side, confronting busts of Caracalla, on left, laureate, draped and cuirassed, and Geta on right, bareheaded, draped and cuirassed. RIC 181b. BMCRE 379 and pl. 37, 5 (same dies). Cohen 4. Calicó 2590 (same dies). Very rare, quite likely the finest known specimen of this outstanding dynastic type, struck from dies of exceptional style and displaying full "mint bloom."
The reign of the "African Emperor" Septimius Severus was unique for the production of a remarkable series of coins depicting various members of the Imperial family in a variety of combinations, many of great beauty and exceptional iconographic interest. Among the rarest of this series is this beautiful aureus, which combines a a forceful obverse portrait of Severus with a charming group portrait on the reverse, with the adolescent brothers Caracalla and Geta flanking a fully frontal portrait of their mother, Julia Domna. The promise of a stable imperial dynasty is implicit; however, the positioning of Domna between her two sons proved eerily prescient: Following the death of Severus in 211, the bitter sibling rivalry between Caracalla and Geta threatened to sunder the Empire and placed their mother squarely in the middle.
Estimate: 100000-120000 USD
Septimius Severus (AD 193-211), with Julia Domna, Caracalla and Geta. AV aureus (21mm, 7.26 gm, 6h). NGC Gem MS 5/5 - 5/5, Fine Style. Rome, AD 202. SEVERVS PIVS AVG P M TR P X, laureate, draped and cuirassed bust of Severus right / FELICITAS above, SAECVLI below, draped bust of Julia Domna facing; to either side, confronting busts of Caracalla, on left, laureate, draped and cuirassed, and Geta on right, bareheaded, draped and cuirassed. RIC 181b. BMCRE 379 and pl. 37, 5 (same dies). Cohen 4. Calicó 2590 (same dies). Very rare, quite likely the finest known specimen of this outstanding dynastic type, struck from dies of exceptional style and displaying full "mint bloom."
The reign of the "African Emperor" Septimius Severus was unique for the production of a remarkable series of coins depicting various members of the Imperial family in a variety of combinations, many of great beauty and exceptional iconographic interest. Among the rarest of this series is this beautiful aureus, which combines a a forceful obverse portrait of Severus with a charming group portrait on the reverse, with the adolescent brothers Caracalla and Geta flanking a fully frontal portrait of their mother, Julia Domna. The promise of a stable imperial dynasty is implicit; however, the positioning of Domna between her two sons proved eerily prescient: Following the death of Severus in 211, the bitter sibling rivalry between Caracalla and Geta threatened to sunder the Empire and placed their mother squarely in the middle.
Estimate: 100000-120000 USD