Ira and Larry Goldberg Auctioneers
Auction 100 5-6 Sep 2017
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Vespasian, with Titus and Domitian, as Caesars. Silver Denarius (3.21 g), AD 69-79. Ephesus, AD 70. IMP CAESAR VESPAS AVG COS III TR P P P, laureate head of Vespasian right. Reverse: LIBERI IMP below, AVG VESPAS above, confronted bare heads of Titus and Domitian; in left field, Φ (=ΘI). RIC 1410; RPC -; BMC -; RSC -. Very Rare variety. A nice bold strike with all portraits in high relief and all are outstanding. Underlying luster present. Superb. Nearly Mint State. Estimate Value $3,500 - 4,000
The portraits of Vespasian and his designated successors, his sons Titus and Domitian, here serve to draw attention to Vespasian's founding a new dynasty and were meant to reassure the citizens that there was a plan for an orderly succession in the Flavian house, an important message after the upheaval of the recent civil war (AD 69). The value of this sort of reassuring dynastic typology may be gauged by Septimius Severus' reuse and adaptation of it for some of his coinages struck in the aftermath of the civil wars of AD 193-197.
The portraits of Vespasian and his designated successors, his sons Titus and Domitian, here serve to draw attention to Vespasian's founding a new dynasty and were meant to reassure the citizens that there was a plan for an orderly succession in the Flavian house, an important message after the upheaval of the recent civil war (AD 69). The value of this sort of reassuring dynastic typology may be gauged by Septimius Severus' reuse and adaptation of it for some of his coinages struck in the aftermath of the civil wars of AD 193-197.