Watch List notes:

The Roman Empire

Domitian caesar, 69 - 81. Aureus 77-78, AV 7.35 g. CAESAR AVG F – DOMITIANVS Laureate head r. Rev. COS V She-wolf l., with twins; in exergue, boat. C 50. BMC Vespasian 237. RIC Vespasian 960. CBN Vespasian 210. Calicó 820a.
A gentle portrait and an interesting reverse composition perfectly struck
and centred on a very broad flan. Virtually as struck and almost Fdc

Ex Leu 13, 1975, 427; Giessener Münzhandlung 67, 1994, 456 and Giessener Münzhandlung 82, 1997, 264 sales.


The 'wolf and twins' – the she-wolf suckling Romulus and Remus, the legendary founders of Rome – is perhaps the most enduring of all Roman emblems. As such it is somewhat surprising that it appears on coinage only infrequently, especially as a main type. Indeed, up until the reign of Vespasian it had been absent from coinage as a main type for nearly three centuries (previously it had occurred only on a Republican silver didrachm, c. 275–270 B.C., struck after Rome's defeat of Pyrrhus, and on a Republican copper sextans struck c. 217–215 B.C.). Under the Flavians the type is known on silver denarii of Vespasian and Titus, but principally it was struck in the form of aurei and denarii for Domitian in this issue of 77/78.