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CCE Signature Sale 3064  20-21 Apr 2018
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Lot 30238

Estimate: 2000 USD
Price realized: 3400 USD
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Ancients
Marc Antony as Triumvir (43-31 BC), with Lucius Antonius. AR denarius (20mm, 3.94 gm, 10h). NGC AU 5/5 - 3/5. Military mint in Greece or Asia Minor, 41 BC, moneyer L. Cocceius Nerva. M • ANT • IMP (MP ligate) • AVG (AV ligate) • III • VIR • R • P • C  M • NERVA PROQ • P, bare head of Marc Antony right / L • ANTONIVS COS, bare head of Lucius Antonius right. Crawford 517/5a. Sydenham 1185. CRI 246. RSC 2. Overall well-centered on a broad flan and two remarkable portraits.

Younger brother of Mark Antony, Lucius Antonius "Pietas" naturally backed his brother's leadership of the Caesarian party and his attempt to seize control of the state, but both ambitions were complicated by the arrival of Caesar's adoptive son Octavian. Relations between the brothers and Octavian cooled markedly after the final defeat of Caesar's assassins in 42 BC. The cold war escalated when Lucius Antony became consul in 41 BC and took a notably hostile stance toward Octavian. He was joined in this propaganda war by Mark Antony's wife, the fiery Fulvia, and the two began rousing Italian cities against Octavian's plan to settle 100,000 of his veterans on land confiscated from Italian citizens. Octavian reacted quickly and recalled his friend Agrippa from Spain at the head of several veteran legions, which besieged Lucius Antony and Fulvia in the town of Perusia. When Lucius and Fulvia surrendered in February, 40 BC, Mark Antony washed his hands of the fiasco and hung his wife and brother out to dry. Both Lucius and Fulvia conveniently died later in 40 BC, supposedly of natural causes. This rare denarius, which bears the portraits of both Antony brothers, was struck at an unknown eastern mint under the control of Mark Antony. 

HID02901242017

Estimate: 2000-3000 USD
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