Nomos AG
Auction 16 10 May 2018
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Julian of Pannonia, usurper, 284-285. Aureus (Gold, 19 mm, 4.36 g, 12 h), Siscia, October-December 284. IMP C IVLIANVS P F AVG Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust to right. Rev. LIBERTAS PVBLICA Libertas standing to left, holding a pileus in her right hand and a cornucopia in her left; in field to right, star of eight rays. Calicó 4413 (same dies). Cohen 3. RIC 1. Extremely rare and with an attractive portrait. Minor scratches, scuffs and marks, and with possible traces of mounting, otherwise, about extremely fine.
From a collection in Germany.
This coin was struck from the same dies as the Ponton d'Amécourt example. That piece, a remarkably fine example, appeared in no less than eight sales between 1887 and 2011, finally selling for CHF 115 000 in NAC 62. What is particularly interesting about this coin is that, unlike virtually all of the other known examples, this coin shows clear signs of having circulated. Normally, after a usurper is defeated his coins will be recalled and melted down; in fact, possession of the coins of a usurper can even be a capital offense! This piece clearly was in circulation for longer than the year or so of Julian's reign; this makes it an important historical document. Perhaps it was kept as a memento by a surviving partisan of Julian's?
From a collection in Germany.
This coin was struck from the same dies as the Ponton d'Amécourt example. That piece, a remarkably fine example, appeared in no less than eight sales between 1887 and 2011, finally selling for CHF 115 000 in NAC 62. What is particularly interesting about this coin is that, unlike virtually all of the other known examples, this coin shows clear signs of having circulated. Normally, after a usurper is defeated his coins will be recalled and melted down; in fact, possession of the coins of a usurper can even be a capital offense! This piece clearly was in circulation for longer than the year or so of Julian's reign; this makes it an important historical document. Perhaps it was kept as a memento by a surviving partisan of Julian's?