Heritage World Coin Auctions
Long Beach Signature Sale 3067 6-7 Sep 2018
View prices realized
► Sale information
Find similar lots
Ancients
Antoninus Pius (AD 138-161). AV aureus (20mm, 7.25 gm, 5h). NGC VF 5/5 - 5/5. Rome, ca. late AD 138. IMP T AEL CAES HA-DRI ANTONINVS, bare head of Antoninus Pius right / AVG PIVS • P M-TR P COS DES II, Pietas standing right before lit altar, raising right hand and holding pyxis of incense in left. RIC III 13. Calicó 1469. Lustrous with radiant flow lines still visible in fields.
This aureus was struck shortly after Antoninus's assumption of the titles Augustus and Pius, and just before the beginning of his second consulship on January 1, AD 139. It is commonly asserted, based on the biography of Antoninus in the Historia Augusta, that Antoninus engaged in a lengthy negotiation over the deification of his predecessor Hadrian with a recalcitrant Senate, which was upset by Hadrian's executions toward the end of his reign and more inclined to issue a damnatio against his name. Antoninus is said to have refused the title of Augustus and threatened to abdicate his position as Caesar unless the deification was carried out; the Senate, concerned over a possible civil war, finally relented. Mindful of Antoninus's efforts on behalf of his adoptive father, the Senate granted him the honorific Pius ('dutiful').
HID02901242017
Estimate: 2000-3000 USD
Antoninus Pius (AD 138-161). AV aureus (20mm, 7.25 gm, 5h). NGC VF 5/5 - 5/5. Rome, ca. late AD 138. IMP T AEL CAES HA-DRI ANTONINVS, bare head of Antoninus Pius right / AVG PIVS • P M-TR P COS DES II, Pietas standing right before lit altar, raising right hand and holding pyxis of incense in left. RIC III 13. Calicó 1469. Lustrous with radiant flow lines still visible in fields.
This aureus was struck shortly after Antoninus's assumption of the titles Augustus and Pius, and just before the beginning of his second consulship on January 1, AD 139. It is commonly asserted, based on the biography of Antoninus in the Historia Augusta, that Antoninus engaged in a lengthy negotiation over the deification of his predecessor Hadrian with a recalcitrant Senate, which was upset by Hadrian's executions toward the end of his reign and more inclined to issue a damnatio against his name. Antoninus is said to have refused the title of Augustus and threatened to abdicate his position as Caesar unless the deification was carried out; the Senate, concerned over a possible civil war, finally relented. Mindful of Antoninus's efforts on behalf of his adoptive father, the Senate granted him the honorific Pius ('dutiful').
HID02901242017
Estimate: 2000-3000 USD