Heritage World Coin Auctions
NYINC Signature Sale 3071 6-7 Jan 2019
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Septimius Severus (AD 193-211), with Julia Domna, Caracalla and Geta. AV aureus (20mm, 7.27 gm, 6h). NGC Choice MS★ 5/5 - 5/5, Fine Style. Rome, AD 201. SEVERVS PIVS AVG-P M TR P VIIII, laureate head of Septimius Severus right / FELICITAS / SAECVLI, draped bust of Julia Domna facing (in center), confronting busts of Caracalla (on left), laureate, draped and cuirassed, seen from behind, and Geta (on right), bare headed, draped and cuirassed, seen from behind. RIC IV.I 175. Calicó 2589a (this coin, misdescribed with sons not wearing cuirasses). Very rare, struck from dies of exceptional style with flashy luster.
From the Morris Collection. Ex "An Important Collection of Roman Gold Coins Part I" (Numismatica Ars Classica, Auction 34, 24 November 2006), lot 38.
The reign of the "African Emperor" Septimius Severus was unique for the production of a remarkable series of coins depicting various members of the Imperial family in a variety of combinations, many of great beauty and exceptional iconographic interest. Among the rarest of this series is this beautiful aureus, which combines a a forceful obverse portrait of Severus with a charming group portrait on the reverse, with the adolescent brothers Caracalla and Geta flanking a fully frontal portrait of their mother, Julia Domna. The promise of a stable imperial dynasty is implicit; however, the positioning of Domna between her two sons proved eerily prescient: Following the death of Severus in AD 211, the bitter sibling rivalry between Caracalla and Geta threatened to sunder the Empire and placed their mother squarely in the middle.
HID02901242017
Estimate: 30000-50000 USD
Septimius Severus (AD 193-211), with Julia Domna, Caracalla and Geta. AV aureus (20mm, 7.27 gm, 6h). NGC Choice MS★ 5/5 - 5/5, Fine Style. Rome, AD 201. SEVERVS PIVS AVG-P M TR P VIIII, laureate head of Septimius Severus right / FELICITAS / SAECVLI, draped bust of Julia Domna facing (in center), confronting busts of Caracalla (on left), laureate, draped and cuirassed, seen from behind, and Geta (on right), bare headed, draped and cuirassed, seen from behind. RIC IV.I 175. Calicó 2589a (this coin, misdescribed with sons not wearing cuirasses). Very rare, struck from dies of exceptional style with flashy luster.
From the Morris Collection. Ex "An Important Collection of Roman Gold Coins Part I" (Numismatica Ars Classica, Auction 34, 24 November 2006), lot 38.
The reign of the "African Emperor" Septimius Severus was unique for the production of a remarkable series of coins depicting various members of the Imperial family in a variety of combinations, many of great beauty and exceptional iconographic interest. Among the rarest of this series is this beautiful aureus, which combines a a forceful obverse portrait of Severus with a charming group portrait on the reverse, with the adolescent brothers Caracalla and Geta flanking a fully frontal portrait of their mother, Julia Domna. The promise of a stable imperial dynasty is implicit; however, the positioning of Domna between her two sons proved eerily prescient: Following the death of Severus in AD 211, the bitter sibling rivalry between Caracalla and Geta threatened to sunder the Empire and placed their mother squarely in the middle.
HID02901242017
Estimate: 30000-50000 USD