Watch List notes:

The Roman Empire

Postumus, 260 – 269. Aureus, Lugdunum 261, AV 6.40 g. IMP C POST – VMVS P F AVG Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust r. Rev. P M TR P III COS III P P Postumus, veiled and togate, standing l., holding sceptre and sacrificing out of patera over altar. C 270 var. (not cuirassed). RIC 4. Schulte 39b (this coin). Jameson 267 (this coin). Calicó 3758 (this coin). Biaggi 1525 (this coin).
Extremely rare. An exquisite portrait in the finest style of the period,
almost invisible marks, otherwise good extremely fine
Ex Rollin & Feuardent 26-27 May 1909, Evans, 258 and NAC 54, 2010, 568 sales. From the collection of a retired banker.
In the chaos that enveloped the West during the mid- and later 3rd Century, resourceful generals were valued for their ability to spare their fellow Romans the horror of invasion, and were feared for their ability to inspire their legions – purposely or inadvertently – to rebellion. Such was the case in Germany and Gaul in the fall of 260, when a commander named Marcus Cassianius Latinius Postumus assumed the purple some months after news was received of the capture of Valerian I by the Sasanians. The position held by Postumus is not clear. He may have been a commander or a governor of one of the Germanies. The Historia Augusta describes him as Transrhenani limitis dux et Galliae praeses and Aurelius Victor as barbaris per Galliam praesidebat. The claim in the Historia Augusta that he came to power with the assistance of his eponymous father is considered by most to be an invention typical of that source. This aureus seems to have been struck in the first quarter of 262, by which time Postumus had been in power for well more than a year. The reverse records that he was celebrating the third renewal of his tribunician power and had entered his third consulship, presumably awarded on January 1, 262. Schulte's die study of Gallo-Roman gold reveals a complex and well-conceived series of issues under Postumus, spanning from the start of his revolt to at least early 269. Within nine of the 12 issues identified by Schulte there is significant die- linking, which may suggest each was produced in comparatively narrow time frames. The largest emissions seem to have occured from the fall of 263 through the start of 264, and in the beginning of 268.