Nomos AG
obolos 17 20 Dec 2020
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Albinus Bruti f, 48 BC. Denarius (Silver, 18 mm, 3.52 g, 7 h), Rome. A POSTVMIVS COS Bare head of the consul Aulus Postumius Albinus right. Rev. ALBINV BRVTI F in two lines within a wreath of grain ears. Babelon (Postumia) 14. Crawford 450/3b. CRI 27. Sydenham 943a. A nice, well centered and realistic portrait of the moneyer's ancestor. A few minor marks on obverse and a planchet flaw on reverse, otherwise, extremely fine.
In the houses of Rome's elite citizens were usually a room devoted to the remembrance of the family's ancestors, often with death masks molded directly from the face of the recently departed. The portrait of the consul Aulus Postumius Albinus on this coin is so realistic that it was perhaps copied from the actual death mask.
In the houses of Rome's elite citizens were usually a room devoted to the remembrance of the family's ancestors, often with death masks molded directly from the face of the recently departed. The portrait of the consul Aulus Postumius Albinus on this coin is so realistic that it was perhaps copied from the actual death mask.