Numismatica Ars Classica
Auction 125 23-24 Jun 2021
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Uncertain Western Mint.
Aureus circa 69 to 70, 7.73 g. IMP CAESAR VESPASIANVS AVG Laureate head r. Rev. VESP AVG FILI CAESERES Titus and Domitian, both togate, standing l. and r., each holding patera and roll. C 52. BMC 6. RIC 1364. CBN 4. Calicó 592 (this coin). Biaggi 339 (this coin).
Extremely rare and in unusual condition for this difficult issue. Struck on a very broad
flan, traces of edge filing, otherwise good very fine / about extremely fine
Ex Hess-Leu 45, 1970, 151 and NAC 49, 2008, B.d.B, 151 sales. Privately purchased from Freeman & Sear on the 30th of March 2012.
The mint for this rare and intriguing aureus has not been determined, though it is generally considered to have been in the West. Like the other coins in this group, this aureus has the diagnostic small portrait in high relief, and has a somewhat unusual reverse type. Carradice and Buttrey suggest it could be a Spanish mint and Carson notes that Aquileia and Poetovio (in modern Yugoslavia) have been suggested, and that a mint moving with armies loyal to Vespasian is also possible. If a moving mint is the answer, the most likely solution would be the legions commanded by G. Licinius Crassus Mucianus, the governor of Syria who threw his support behind Vespasian. As Vespasian left the Judaean war in the hands of Titus and went to Egypt to secure the grain supply, he instructed Mucianus to lead 20,000 men on a slow march from Antioch through Asia, the Balkans and the Italian peninsula, hoping he would arrive just about the time the Romans either had murdered Vitellius or were willing to do so to ensure the delivery of grain Another possibility is M. Antonius Primus, a commander in the Balkans who was eager to beat Mucianus to Rome. Before Mucianus was within striking range, Primus invaded Italy with 30,000 men, sacking Aquileia, defeating the armies of Vitellius in a horrific second battle of Bedriacum, and looting Cremona for five days straight. His advance caused chaos in Rome, which resulted in the burning of the Temple of Capitoline Jupiter and the execution of Vitellius. Soon afterward Mucianus arrived and ordered Primus' legions back to the Balkans, after which he controlled the capital for the next several months, until Vespasian arrived. The reverse of this aureus fits well with early Flavian dynastic rhetoric, showing Vespasian's two sons, Titus and Domitian. The inscription is particularly interesting since it has been read as VESP AVG FILI CAESERES or as CAESERES VESP AVG FILI, depending on where the break in the inscription is thought to be. It is unique within this group of coinage for the engraving of its reverse inscription: the word FILI is inverted in relation to the rest of the words, and CAESERES would seem to be a misspelling of CAESARES.
Aureus circa 69 to 70, 7.73 g. IMP CAESAR VESPASIANVS AVG Laureate head r. Rev. VESP AVG FILI CAESERES Titus and Domitian, both togate, standing l. and r., each holding patera and roll. C 52. BMC 6. RIC 1364. CBN 4. Calicó 592 (this coin). Biaggi 339 (this coin).
Extremely rare and in unusual condition for this difficult issue. Struck on a very broad
flan, traces of edge filing, otherwise good very fine / about extremely fine
Ex Hess-Leu 45, 1970, 151 and NAC 49, 2008, B.d.B, 151 sales. Privately purchased from Freeman & Sear on the 30th of March 2012.
The mint for this rare and intriguing aureus has not been determined, though it is generally considered to have been in the West. Like the other coins in this group, this aureus has the diagnostic small portrait in high relief, and has a somewhat unusual reverse type. Carradice and Buttrey suggest it could be a Spanish mint and Carson notes that Aquileia and Poetovio (in modern Yugoslavia) have been suggested, and that a mint moving with armies loyal to Vespasian is also possible. If a moving mint is the answer, the most likely solution would be the legions commanded by G. Licinius Crassus Mucianus, the governor of Syria who threw his support behind Vespasian. As Vespasian left the Judaean war in the hands of Titus and went to Egypt to secure the grain supply, he instructed Mucianus to lead 20,000 men on a slow march from Antioch through Asia, the Balkans and the Italian peninsula, hoping he would arrive just about the time the Romans either had murdered Vitellius or were willing to do so to ensure the delivery of grain Another possibility is M. Antonius Primus, a commander in the Balkans who was eager to beat Mucianus to Rome. Before Mucianus was within striking range, Primus invaded Italy with 30,000 men, sacking Aquileia, defeating the armies of Vitellius in a horrific second battle of Bedriacum, and looting Cremona for five days straight. His advance caused chaos in Rome, which resulted in the burning of the Temple of Capitoline Jupiter and the execution of Vitellius. Soon afterward Mucianus arrived and ordered Primus' legions back to the Balkans, after which he controlled the capital for the next several months, until Vespasian arrived. The reverse of this aureus fits well with early Flavian dynastic rhetoric, showing Vespasian's two sons, Titus and Domitian. The inscription is particularly interesting since it has been read as VESP AVG FILI CAESERES or as CAESERES VESP AVG FILI, depending on where the break in the inscription is thought to be. It is unique within this group of coinage for the engraving of its reverse inscription: the word FILI is inverted in relation to the rest of the words, and CAESERES would seem to be a misspelling of CAESARES.