Numismatica Ars Classica
Auction 125 23-24 Jun 2021
View prices realized
► Sale information
Find similar lots
Antiochia.
Aureus, Antiochia 72-73, AV 7.55 g. IMP CAESAR – VESPASIANVS AVG Laureate head r. Rev. IVSTITIA – [AVG] Justitia seated r. on chair holding long staff in r. hand and laurel branches in outstretched l. C –. RBN, Notice sur l'ancien médaillier de la ville de Lyon, 1882, p. 403, 7. BMC p. 75*. RIC –. CBN –. Calicó 648.
Of the highest rarity, apparently only the third specimen known and
the only of two still in existence (the coin mentioned in RBN and
BMC was probably melted during the French revolution).
A very interesting issue bearing an unusual portrait,
slightly off-centre, otherwise extremely fine
Ex NAC sale 86, 2015, Gasvoda collection, 161.
We have decided to attribute this aureus to the mint of Antioch based on stylistic similarities found for the portraits and epigraphies with the obverse dies of RIC 1549, 1550 and 1551 and RPC 1917, 1922 and 1923-6, all listed as Antioch. The obverse of this coin bears such a resemblance to that of 1917 that T.V.Buttrey has rightly remarked that it could indeed be the work of the same die-engraver, noting in particular the similitude of the bust cut.
This aureus is only the second specimen with this reverse type to survive from antiquity down to modern times. A similar piece is noted by BMC to have existed in an old French collection but this appears to have been seized and melted down during the French Revolution. The type was completely lost until a second example was found by a metal detectorist in the United Kingdom and sold at auction in 2012. The present coin is an additional specimen struck from the same dies as the 2012 piece. As such, it is easily one of the extreme rarities of the Roman Imperial series. The coin is attributed to Antioch on the basis of artistic and epigraphic style. Indeed, the portrait of Vespasian, including the neck truncation, is so close to that found on the aureus issue RIC 1544, that both obverse dies might have been cut by the same engraver. The arrangement of the reverse legend, IVSTITIA AVG, on the present coin also matches that of LIBERTAS AVG on RIC 1544. Like many coins of Vespasian, this one also looks back to earlier imperial numismatic models for its reverse type. The enthroned figure of Iustitia, the Roman personification of justice, is clearly based on the type used for the PONTIF MAXIM denarii and aurei of Augustus (RIC 220) and Tiberius (RIC 29). However, whereas the Augustan and Tiberian issues were struck at Lugdunum for very wide circulation, Vespasian's IVSTITIA issues appear to have been intended for eastern use. IVSTITIA types do not appear at any other mint except Antioch under Vespasian (cf. RIC 1532). Perhaps in this case it refers to the victory in the Jewish War, which from a Roman perspective would have been seen as a just outcome against rebels. RIC 1532 was struck in AD 70, the year of the fall of Jerusalem and the present coin, probably in AD 72 (on analogy with RIC 1544), the year in which the holdout Zealots capitulated to Roman forces at the fortress of Machaerus.
Aureus, Antiochia 72-73, AV 7.55 g. IMP CAESAR – VESPASIANVS AVG Laureate head r. Rev. IVSTITIA – [AVG] Justitia seated r. on chair holding long staff in r. hand and laurel branches in outstretched l. C –. RBN, Notice sur l'ancien médaillier de la ville de Lyon, 1882, p. 403, 7. BMC p. 75*. RIC –. CBN –. Calicó 648.
Of the highest rarity, apparently only the third specimen known and
the only of two still in existence (the coin mentioned in RBN and
BMC was probably melted during the French revolution).
A very interesting issue bearing an unusual portrait,
slightly off-centre, otherwise extremely fine
Ex NAC sale 86, 2015, Gasvoda collection, 161.
We have decided to attribute this aureus to the mint of Antioch based on stylistic similarities found for the portraits and epigraphies with the obverse dies of RIC 1549, 1550 and 1551 and RPC 1917, 1922 and 1923-6, all listed as Antioch. The obverse of this coin bears such a resemblance to that of 1917 that T.V.Buttrey has rightly remarked that it could indeed be the work of the same die-engraver, noting in particular the similitude of the bust cut.
This aureus is only the second specimen with this reverse type to survive from antiquity down to modern times. A similar piece is noted by BMC to have existed in an old French collection but this appears to have been seized and melted down during the French Revolution. The type was completely lost until a second example was found by a metal detectorist in the United Kingdom and sold at auction in 2012. The present coin is an additional specimen struck from the same dies as the 2012 piece. As such, it is easily one of the extreme rarities of the Roman Imperial series. The coin is attributed to Antioch on the basis of artistic and epigraphic style. Indeed, the portrait of Vespasian, including the neck truncation, is so close to that found on the aureus issue RIC 1544, that both obverse dies might have been cut by the same engraver. The arrangement of the reverse legend, IVSTITIA AVG, on the present coin also matches that of LIBERTAS AVG on RIC 1544. Like many coins of Vespasian, this one also looks back to earlier imperial numismatic models for its reverse type. The enthroned figure of Iustitia, the Roman personification of justice, is clearly based on the type used for the PONTIF MAXIM denarii and aurei of Augustus (RIC 220) and Tiberius (RIC 29). However, whereas the Augustan and Tiberian issues were struck at Lugdunum for very wide circulation, Vespasian's IVSTITIA issues appear to have been intended for eastern use. IVSTITIA types do not appear at any other mint except Antioch under Vespasian (cf. RIC 1532). Perhaps in this case it refers to the victory in the Jewish War, which from a Roman perspective would have been seen as a just outcome against rebels. RIC 1532 was struck in AD 70, the year of the fall of Jerusalem and the present coin, probably in AD 72 (on analogy with RIC 1544), the year in which the holdout Zealots capitulated to Roman forces at the fortress of Machaerus.