Numismatica Ars Classica
Auction 125 23-24 Jun 2021
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Ex Nomos sale 4, 2011, BCD, 1401..
Aureus 46-47, AV 7.86 g. TI CLAVD CAESAR AVG P M TR P VI IMP XI Laureate head r. Rev. DE BRITANN on architrave of triumphal arch surmounted by equestrian statue l., between two trophies. C 17. BMC 32. Von Kaenel, type 27. RIC 33. CBN 54 (Lugdunum). Calicó 349a.
Very rare and in unusually fine condition for this difficult issue and historically important
issue. A portrait of fine style struck on a full flan. About extremely fine
Ex Spink sale 13015, 2013, 154.
Claudius was the youngest of the three surviving children of Drusus and Antonia Minor and the first Roman emperor to have been born outside Rome. He suffered an illness while still very young which left him with a speech impediment and limp. This caused much embarrassment to his aristocratic family who attempted to keep him from both the public and, unlike other sons of the imperial household, out of politics. It was this same disability, however, that saved him from the intrigues at court that proved fatal to so many of his relatives during the reigns of Tiberius and Caligula; by the time he was elevated to the throne by the Praetorian Guard after Caligula's assassination, he was the last surviving male of his family. Despite having little experience in politics, Claudius had a keen and scholarly intellect, and soon proved himself an able administrator. He respected the senate and declined many honors traditionally bestowed on an emperor, preferring to earn them instead, and he initiated extensive public works that were necessary and beneficial. Despite his effectiveness as ruler, however, it seems Claudius possibly fell victim to the intrigues of his fourth wife, Agrippina the Younger: wanting her own son, Nero, to succeed her husband on the throne, she fed Claudius a dish of poisonous mushrooms, or so the story goes as related by Suetonius. Seneca said that Claudius died of natural causes, and as he was already 64 at the time of his death and an alcoholic, it may be that he simply succumbed to infirmity related to old age and excessive drinking. This wonderfully preserved aureus of Claudius includes a rather pleasant portrait of the emperor, showing the long Julio-Claudian neck common on the portraits of his predecessors. We must assume this was simple artistic convention; under Claudius' successor, Nero, an imperial patron of the arts, we see a distinct departure from the preceding idealization to a more refined realism and more exact proportions in imperial portraiture. The reverse displays the triumphal arch of Claudius, inscribed on its entablature the legend DE BRITANN and surmounted by an equestrian statue of the emperor between two military trophies. The type celebrates Claudius successful invasion of Britain in AD 43 under the leadership of the illustrious senator and general, Aulus Plautius. The arch depicted was a converted arch of the Aqua Virgo, the Roman aqueduct which crossed the main road to leading north through Rome, the Via Flaminia. At the time this coin was struck in AD 46, the arch had not yet been converted, so according to Hill, The Monuments of Ancient Rome as Coin Types, p. 51, the type represents a 'blueprint' of the actual structure.
Aureus 46-47, AV 7.86 g. TI CLAVD CAESAR AVG P M TR P VI IMP XI Laureate head r. Rev. DE BRITANN on architrave of triumphal arch surmounted by equestrian statue l., between two trophies. C 17. BMC 32. Von Kaenel, type 27. RIC 33. CBN 54 (Lugdunum). Calicó 349a.
Very rare and in unusually fine condition for this difficult issue and historically important
issue. A portrait of fine style struck on a full flan. About extremely fine
Ex Spink sale 13015, 2013, 154.
Claudius was the youngest of the three surviving children of Drusus and Antonia Minor and the first Roman emperor to have been born outside Rome. He suffered an illness while still very young which left him with a speech impediment and limp. This caused much embarrassment to his aristocratic family who attempted to keep him from both the public and, unlike other sons of the imperial household, out of politics. It was this same disability, however, that saved him from the intrigues at court that proved fatal to so many of his relatives during the reigns of Tiberius and Caligula; by the time he was elevated to the throne by the Praetorian Guard after Caligula's assassination, he was the last surviving male of his family. Despite having little experience in politics, Claudius had a keen and scholarly intellect, and soon proved himself an able administrator. He respected the senate and declined many honors traditionally bestowed on an emperor, preferring to earn them instead, and he initiated extensive public works that were necessary and beneficial. Despite his effectiveness as ruler, however, it seems Claudius possibly fell victim to the intrigues of his fourth wife, Agrippina the Younger: wanting her own son, Nero, to succeed her husband on the throne, she fed Claudius a dish of poisonous mushrooms, or so the story goes as related by Suetonius. Seneca said that Claudius died of natural causes, and as he was already 64 at the time of his death and an alcoholic, it may be that he simply succumbed to infirmity related to old age and excessive drinking. This wonderfully preserved aureus of Claudius includes a rather pleasant portrait of the emperor, showing the long Julio-Claudian neck common on the portraits of his predecessors. We must assume this was simple artistic convention; under Claudius' successor, Nero, an imperial patron of the arts, we see a distinct departure from the preceding idealization to a more refined realism and more exact proportions in imperial portraiture. The reverse displays the triumphal arch of Claudius, inscribed on its entablature the legend DE BRITANN and surmounted by an equestrian statue of the emperor between two military trophies. The type celebrates Claudius successful invasion of Britain in AD 43 under the leadership of the illustrious senator and general, Aulus Plautius. The arch depicted was a converted arch of the Aqua Virgo, the Roman aqueduct which crossed the main road to leading north through Rome, the Via Flaminia. At the time this coin was struck in AD 46, the arch had not yet been converted, so according to Hill, The Monuments of Ancient Rome as Coin Types, p. 51, the type represents a 'blueprint' of the actual structure.