Classical Numismatic Group, LLC
Triton XXV 11-12 Jan 2022
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Septimius Severus. AD 193-211. AV Aureus (20mm, 7.17 g, 6h). Rome mint. Struck AD 197-198. L SEPT SEV PERT AVG IMP VIIII, laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust right / LIBERO PATRI, Liber (Bacchus) standing facing, leaning to right, head left, right hand raised to head, left grasping grounded thyrsus; at his feet to left, panther seated left, forepaw raised. RIC IV 99 var. (bust type); Calicó 2482 (this coin illustrated); Biaggi 1081 (this coin). In NGC encapsulation 4938386-049, graded Ch AU, Strike: 5/5, Surface: 4/5. Rare, with a splendid portrait and charming reverse.
Ex Rauch 109 (11 November 2019), lot 404; Hunter Collection (Goldberg 72, 5 February 2013), lot 4164 (hammer $25,000); Leo Biaggi de Blasys (1906-1979) Collection.
Like most Roman emperors, Septimius Severus featured certain favored deities on his coinage. Among these were Liber/Bacchus, the Roman god of wine and liberty, equivalent to the Greek Dionysus. Bacchus was associated with Lepcis Magna, the birthplace of Severus, from earliest times (the city's coins of the Republican and early Imperial period bore images of Dionysus). Hence the term LIBERO PATRI (Father Liber) on the reverse recalls the deities of his youth.
Ex Rauch 109 (11 November 2019), lot 404; Hunter Collection (Goldberg 72, 5 February 2013), lot 4164 (hammer $25,000); Leo Biaggi de Blasys (1906-1979) Collection.
Like most Roman emperors, Septimius Severus featured certain favored deities on his coinage. Among these were Liber/Bacchus, the Roman god of wine and liberty, equivalent to the Greek Dionysus. Bacchus was associated with Lepcis Magna, the birthplace of Severus, from earliest times (the city's coins of the Republican and early Imperial period bore images of Dionysus). Hence the term LIBERO PATRI (Father Liber) on the reverse recalls the deities of his youth.