Watch List notes:

Vitellius 69 AD, Judaea Capta, Hendin Plate Coin. 40-as; Vitellius 69 AD, Judaea Capta, Hendin Plate Coin; 69 AD, Rome, As, 11.01g. BM-77, pl. 64.9 (same dies); RIC-151 (R2), pl.32 (the BM coin); Hendin-5th ed., pl 44, 1463 = 6th ed., pl. 49, 6490 (our coin). Obv: A VITELLIVS GERMAN IM - P AVG P M TR P Head laureate r. Rx: VICTORIA AVG - [V] - S around, S C in exergue, Victory stepping l. extending both arms to place shield atop trophy before her, at base of which a captive sits l. on a shield, supporting his head with his l. arm in an attitude of dejection. Ex Ars Classica XVII, 3 October 1934, Collections of Sir Arthur J. Evans and Others, lot 1311. This coin illustrated by Hendin. Vitellius, with our middle-bronze type and with his sestertius type of Victory inscribing OB CIV SER onto a shield supported by a palm tree, was apparently the first emperor to issue coins commemorating Roman victory in the Jewish war that broke out late in Nero\'s reign; so Hendin, 6th edition, pp. 372-3, following H. St. J. Hart, Journal of Theological Studies, 1952, pp. 172-198 and C.M. Kraay, The aes Coinage of AD 68-81, unpublished D.Phi. thesis, Oxford 1953.This coin is exceptional in many ways. It is the first issue of Judaea Capta and the first one that shows a seated Jewess. The sestertius of Vitellius only shows a victory being inscribed on a palm tree, but no depiction of Judaea. Of this issue, it seems only seven coins are recorded, and this is by far the finest known. It is the plate coin in two of David Hendin\'s handbooks, but looks quite different. When David illustrated the coin in the last two editions of his book he had never seen the coin but just worked from a picture sent to him by Bank Leu. When I, Harlan, studied the coin I was bothered by its unusual and rather odd surface, so I sent it to my close friend David Hendin for him to view. He found and artfully removed a layer of varnish and two layers of paint. This could have been present when Sir Arthur Evans owned the coin since Ars Classia pictures were made from plaster casts. The coin now has a fine original brown surface with only a few miniscule contact marks, and is an incredible prize for anyone collecting this series. EF / aEF