Among the Finest Examples

Titus Æ Sestertius. Rome, AD 80-81. IMP T CAES VESP AVG P M TR P P P COS VIII, laureate head to right / Spes walking to left, holding flower and raising hem of robe; large S-C across fields. RIC II.1 168; C. 221; BMCRE 186. 24.42g, 33mm, 6h.

658. 900

Extremely Fine; well-centered and boasting an attractive, glossy patina - among the very finest example to come to auction in the past decade.

From a private European collection.

659. 600

Titus Æ As. Rome, AD 80-81. IMP T CAES VESP AVG P M TR P COS VIII, laureate head to left / PAX AVGVST, Pax standing to left, holding branch and winged caduceus; S-C across fields. RIC II.1 230; BMCRE 212. 10.62g, 27mm, 8h.

Good Extremely Fine. Scarce.

From a private European collection.

Excessively Rare

660. 600

661.

Titus Æ As. Rome, AD 80-81. IMP T CAES VESP AVG P M TR P COS VIII, laureate head to left / SECVRITAS AVGVST, Securitas seated to right before garlanded and lit altar, supporting head and holding sceptre; SC in exergue. RIC II.1 244; HCC 63 (same dies); BMCRE -. 13.03g, 28mm, 6h. About Extremely Fine; some wear on the high points, otherwise in wonderful condition. Excessively Rare; no others on CoinArchives, not in the British Museum Collection, and only two examples cited in museum collections in RIC.

From the private collection of an European Engineer.

Domitian, as Caesar, AR Denarius. Rome, AD 80-81. CAESAR DIVI F DOMITIANVS COS VII, laureate head to right / PRINCEPS IVVENTVTIS, garlanded and lit altar with horns. RIC II.1 266 (Titus); BMCRE 92-6 (Titus); BN 76-7 (Titus); RSC 397a. 3.51g, 18mm, 6h.

Extremely Fine; attractive cabinet tone with golden iridescence.

Privately purchased from Numismatica Ars Classica AG.

The Aquila - First and Last Symbol of Rome

Domitian AV Aureus. Rome, AD 82-83. IMP CAES DOMITIANVS AVG P M, laureate head to right / IVPPITER CONSERVATOR, eagle, with spread wings and head to left, standing facing perched on thunderbolt. RIC II.1 143b; C. 319; BMCRE 51; BN 49 var. (wings raised); Calicó 895. 7.74g, 21mm, 6h.

Good Extremely Fine. Very Rare.

Ex G.T. Collection of the Twelve Caesars, Roma Numismatics Ltd., Auction XX, 30 October 2020, lot 501; Ex Numismatica Ars Classica AG, Auction 100, 29 May 2017, lot 462.

The aquila (eagle) has long been regarded as one of the most ancient and enduring emblems of the Roman people. Its importance to the Romans derives from its association with Jupiter, supreme deity of the Roman pantheon, revered as the patron of the Roman state since the earliest days of the kings. Stemming ultimately from the Greek tradition of the ‘aetos dios’ being the personal messenger and companion of Zeus, its mythological history is uncertain, and the surviving sources are very late; according to Antoninus Liberalis (Metamorphoses VI), c. AD 100-300, it was once a mortal king name Periphas, renowned for his just and noble rule, transformed by Zeus and made king of the birds.

Fulgentius (Mythologiarum Libri III), c. AD 475-525 relates the eagle as being a creation of the primordial goddess Gaia, appearing before Zeus at the start of the Titanomachy, the great war between the Olympian gods and their predecessors the Titans, which Zeus took to be a favourable omen of victory leading him to adopt the eagle as his own attribute: “for so happy an omen, especially since victory did ensue, he made a golden eagle for his war standards and consecrated it to the might of his protection, whereby also among the Romans, standards of this kind are carried.”

Frequently employed as a representative motif with protective connotations invoking the divine assistance of Jupiter (hence the thunderbolt it often clutches), the eagle itself was associated with strength, courage and far-sightedness, on account of which qualities it was readily adopted by the Roman military as a legionary ensign along with the wolf, bull, horse and boar (Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historia X.16). From the second consulship of Gaius Marius in 104 BC, the Aquila became the sole symbol of the Roman legions.

On the Roman coinage, the eagle was utilized on some of the earliest issues, appearing on aes signatum (BMC 2, Crawford 4.1a) in the early-mid third century BC, and on the gold coinage issued during the Second Punic War c. 211-207, and subsequently employed sporadically throughout the time of the Republic. Its usage on Imperial coinage after the reign of Augustus is surprisingly limited, but the type was revived by the Flavians for issues of gold and silver, after which time the eagle appears almost invariably either on ‘consecration’ issues denoting the elevation of an emperor or empress to a status of divinity (as when Zeus sent his eagle to fetch the handsome youth Ganymede to heaven to become the cup-bearer of the gods), or as an adjunct symbol. It would not be until after the fall of the Western Empire that the eagle would once again be featured as the principal type of the coinage of Rome, c. AD 493-534; this municipal coinage would also be the last issued by the ancient Romans in their own name.

As such it may be argued that there is a melancholic circularity to the Roman coinage as there is also found in the names of her rulers: as Romulus and Augustus were the first king and first emperor, and Romulus Augustus the last emperor, so too was the eagle boldly imprinted on both the earliest and last coins of Rome.

Domitian Æ Dupondius. Rome, AD 85. IMP CAES DOMITIAN AVG GERM COS XI, radiate head to right, aegis on far shoulder / VIRTVTI AVGVSTI, Virtus standing to right, holding parazonium and spear, foot on helmet; S-C across fields. RIC II.1 300; C. -; BN 335 var. (Virtus to left); BMCRE 313 var. (same). 16.67g, 29mm, 6h.

Good Extremely Fine; minor scuff to obverse, a highly attractive example.

From the inventory of Roberto Delzanno Mynthandel; Ex Classical Numismatic Group, Auction 106, 13 September 2017, lot 730.

Ex Sotheby’s 1934

Domitian Æ As. Rome, AD 87. IMP CAES DOMIT AVG GERM COS XIII CENS PER P P, laureate head to right / FORTVNAE AVGVSTI, Fortuna standing to left, holding rudder and cornucopiae; S-C across fields. RIC II.1 544; BMCRE 401. 12.09g, 32mm, 6h.

Near Extremely Fine; some scratches, struck on a large planchet.

Ex Roma Numismatics Ltd., E-Sale 91, 2 December 2021, lot 862. Ex Sotheby’s, 3 December 1934, lot 156.

Domitian AR Denarius. Rome, AD 91. [IM]P CAES DOMIT AVG GERM P M TR P III, laureate head to right / IMP XXII COS XVI CENS P P P, Minerva advancing to right, brandishing spear and shield. RIC II.1 156; BMCRE p. 336, note; RSC 269. 3.45g, 20mm, 7h.

Good Extremely Fine; bright and lustrous metal.

From the inventory of a North American dealer.

Anonymous Æ Tessera. Mid-late 1st century AD. Ceremonial sceptre surmounted by beardless male head to left / A P P F within jewelled wreath. C. 53; Göbl, Antike 104. 2.31g, 18mm, 6h.

Extremely Fine. Rare; one of the finest examples offered at auction in the past two decades.

Ex collection of Z.P., Austria, Roma Numismatics Ltd., E-Sale 91, 2 December 2021, lot 869.

The reverse legends stands for Augusto Patri Patriae Feliciter (To Augustus, the happy father of the country).

667. 150

669.

Trajan Æ Dupondius. Rome, AD 98-99. IMP CAES NERVA TRAIAN AVG GERM P M, radiate head to right / TR POT COS II, Abundantia seated to left on chair formed of two cornucopiae, holding sceptre; SC in exergue. RIC II 398; Woytek 19a; BMCRE 720. 11.79g, 26mm, 6h.

Good Extremely Fine; expressive portrait.

From a private European collection.

Trajan AR Denarius. Rome, AD 101-102. IMP CAES NERVA TRAIAN AVG GERM, laureate head to right / P M TR P COS IIII P P, Victory standing to right, foot on helmet, inscribing shield set on altar. RIC II 65; BMCRE 112; Woytek 126a; RSC 247. 3.38g, 18mm, 6h. Mint State.

Ex Roma Numismatics Ltd., E-Sale 91, 2 December 2021, lot 875.

Second Known of Restored Caesar Type

Trajan AR Denarius. Restoration issue of Julius Caesar. Rome, AD 105. IMP CAES TRAIAN AV[G GER DAC] P P REST bull-calf standing to left; Q VOCONIVS above, VITVLVS below / DIVI IVLI, wreathed head of Julius Caesar to right, lituus behind. UBS 78, 1218 (same dies); otherwise unpublished. 2.93g, 19mm, 5h.

Good Very Fine; deep cabinet tone. Exceedingly Rare; perhaps only the second known example of the type.

From a private UK collection.

1,500

Bearing the obverse legend common to all of Trajan’s Restoration issues, this type is based on the coins of Q. Voconius Vitulus (quaestor circa 40 BC; Crawford 526/2) and fits easily alongside the other known issues of this series.

Trajan Æ Sestertius. Rome, AD 106-107. IMP CAES NERVAE TRAIANO AVG GER DAC P M TR P COS V P P, laureate head to right, drapery on far shoulder / S P Q R OPTIMO PRINCIPI, Roma standing facing, head to left, holding Victory and spear; Dacian at her feet; S-C across fields. RIC II 486; C. 386; Woytek 250b; BN 605 var. (bust type); Lacourt Im4.13 pl. 7, 1 (this coin); BMCRE 772-773. 21.11g, 33mm, 7h. Good Extremely Fine; an attractive, sharply struck reverse.

This coin published in J. Lacourt, Sesterces des Antonins (96-192): Vol I Nerva-Trajan (France, 2022);

Ex Numismatica Ars Classica AG, Auction 114, 6 May 2019, lot 668;

Ex Numismatik Lanz München, Auction 150, 13 December 2010, lot 284;

Ex Numismatica Ars Classica AG, Auction 52, 7 October 2009, lot 413.

Trajan AR Denarius. Rome, AD 107. IMP TRAIANO AVG GER DAC P M TR P COS V P P, laureate bust to right, slight drapery on far shoulder / S P Q R OPTIMO PRINCIPI, Aequitas standing to left, holding scales and cornucopiae. RIC II 169; BMCRE 167; Woytek 222b; RSC 462. 3.47g, 19mm, 7h.

Fleur De Coin; beautiful iridescent light cabinet tone.

Ex Numismatica Ars Classica AG, Auction 120, 6 October 2020, lot 748.

Trajan AR Denarius. Restoration issue of P. Sulpicius Galba. Rome, AD 107. Veiled and draped bust of Vesta to right; S•C to left / IMP CAES TRAIAN AVG GER DAC P P REST, emblems of the pontificate: secespitae, simpulum, and axe; AE-CVR across fields, P•GALB in exergue. RIC II 789; Woytek 822; Komnick Type 23 (V1/R1); H. Mattingly, “The Restored Coins of Trajan,” NumChron 1926, 19; RSC 19; for prototype, cf. Crawford 406/1; BMCRR Rome 3516-7; RSC Sulpicia 7. 2.82g, 19mm, 7h.

Good Very Fine; contact marks, slight crystallised. Extremely Rare; only one other example present on CoinArchives.

From a private UK collection.

Though ‘restored’ coinage was nothing new to the Romans in Trajan’s time - they had made their first appearance under the Flavians, and been continued under Nerva - previous restorations had confined themselves only to the bronzes of certain well-remembered emperors. Trajan’s great restoration, however, consisted entirely of aurei and denarii, and went much further, by restoring Republican types, and effectively inventing wholly new ones.

The occasion for this ‘restitution’ series issued under Trajan may have been the melting down of old coinage as mentioned in Cassius Dio (67.15), for Mattingly and Sydenham (RIC II, p. 303) proposed that “since the Romans regarded their coins with a certain amount of reverence as products of the Sacra Moneta it is not unnatural to conclude that they valued them also as historical monuments. The dominating trait in the character of Trajan was a desire to emphasise and expand the glory of Rome. It seems reasonable, therefore, to suggest that this was his motive for issuing the Restored Coins; and, by thus placing together a series of types illustrative of the development of Rome, Trajan may not ineptly be regarded as one of the first to recognize Numismatics as an aid to History.”

Trajan AV Aureus. Rome, AD 108-110. IMP TRAIANO AVG GER DAC P M TR P •, laureate, draped and cuirassed bust to right / COS V P P S P Q R OPTIMO PRINC, emperor in military dress, walking to right, raising right hand and holding transverse spear over left shoulder. RIC II 136; BMCRE 347-8; Woytek 294f; Strack 123β; BN -; Biaggi 477; Calicó 1007a. 7.25g, 20mm, 8h.

Good Very Fine.

From a private European collection.

Ex Laugier Collection, 1913

Trajan AV Aureus. Rome, AD 113-114. • IMP • TRAIANO AVG GER DAC P M TR P COS VI P P, laureate, draped and cuirassed bust to right / S • P • Q • R • OPTIMO PRINCIPI, aquila between vexillum surmounted by wreath on left and signum surmounted by hand on right. RIC II 294 var. (bust type); BMCRE 456-7 var. (positions of vexillum and signum); Woytek 418f-1 (this coin cited); Beckmann, Early, Group VIII, 14b (a48/S8 - this coin); Biaggi 544 (same dies); BN 735; Calicó 1120 (same dies). 7.07g, 20mm, 6h.

Near Extremely Fine.

This coin cited in B. Woytek, Die Reichsprägung des kaisers Traianus (98-117). MIR 14. (Vienna, 2010); This coin published in Martin Beckmann, ‘The Early Gold Coinage of Trajan’s Sixth Consulship’ in AJN 12 (2000);

Ex Peter J. Merani Collection, Triton XXIV, 19 January 2021, lot 170;

Ex Classical Numismatic Group, Auction 42, 29 May 1997, lot 889;

Ex Classical Numismatic Group, Auction 40, 4 December 1996, lot 1471;

Ex J. Schulman, Auction 183, 9 October 1933, lot 72;

Ex Joseph-François Laugier Collection, J. Schulman, Auction 114, 5 May 1913, lot 162.

Barely five years into his reign around AD 103, Trajan was accorded the title of ‘Optimus’ by the Senate. This singular honour, which had never before been bestowed and never would be again, was a result of Trajan’s enormous popularity among his peers, and in recognition of his role as a benefactor to the people of Rome. Pliny the Younger, in his Panegyricus, considered Trajan an “optimum principem” because he himself approved or disapproved of that which the Senate would, and because though in reality Trajan was an autocrat, his deferential and humble behaviour towards his peers qualified him to be seen as virtuous, wielding power through moderation rather than insolence, leading by example rather than ruling through fear

Joseph-François Laugier (1828-1901) was curator of the Marseille Medal Cabinet and a member of the Académie de Marseille (elected on 25th April 1872). His interest in numismatics began as a boy, when supposedly he enjoyed observing the coins found by local farmers in their fields. Before his post at the Marseille Medal Cabinet he had been a mechanic in the Navy, and over a long career in numismatics he published several works on the subject and worked as a draughtsman in the publication of others.