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Home ▸ Catalog ▸ |Roman Coins| ▸ |The Twelve Caesars| ▸ |Augustus||View Options:   | | | Octavian Augustus, the first and possibly greatest Roman emperor, founded the Roman empire after defeating Mark Antony and Cleopatra. He reformed the coinage and the military, and embarked on a huge building program all across the empire. Augustus was succeeded by his stepson Tiberius after a long reign of 41 years. He was 77, having ruled from 27 B.C. to 14 A.D. |
This type has traditionally been attributed to Pergamum, c. 27 - 20 B.C. More recently, it has been suggested that it was struck at Samos, c. 21 - 20 B.C., when the city was Augustus' headquarters during his visit to the East. That all being said, David Sear has voiced skepticism to an Eastern origin in SRCV I (2000) where he writes, "the usual attribution of this issue to an 'eastern' mint is not supported either by the style of the engraving or by the evidence of provenance." In BMCRE I (1923), Harold Mattingly notes that specimens of the aureii of the same exact type (RIC I2 539) have been found at Ambenay (in France) and Xanten (in Germany).
The identity of the imperial portrait has been a matter of debate for many generations, a scholarly tug of war between an idealized depiction of Augustus and his adopted grandson, Gaius Caesar. While many nowadays prefer the former identification (note, for instance, the oak wreath), David Sear favors Gaius in SRCV I, seeing in the coin designs the "well established" connection to the Ludi Saeculares celebrations of 17 B.C., during which "year saw the birth of Gaius' younger brother, Lucius, and the adoption of both by Augustus." In 2012, a Canadian auction house sold a fascinating specimen overstruck on an earlier denarius bearing remnants of a "T R POT" legend and the suggestion of a head on the overtype's obverse. The cataloger(s) tentatively suggested the host coin was a Licinius Stolo denarius from the Rome mint (RIC I2 343), another coin with ties to the Ludi Saeculares in 17 B.C. However, in the present cataloger's view, traces of the undertype's thick edge beading may suggest a different denarius issue.
Lastly, the old description of the candelabrum being "surmounted by a crescent," noted as early as 1910 (in BMCRR II) and which is still widely cited today, was likely an incorrect interpretation of a partially visible patera.RS114560. Silver denarius, RIC I2 540, BMCRE I 684-685, BnF I3 1013-1016, RSC I 2 (Caius Caesar), SRCV I 1749 (same, $1,440 VF), Cohen I 2 (same, 30 Fr.), aVF, retoned, light scratches, banker's marks on obv., slightly off-centered, weight 3.448 g, maximum diameter 18.8 mm, die axis 180o, possibly eastern (Pergamum or Samos?) mint, c. 17 B.C.; obverse bare head of youthful Augustus(?) right, CA-ES-AR counterclockwise below, all within an oak wreath; reverse candelabrum, ornamented with rams' heads, all within a floral wreath entwined with two bucrania and three paterae, AVG-VST• across field; ex CNG e-auction 540 (15 Jun 2023), lot 397; ex Kalevala Collection; ex Baldwin's auction 48, (24 Sep 2020), lot 594; ex T. Hardaker Collection; ex CNG e-auction 277 (11 Apr 2012), lot 210; $500.00 (€470.00)
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