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Crawford 458/1, ROMAN IMPERATORIAL, Julius Caesar, AR Denarius
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Rome. The Imperators.
Julius Caesar, 47-6 BCE.
AR Denarius (3.87g; 18mm).
Military Mint in North Africa.
Obverse: Diademed head of Venus facing right, wearing necklace.
Reverse: Aeneas walking left, carrying his aged father, Anchises on his shoulder and the palladium in his right hand; CAESAR in right field.
References: Crawford 458/1; HCRI 55; BMCRR (East) 31-5; Julia 10.
Provenance: Ex Stöcklin Collection [Nomos 14 (17 May 2017) Lot 275]; ex E. J. Haeberlin Collection [Cahn-Hess (17 Jul 1933), Lot 2663].
Struck in Africa near the end of Caesar’s civil war struggle with Pompey, the coin advertises the mythical roots of the Julia gens descent from Venus and Anchises. The obverse depicts the goddess, Venus, while the reverse shows Aeneas carrying his aged father, Anchises, from Troy. Sear thought that among Caesar’s coinage, this issue was second in size only to the "elephant" coinage, and Crawford estimated 390 obverse dies and 433 reverse dies.
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