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Author Topic: thoughts on this portrait from an uncertain mint? Gaius Caesar or AVG?  (Read 591 times)

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Offline Joe Geranio

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Augustus. 27 BC-AD 14. AR Denarius (18mm, 3.42 g, 6h). Uncertain mint. Struck circa 17 BC. Bare head right within oak wreath / Candelabrum ornamented with rams' heads, within wreath entwined with bucrania and paterae. RIC I 540; RSC 2.


Text from Cng

Anyone have a theory and thought on this portrait from an uncertain mint?  Gaius Caesar or Augustus.  


R. Prideaux (Triton XI, lot 829) observes that this is a much discussed
issue, primarily about the identity of the person depicted on the
obverse. The young head cannot be that of C. Caesar, as Sutherland,
Robertson, Giard, and others have argued. It can only be Augustus, as
the oak wreath was his personal signature.

Prideaux notes that two important questions need to be examined: (1)
why is he portrayed with such a young face and (2) what is the meaning
of this unusual reverse? On the first point, the engraver wasn’t
working in a regular mint, with mint approved bust models, and wasn’t
accustomed to drawing Augustusface. Therefore, he drew a generic
profile adding the oak wreath to identify, beyond any doubt, the
portrait. On the second point, it seems clear that, based on the
symbolism, there is not only a religious, but a funeral theme. It is
interesting to note that the sadness of the funeral-themed reverse is
counterbalanced by a young portrait and the oak wreath, corona civica
aurea, which was given to the citizen who saved another citizen’s life.
Some have assigned this issue to the Ludi Saeculares of 17 BC, but
while they were religious in nature, they were not funereal.

There is no reason for such a special type to have been issued in Rome
or Lugdunum. Prideaux notes one striking event in the period after 17
BC that supports his theory. In 12 BC, Augustus’ chosen heir, Agrippa,
died suddenly in Pannonia. We know that the news was taken hard in
Rome, just months after Agrippa and his family had been officially made
the heirs of the Empire (cf. C. Marius Tromentina’s issues in 13 BC).
This event especially reverberated among the legions; they had lost a
much admired and multi-victorious general in the middle of a difficult
war.

Prideaux proposes that this candelabrum issue was struck in Pannonia to
pay the now leaderless, and perhaps restless, Pannonian legions,
without having to wait for a monetary delivery from the regular mint in
very distant Lugdunum. A local celator, not versed in the portrait of
Augustus, produced the dies. The themes reminded the soldiers of
Augustus’ corona civica, while paying tribute to their beloved chief
with a funeral set. The gold and silver issues (RIC 539-40) should be
considered as a special Pannonian military mint issue of 12 BC. This
helps explain many of the puzzling details of this issue.

The youthful head on this controversial coin was identified by Cohen as
Caius, the grandson and adoptive heir of Augustus; Mattingly, in RIC I
(1st ed.), rejected this identification in favor of a "rejuvenated"
Augustus, a view supported by other cataloguers in recent years. In the
new edition of Roman Coins and Their Values, however, David Sear
returns to the original identification of Caius Caesar. He convincingly
argues that the features of the young head bear little resemblance to
earlier portraits of Octavian/Augustus, and that the title CAESAR under
the image seems to refer to the young heir, while the name AVGVSTVS is
relegated to the reverse. Finally, the timing of the type, issued the
same year which saw the birth of Caius' brother Lucius and the adoption
of both by Augustus, favors an identification as Caius.
CCAESAR

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Any way a very nice coin...
Interesting history discussion..
quadrans
All the Best :), Joe
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Offline Joe Geranio

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Here is a Portrait Specialist answer: 


Not Gaius. The highly idealized nature of the portrait indicates to me that it is probably a representation of the Genius Augusti. See idealized colossal statue of Augustus' Genius in the Vat., which has the old Forbes type hairdo (=Type IV), but otherwise idealized facial features.
CCAESAR

 

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