Fine Coins Showcase
Antiquities Showcase
Show Empty Categories
Shop Search
Shopping Cart
My FORVM
Contact Us
About Forum
Shopping at Forum
Our Guarantee
Payment Options
Shipping Options & Fees
Privacy & Security
Forum Staff
Selling Your Coins
Identifying Your Coin
FAQs
zoom.asp
Home ▸ Catalog ▸ |Featured Collections| ▸ |Shawn Caza Collection||View Options:   | | | Shawn Caza served as a Canadian diplomat from 1997 to 2019. He traveled extensively for work and was posted to Europe several times. His collection of Roman coins and antiquities, as well as Seleucid, Ptolemaic, Judaean, Nabataean, Byzantine, Islamic, Indian, Vietnamese and Chinese coins was mainly acquired during travel and postings. He is a member of the American Numismatic Society. He is a Procurator Monetae and a Tribunus Plebis Perpetuus (member of the year 2016 & 2020, and for life) on Forum's Classical Numismatic Discussion. He is also the author of A Handbook of Late Roman Bronze Coin Types, 324-395 (Spink 2021), and an associate editor of KOINON: The International Journal of Classical Numismatic Studies. |
| Minted after his invasion of Italy and crossing of the Rubicon on 10 January 49 B.C. until his defeat of Pompey at Pharsalus, this was the first coin type issued in Caesar's name. The elephant was the symbol of the Caesar family. According to legend, an ancestor received the name Caesar after single-handedly killing an elephant, probably in North Africa during the First Punic War, and "Caesai" was the name for elephant in the local Punic language. The obverse was long described as an elephant trampling a snake, symbolizing good triumphing over evil. For the Romans, however, the snake was a symbol of healing, not evil. The image to the right (click it to see a larger photo) is ornamentation on the side of the Gundestrup cauldron (c. 150 - 1 B.C.) depicting three Celtic warriors sounding their carnyx war trumpets. Clearly, Caesar's elephant is trampling a carnyx and the obverse symbolizes Caesar's victory over the Celtic tribes of Gaul. The reverse refers to Caesar's office of Pontifex Maximus, the high priest of Rome, a title now held by the Pope. |  |
Mytilene, Lesbos, 188 - 170 B.C., In the Name Alexander the Great
Mytilene was initially confined to a small island, that was later joined to Lesbos. After defeating a Mytilene revolt in 428 B.C., the Athenian public assembly voted to massacre all the men and to sell the women and children into slavery. When it changed its mind the next day, a fast trireme sailed the 186 nautical miles (344 km) in less than a day and prevented the massacre. Her most famous residents were the poets Sappho and Alcaeus, the statesman Pittacus (one of the Seven Sages of ancient Greece), and Aristotle, who lived in Mytilene for two years. The Romans, among whom was a young Julius Caesar, successfully besieged Mytilene in 80 B.C. In 56 A.D., Paul the Apostle stopped there on the return trip of his third missionary journey (Acts 20:14).GS110111. Silver tetradrachm, unpublished variant, Price 1733 var. (ivy leaf vice aphlaston under throne), Müller Alexander -, Hersh -, SNG Greece -, SNG Cop -, VF, toned, scratches and marks, hammered flan, weight 16.151 g, maximum diameter 33.8 mm, die axis 0o, Mytilene mint, c. 188 - 170 B.C.; obverse head of Herakles right, wearing Nemean Lion skin, scalp over head, forepaws tied at neck; reverse Zeus Aëtophoros enthroned left, nude to the waist, himation around hips and legs, eagle in right hand, long scepter vertical behind in left hand, right leg drawn back, AΛEΞANΔPOY downward on right, two pilei over ΔΨ monogram over chelys (lyre) lower left, aphlaston below throne; from the Shawn Caza Collection, ex Dorotheum (Vienna, Austria); zero sales of this type listed on Coin Archives in the last two decades; extremely rare; SOLD
Galba, 3 April 68 - 15 January 69 A.D., Ilium (Troy), Troas
Ilion (Troy) became an ally of Rome in the 1st century B.C. In 48 B.C., Julius Caesar bestowed benefactions on the city, recalling the city's loyalty during the Mithridatic Wars, the city's connection with his cousin L. Julius Caesar, and the family's claim that they were ultimately descended from Venus through the Trojan prince Aeneas and therefore shared a kinship with the Ilians. In 20 B.C., Augustus visited Ilion and financed the restoration and rebuilding of the sanctuary of Athena Ilias, the bouleuterion, and the theater.RP112158. Leaded bronze AE 21, RPC Online I 2317 (7 spec.); Bellinger T126; BMC Troas p. 63, 44; SNG Cop 391; I-B MG p. 262, 171, aVF, green patina, tight flan, weight 7.526 g, maximum diameter 21.2 mm, die axis 0o, Ilium (Troy) mint, 3 Apr 68 - 15 Jan 69 A.D.; obverse CYNKΛHTOC ΓAΛBA, confronted busts of the Senate, on left, and Galba, on right; reverse statue of Athena standing half left, helmeted head left, wearing chiton and diplois, spear in right hand, resting left hand on grounded shield behind, I-ΛI across field, all within olive-wreath; from Shawn Caza, former diplomat, author of A Handbook of Late Roman Coins (Spink, 2021), collection assembled during postings and international travel; purchased in an US dealer unclean coin lot in mid 2000's; Coin Archives records only one specimen of the type at auction in the last two decades; very rare; SOLD
Balbinus, 22 Apr - 29 Jul 238 A.D.
The ironic reverse refers to the mutual loyalty and support for each other by the joint emperors Balbinus and Pupienus. In reality, because they were quarreling they were unable to put up a joint defense against the praetorians. They were both murdered after a reign of only 99 days.RS110100. Silver antoninianus, RIC IV 11; BMCRE VI 71; RSC III 6, Hunter III 5, SRCV III 8485, aF, well centered with full legends, light toning, porous, bumps and scratches, edge a little ragged, weight 4.534 g, maximum diameter 22.2 mm, die axis 0o, Rome mint, 22 Apr - 29 Jul 238 A.D.; obverse IMP CAES D CAEL BALBINVS AVG, radiate, draped, and cuirassed bust right; reverse FIDES MVTVA AVGG, clasped hands; from the Shawn Caza Collection; SOLD
Galba, 3 April 68 - 15 January 69 A.D., Roman Provincial Egypt
Minted during a less than two month period from 9 June to 28 August 68 A.D.RX110103. Billon tetradrachm, RPC I 5327; Dattari 306; Geissen 220; Milne 316; Curtis 220; BMC Alexandria p. 23, 192; Kampmann 17.4; Emmett 172/1, aF, dark patina, highlighting earthen deposits, oval flan, weight 11.743 g, maximum diameter 27.7 mm, die axis 0o, Alexandria mint, 9 Jun - 28 Aug 68 A.D.; obverse ΛOYK ΛIB ΣOYΛΠ ΓAΛBA KAIΣ ΣEB AY-T, laureate head right, L A (year 1) right; reverse Eleutheria (Liberty) standing left, leaning on a column, wreath extended in right hand, scepter in left hand, EΛEY-ΘEPIA starting upward on left and ending downward on right; from the Shawn Casa Collection, ex Arcade Coins (Toronto, Canada); SOLD
Julia Titi, Augusta c. 79 - 89 A.D., Unpublished Mule
This coin is an extremely rare apparently unpublished mule of two very similar rare varieties from the same issue. This coin has the obverse of RIC II-1 T395 with Julia's hair in a coiled bun at the back. That type has the reverse legend CONCORDIA AVG. The obverse of RIC II-1 T394, with this CONCORD AVGVST reverse legend, has a different portrait with a smaller bun lower on the back of her head.RB110098. Orichalcum dupondius, RIC II-1 T395/394 (R/R2); BnF III T268/T269; cf. Cohen I 3 (CONCORDIA AVG); Hunter I 5 (same); SRCV I 2616 (CONCORDIA AVG); BMCRE II -, aF, green patina, weight 10.442 g, maximum diameter 28.0 mm, die axis 180o, Rome mint, struck under Titus, 80 - 81 A.D.; obverse IVLIA IMP T AVG F AVGVSTA, draped bust right, hair piled high in the front, coiled in a bun at the back; reverse CONCORD AVGVST, Concordia seated left, patera in right hand, cornucopia in left hand, S - C (senatus consulto) in exergue; from the Shawn Caza Collection, ex Kunst-und Antikmarkt Am Hof (Vienna, Austria); this coin is an extremely rare apparently unpublished mule of two very similar rare varieties from the same issue; zero sales of this mule type are recorded on Coin Archives in the last two decades; extremely rare; SOLD
Clodius Albinus, Late 195 or Early 196 - 19 February 197 A.D., Possibly an Ancient Counterfeit
This coin may be a fourree, an unofficial ancient plated counterfeit. Although the style appears official and there is no exposed darker bronze core, these types of lamination defects are most often the result of corrosion within a base core that pushes up silver plating.RS110099. Silver denarius, cf. RIC IV 4 (R) corr. (D CL SEPT ALBIN CAES only); RSC III 15; BMCRE V 91; SRCV II 6141; Hunter III p. 8, 4 var. (obv. leg. SEP ALBIN), VF, toned, scratches, tight flan, lamination defects, weight 2.642 g, maximum diameter 17.6 mm, die axis 180o, Rome or counterfeiter's mint, as caesar, 194 - 195 A.D.; obverse D CLOD SEPT ALBIN CAES, bare head right; reverse FELICITAS COS II, Felicitas standing slightly left, head left, short caduceus in right hand, long scepter vertical behind in left hand; from the Shawn Caza Collection, ex Kunst-und Antikmarkt Am Hof (Vienna, Austria); rare; SOLD
Hadrian, 11 August 117 - 10 July 138 A.D.
Hadrian traveled to nearly every province of the Empire and spent more than half his reign outside Italy. Nero had been criticized as self-indulgent for his trip to Greece, but Hadrian proudly advertised his travels with his "Adventus" coinage series. Unlike Nero, the pleasure-seeking tourist, Hadrian inspected and corrected the legions and made grants for the construction of new public buildings, projects, and settlements. Hadrian travels were intended to transform conquered lands into a unified Roman Empire.RB110107. Orichalcum sestertius, RIC II-3 1803 (R), BMCRE III 1782, Hunter II 636, Cohen II 1218, SRCV II 3627, aF, well centered, corrosion, weight 24.525 g, maximum diameter 32.8 mm, die axis 180o, Rome mint, 131 - 138 A.D.; obverse HADRIANVS AVG COS III P P, laureate and draped bust right, seen from the side; reverse RESTITVTORI ACHAIAE, Hadrian standing left, togate, holding roll in left hand, with right hand raising Achaea, draped, kneeling right and resting left hand on knee; urn containing palm between them, S C (senatus consulto) in exergue; from the Shawn Caza Collection, ex Anciennes Collections (Clermont Ferrand, France); rare; SOLD
Pupienus, 22 April - 29 July 2
Felicitas was the goddess or personification of happiness, good fortune, and success. She played an important role in Rome's state religion during the empire and was frequently portrayed on coins. She became a prominent symbol of the wealth and prosperity of the Roman Empire.RS110101. Silver denarius, RIC IV-1 6 (S), RSC III 26, BMCRE VI 52, Hunter III 1, SRCV III 8527, aF, well centered, light toning, porous and rough, edge ragged, weight 1.787 g, maximum diameter 20.0 mm, die axis 180o, Rome mint, 22 Apr - 29 Jul 238; obverse IMP C M CLOD PVPIENVS AVG, laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust right; reverse P M TR P COS II P P (Pontifex Maximus, Tribunitia Potestas, Consul Secundum - High priest, holder of tribunitian power, consul for the 2nd time, Pater Patre), Felicitas standing left, caduceus in right, long scepter vertical behind in left; from the Shawn Caza Collection, ex Dorotheum (Vienna, Austria); scarce; SOLD
Aemilian, July or August - October 253 A.D.
M. Aemilius Aemilianus was born in Mauretania and rose to become governor of Moesia during the reign of Trebonianus Gallus. Aemilian bribed his troops to declare him emperor, using money intended for the Goths to maintain peace. When he invaded Italy, the troops of Gallus and Volusian switched sides and murdered the two co-emperors. However, when the forces of the future emperor Valerian entered Italy, Aemilian suffered the same fate as his predecessors. He was murdered after a reign of about 88 days.RS110102. Silver antoninianus, RIC IV 9 (R4), RSC IV 41, Hunter III 15, SRCV III 9842, F, toned, (black splotches), rough edges, weight 2.841 g, maximum diameter 21.9 mm, die axis 0o, Rome mint, Jul/Aug - Oct 253 A.D.; obverse IMP AEMILIANVS PIVS FEL AVG, radiate, draped, and cuirassed bust right, seen from behind; reverse ROMAE AETERN, Roma standing slightly left, head left, helmeted and draped, phoenix on globe in extended right hand, transverse spear leaning on left arm, left hand rests on grounded shield behind her; from the Shawn Caza Collection, ex Merson Numismatique (Paris, France); very rare; SOLD
You are viewing a SOLD items page.
Click here to return to the page with AVAILABLE items.
The sale price for a sold item is the private information of the buyer and will not be provided.
Page created in 1.36 seconds.
