Finally added an aureus. My pride and joy! I've been on the look for an aureus for the last two years, but all the ones with in my budget were really subpar, and if I'm paying in four figures for a coin, it better be good. My criteria were: Any emperor/empress up to the Severan era, the coin should weigh more than 7 g, it should not be drastically off-centered, the wear must be uniform with no distracting scratches, and while I can't afford to have a choice in the reverse, I was lucky to have found mine with one that I actually like. This coin was issued under Vespasian for his son Titus as Caesar in the year 75 AD, in his fourth consulship. Regarding the reverse, it evokes the imagery found on coins from the Republican and Augustan periods. Suetonius states that the Flavians, newly rose to the purple, faced a credibility challenge due to their lack of "auctoritas". I believe that they sought to assert themselves as the upholders of Republican values (whatever it was by that time) by minting coins featuring similar motifs, and including restoration issues portraying the Julio-Claudians, thereby affirming their noble lineage (despite coming from a humble background). And the coin, Obv: T CAESAR IMP VESPASIAN. Head of Titus, laureate, right. Rev: COS IIII. Bull butting right, lashing his tail, left. AD 75, 7.09 g, 20 mm. RIC II.1 780 (Vespasian), Biaggi 361 (same rev die), Calicó 731. Ex H.D. Rauch E-Auction 43, Lot 423. 3-7 Apr 2024. Ex Numismatika Pešek (Ma-shops, Apr 2024). A video of the coin under sunlight, https://jmp.sh/IqFQzpOE So I did some sleuthing regarding the provenance, as the seller did not disclose any in their Ma-shops listing. A quick search on Acsearch revealed it was just sold by the house H.D. Rauch, but nothing beyond that. While a provenance is good to have, it a was not really a requirement as it would really drive up the prices depending on who owned it! But the more interesting aspect was that I found a handful of reverse die matches to my coin, notably the slanted bar over the IIII. Although, I could never find an obverse die match, not only for this type, but for any of the Titus as Caesar issues on Acsearch! Example 1 is a coin from the Boscoreale Hoard sold by H.D. Rauch Auction 102, Lot 55. 7-10 Nov 2016. Example 2 from the Bertolami Fine Art E-Auction 92, Lot 1179. 2-6 Oct 2020 Example 3 from Roma Numismatics Auction XXIII, Lot 889. 24-25 Mar 2022 This coin nicely pairs up with my Augustus denarius with similar butting bull motif. Please share your dream coin or any Roman gold!
Congratulations on getting the coin you wanted, while in regards to my dream Roman gold coin, I think it is the Marcus Aurelius Aureus I won at the Aureo & Calico auction recently:
That’s a nice young looking portrait of the stoic emperor. Thanks to the movie Gladiator and his overall popularity due to his Meditations, his coins are getting expensive, especially his aureii despite being common as other Antonine era coins!
@JayAg47 - coingratulations! That’s an important milestone! Like you, I wanted an aureus for years, but had resigned myself to never being able to afford one. But then I came into some inheritance, and bought my first- this Nero- in 2022. I like the bull reverse on your Titus. (Looks good in the video, too.) I’ve since added a Titus myself- with a different critter. I find it interesting that this type commemorated the opening of the Colosseum. So I never thought I’d have one, and now I own two. They’re in relatively modest grade, but both serve nicely in the Twelve Caesars collection I’m working on.
That's couple of nice aureii, a Nero was also my first choice given his gold is the cheapest among the Roman aureii, but happened to find my 'right' coin first.
Congratulations on this milestone. @JayAg47 ! That is a nice example you chose, and well researched as well. That is half of the fun. I remember when I got my first aureus back in 2004. I was equally excited as you are now.
I often wondered why Nero is the most (or at least one of the most) commonly encountered emperors in available aureii. I’ve seen a lot of Antonines as well.
I think because Nero reduced the weight of the aureus from 1/40th of a Roman pound (about 8 g) to 1/45th of a Roman pound (7.3 g). As with Gresham's law "bad money drives out good" people hoarded higher weight early aureii while spent the lower weight coins, thus Nero's aureii are more common and worn. When Vespasian took over he had to repair the damages of civil war, and pay for the campaigns of the East as well as build the Colosseum, so he scraped up all coins, even taxing urine! This included the higher weight early aureii, which were melted to mint more coins conforming to the standard set by Nero.
