I have always wanted one of these with a reasonably well-centered portrait. JULIUS CAESAR AS DICTATOR IN PERPETUITY, MARCH 44 BC Denarius, Crawford, Roman Republican Coins (RRC), No. 480/8 (March 44 BC - Alföldi) Coin obverse depiction: Julius Caesar laureate bust facing right Inscription clockwise from right: CAESAR DICT PERPETVO Coin reverse depiction: Venus standing, facing left, holding statuette of victory on palm of right hand and supporting vertical scepter with left hand Inscription vertical to right: L BVCA (Moneyer) Provenance: Ex C.J. Martin Coins and Ancient Arts Ltd., London. https://lapada.org/dealers/cj-martin-coins-ancient-art-ltd/
I am so jealous. You've got the DICT PERPETVO inscription on yours. That is amazing, as it means your coin was minted in the month before his death. Mine only has PM for PONTIFEX MAXIMUS, so I'm guessing it is probably from an earlier mintage from January through early February of 44 BCE, before he was named Dictator for Life. Great coin. I really like the cristalization patters on the surface, and it is a nice portrait. Anyway, here's mine with the PM and Moon combo.
If only these were produced at a London mint, eh? Definitely a holy grail coin. I got mine (a Macer rather than a Buca) at the end of last year. Unfortunately it is not "DICT PERPETVO", just "VO" :
That's a terrific example and one I'm still hoping to acquire..... one of these days. The closest I have is this 'posthumous' portrait of JC and Antony: Mark Antony & Julius Caesar. 43 B.C. AR denarius (17 mm, 3.44 g, 5 h). Mint traveling with Antony in Cisalpine Gaul. CAESAR [DIC], bare head of Julius Caesar right; behind, capis / M A[NT(Conjoined letters)]O IMP R P C (= ReiPublicae Constituendae---Regulation of the Republic), bare head of Marc Antony right; behind, lituus. Crawford 488/1; HCRI 118; Sydenham 1165; RSC 2. Lightly toned. Good metal. Nearly very fine.
That is very nice coin @Mikey Zee. One of my (many) regrets is selling my example of that issue when I switched my main “allegiance” to Britannic Tetrarchic coinage - it is a great historical coin.
