Octavian & Julius Caesar

I was very happy to have picked this up yesterday. I'm working on a set of sestertii of the 12 Caesars which is much more difficult for base metals than for silver or gold. Sure, there are better examples of these out there but this one had the right eye appeal for me (but may not impress others depending on their taste). I do like my coins with a little wear. They seem to have more history for me.

The Triumvirs. Octavian and Divus Julius Caesar. 38 BC. Æ Sestertius (or Dupondius?) (30.8mm, 21.58 g, 4h). Southern Italian(?) mint. Bare head of Octavian right / Wreathed head of Divus Julius Caesar right. Crawford 535/1; cf. Alföldi & Giard 34 (for type); CRI 308; Sydenham 1335; RPC I 620; Type as RBW 1822. Fine, brown surfaces, a few scratches, small pit on obverse.

From the Andrew McCabe Collection, purchased from Incitatus Coins.

 

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Nice one, Ken!

 

Nice pickup Ken. I saw that one and hoped someone here would pick it up. It has a ton of eye appeal.

 

I'd certainly be proud to have that in my collection! Nice!!

 

Nice coin! And from a great collection

 

My collection idea isn't without its issues. For Augustus I will have to resort to an Asia Minor issue unless I can spot a decent Lugdunum issue. Vitellius? Maybe not. Otho? Maybe substitute with a Paduan? No, doesn't seem right. I will have to use large provincials for some if I am to finish within my lifetime and budget.

 

Congrats, Ken very nice ,according to weight its probably a sestertius.

and this one would be a dupondius :



You might try to find an antioch Otho AE , great portraits.

Tiberius issued nice Augustus Divus dupondii.

 

Nice coin Ken!
I was watching a C. Vibius Varus Denarius, Hercules / Minerva Cr, 494/37. Made a place holding bid, and then went to lunch with my wife. I logged in a bit too late to bid live and did not get the bearded wonder coin. Guess you could say I was out to lunch on this coin.


I had some spare change to burn and went out of my normal collecting area to buy:

I know little about these, but the standards caught my eye. I hope they are not too tooled.
Severus Alexander AE Nicaea Bithynia standards
ROMAN, Provincial; Nicaea in Bithynia Æ
Obv - Severus Alexander, 222 - 235 AD
Rev - three signa and/or Aquila
Lot of five (5)
Average VF, with patinas, a few with cleaning and/or smoothing marks.

After the auction, I did a bit of looking and saw several Roman Provencal coins with standards. I may be back for some help IDing the coins.

Nicaea A celebrated city of Asia, situated on the eastern side of Lake Ascania (Isnik) in Bithynia, built (about B.C. 300) by Antigonus, king of Asia, and originally called Antigonea; but Lysimachus soon after changed the name into Nicaea, in honour of his wife. Under the kings of Bithynia it was often the royal residence; and under the Romans it continued to be one of the chief cities of Asia; and at the time of the Byzantine emperors it was a great military outpost of Constantinople against the Turks. It fell in A.D. 1330, being taken by the Turk Orchan, the son of Ottoman. The great double walls of the ancient city still exist, and there are ruins of an aqueduct, a theatre, a gymnasium, and the two moles of the ancient harbour.
https://www.bible-history.com/maps/romanempire/Nicaea.html

 

Nice large portrait coin, with even wear and still good detail. Congrats on a great pick up.

 

very nice Ken!.. that's two, two, two emperors in one! ..i too prefer some wear on me coins, esp. ancients.

 

Actually it's only one Emperor

 

..ahaha!... i sit corrected....make that one dictator please...but keep it 2 Caesars..

 

Great addition!

 

That is a nice example of a coin which often comes with weakly struck busts.
Much better than my example.

 

That's a cointype I would gladly welcome in my trays. So far I have to deal with a worn example of the "but where is JC's portrait on that one ?" type


Octavian, Dupondius Minted in Italy 38 BC
DIVI F, bare head of Octavian right
DIVOS IVLIVS, in a laurel wreath
27.07 gr
Ref : HCRI # 309, RCV # 1570

Q

 

I love this type - i've been looking for one for quite a while.

 

Hope you are all doing well.
Checking my attributions on this Octavius coin, acsearch says here it is a Dupondius https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=3217993

Wildwinds say it is a Sestertius:
http://www.wildwinds.com/coins/sear5/s1570.html#cohen_0095

and acsearch says here Sestertius or Dupondius:
https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=242165

My question is, how do you call it and why, is it really hard or impossible to tell if it is a Dupondius or a Sestertius?

I appreciate very much your opinions and hope they will put me out of my misery of not knowing what this coin is It has these same colors as in the pictures: the obverse is reddish-brown like orichalcum, the other side is dark

Southern Italian mint, 38 BC
31 mm, 22.12 g
Crawford 535/2, Sydenham 1336;

Ob.: DIVI•F bare head of Octavian right with slight beard; eight-rayed star in right field below chin
Rev.: DIVOS IVLIVS in laurel wreath

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I know my pictures are terrible; good thing is that with this stay-home in place, my husband is taking pictures of the coins. Hope to have good pictures soon

 

An oldie but a goodie thread.
I remember reading this thread and enjoying it before I had this guy:

Augustus with Divus Julius Caesar
(27 BC-14 AD) MACEDON. Thessalonica. Obv: ΘEOΣ.
Wreathed head of Julius Caesar right; uncertain c/m on neck.
Rev: ΘEΣΣAΛONIKEΩN.
Bare head of Augustus right; Δ below. RPC I 1554.
Fine. 12.3 g.21 mm
The D has been interpreted as either a denomination mark (four assaria) or, more likely, a date - year four of the Actian era (28/7 BC). The ligate NK monogram has been generally accepted as a reference to Nero (Nerwn Kaisar). This is problematic considering that Thessalonica had abundant coinages issued under Claudius and Nero, such that countermarking these quite older coins would be unlikely. Touratsoglou(p. 105) follows Kraay's suggestion that the NK is an abbreviation for Nike (NiKh), and was applied to the coins during celebrations of the city's 50th anniversary of its grant of liberty by the Romans. All but two of the known specimens of this countermark occur on the coins of this first issue of Thessalonica, and the wear on the countermarks is nearly identical to that of the coins, suggesting that the countermarks could not have been applied very long after the coins entered circulation.

 

I also have one of these issues, and have the same question: acsearch says Sestertius or Dupondius https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=206831

numismatics.org says Denomination "Uncertain value"
http://numismatics.org/crro/id/rrc-535.1

and http://ikmk.smb.museum/object?id=18217363 says Dupondius?

31 mm, 22.71 g
Southern Italian mint, 38 BC
RPC 620; Crawford 535/1;

Ob.: DIVI•F CAESAR bare head of Octavian right wearing slight beard
Rev.: DIVOS IVLIVS laureate head of Julius Caesar right

​

 

I think it was probably a dupondius because of the weight issue. Sestertii of the first century were especillay large and heavy.