"May I Join the Julius Caesar Portrait Club"?

For over a year now I have been putting some money aside to acquire a portrait coin of Julius Caesar & today I am happy to say my purchase of one finally arrived in the mail.

It was purchased from a well known Vcoins dealer & I am really excited to finally Join the "Julius Caesar Portrait Club".

The new coin is below as well as an updated 12 Caesars tray.

Julius Caesar (February-March 44 B.C)
AR Denarius
O: Wreathed head of Caesar right; CAESAR downward to right, DICT PERPETVO upward to left.
R:Venus Victrix standing left, holding Victory in outstretched right hand and vertical scepter in left; L • BVC[A] downwards to right. L. Aemilius Buca, moneyer.
Rome Mint
3.92g
17mm
Crawford 480/8; Alföldi Type XIV, 62–3, 67, and 69 (A13/R22); CRI 105; Sydenham 1061; RSC 23; RBW 1683.

 

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Well done, and COOL! Last month of his life...

 

Congrats!! It's a club I've yet to join .

 

Very nice Mat, congratulations - and welcome!

I was corrected on my own attribution that included “Venus Victrix” being depicted on the reverse. I can not recall who wrote me about that, but it was someone who I respected as a knowledgable person. He/She said it should be “Venus genetrix” the venerated spiritual icon from whom the Julian family claimed descendancy. I did some research and felt that attribution made sense - but I have forgotten what references I used. Anyway, I did change the name of that reverse depiction from “Venus Victrix” to “Venus genetrix”


Denarius, Crawford, Roman Republican Coins (RRC), No. 480/8 (March 44 BC - Alfoldi)

Coin obverse depiction: Julius Caesar wreathed head facing right

Inscription clockwise from right: [CAESAR DICT] PERPETVo (Dictator in Perpetuity)

Coins reverse depiction: Personfication of Venus (possibly Venus genetrix?) 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 (L. Aemilius Buca, Moneyer)

Weight: 3.5g

I would appreciate some input on this - I will readily change my attribution if I can get some authoritative guidance.

 

Congratulations on a serious coup! Between the name and that iconic portrait, yours hits all the bases.
(...Nearest I ever got to a set was an old postcard from the BM.)

 

Wow. Last month. Don't you just need it when there's that amount of documentation for something (/anything) like this?

 

Here is mine: Last TWO Weeks of his life...

Hmmm... why I got this Iulius Caesar...

- minted in last two weeks of his reign, or two weeks before he was assassinated.
- veiled, as he held the offce of Pontifex Maximus for several years, and that office was very important to him personally.
- wreathed... just short of being king... big no-no
- DICT PERPETVO - yeah, he was a king... so Roman Republic inherently and culturally hated kings.
- fairly difficult to capture with the star on reverse
- reasonably centered with most/all devices and legends (this is not as important to me cuz its numismatic vs the intrinsic Historical impact.)


Roman Imperiatorial
Julius Caesar Lifetime
P Sepullius Macer
AR Denarius, 1st 2 weeks-Mar 44 BCE, 19 mm, 4.03g.
Obv: CAESAR – DICT PERPETVO Veiled and wreathed head of Caesar R.
Rev: P·SEPVLLIVS – MACER Venus standing l., holding Victory and sceptre resting on star.
Ref: Syd 1074a Sear Imperators 107e Crawford 480-14 Rare

Alföldi arranges Crawford 480 series coins in (44 BC) month order as follows:

RRC 480/1, Buca - January
RRC 480/2, DICT QVART - early February
RRC 480/3/4/5, CAESAR IMP - late February
RRC 480/6/7/8/9/10/11/12/13/14, DICT PERPETVO - early to mid March
RRC 480/17/18, CAESAR IMPER - late March
RRC 480/19/20, PARENS PATRIAE - April
RRC 480/15/16, MARIDIANVS - April
RRC 480/21/22, CLEMENTIAE CAESARIS and Mark Antony - April

 

Wow. So he just Kept amping up the rhetoric, until the Senatorial class couldn't stand it any more. Interesting .....precedent?

 

Congratulations @Mat on joining our exclusive club Here's my example, acquired a few months ago (and ex @Sallent ):

 

Cool banker's mark! S'pose whoever did that didn't like him very much?

 

I forgot to include:

Provenance: Ex Chris Martin

 

I would like to join that club one day, but so far it has not worked out. I have bid on a couple of problem pieces and did not get them. When dealers I know have had better ones, they have been poorly struck (way off-center) and priced in the mid 4 figures. No thank you.

Maybe some day. I want one with a portrait and the word "caesar" on it.

Congratulations on your find!

 

@Mat that is an excellent membership card. Well done on adding this one. It was a great felling when I landed mine

 

Thanks for the comments and sweet coins posted in the thread.

 

Good one @Mat. Mine is not the greatest so I've been on the look out for one somewhat better that I can afford.

JULIUS CAESAR
AR Denarius
OBVERSE: CAESAR IMP, laureate head right, lituus & simpulum behind.
REVERSE: M METTIVS, Venus standing left with Victory & scepter, shield resting on globe; control letter G to left
Rome January-February 44 BC
3.81g, 18mm
RSC 34
ex. Andrew McCabe
plugged and ex-mount

 

You did well Mat - all of these JC portrait coins are treasures - such rare and historical artifacts. Thank you for originating this thread.

 

congrats mat..it is indeed a red letter day when you get one of those/these..(i'm in @TIF's club too )

 

Congrats @Mat - I haven't made it there yet. The new coin looks great and has good company in your 12-caesars tray!

 

Congrats! IMO, the DICT PERPETVO portrait denarius of Caesar is arguably one of the most important coins ever minted - how many other coins can claim to be a major reason behind the assassination that would literally shape the course of European history?

Mine is one of the uglier coins in my collection, but I still never miss a chance to show it off!

 

This wasn’t one of the references …………… http://archive1.village.virginia.edu/spw4s/RomanForum/GoogleEarth/AK_GE/AK_HTML/TS-060.html
…………… but I think it is a pretty good one. Wikepedia has a good entry at “Venus genetrix” but I do not like to use Wikipedia as an authoritative reference.