I'm on the road at the moment, hence the shortness of the thread, but wanted to share this recent pick up of a not so well known, once future heir of the Roman Empire.. Phrygia, Laodikeia. Gaius Caesar, grandson of Augustus. AE 15mm (3.53 gm). Struck circa 5 AD under the magistrate Antonius Polemon Philopatris. Obv.: ΓΑΙΟΣ ΚΑΙΣΑΡ (GAIOS KAISAR), bare head right. Rev.: Eagle with spread wings between two monograms ΠΟΛΕ (left),ΦΙΛΟΠΑΤ (right),("Polemon" and "Philopatris"). ΛΑΟΔΙΚΕΩΝ (LAODIKEON) below. RPC I 2900; BMC 154. VF. His mother was "Julia the Elder" daughter of Augustus and his father was the great Roman General "Marcus Agrippa".. Gaius and his younger brother Lucius were both adopted by Augustus as his sons and joint-heirs to the Empire.Tragically they would both die young, Lucius of an unknown illness in Massalia on 20th August AD 2 aged 18, whilst travelling to Hispania and only 18 months later, Gaius of a wound incurred whilst in a peace treaty with Rebel leader Abbadon in the city of Artagira Armenia on 9th September AD 2 but didn't die until 21st February AD 4 (aged 23)...Interestingly Tacitus and Cassius Dio both claim that possibly Livia, their step grandmother, had a hand in their demise wanting her own son Tiberius to become the next heir, "Food for thought"!.....Paul Feel free to post your coins of Gaius, Lucius, Tiberius, Livia or anything else you think might be interesting...
Interesting coin from an obscure person. A while back I got one in an undescribed lot and felt pretty lucky about it - supposedly that is Livia on the reverse, as Demeter: Gaius Caesar Æ 20 Tralles, Lydia (5 B.C.-1 A.D.) ΓAIOΣ KAI[ΣA]Ρ, bare head r. / KAI[ΣA]ΡEΩN ΛEIBA, Livia, veiled, as Demeter standing front, holding corn-ear and poppy, right hand raised, crescent beside her head. RPC I 2648; BMC 117. (5.50 grams / 20 x 18 mm) eBay Aug. 2020 Attribution Notes: Per example in Wildwinds, full attribution is: RPC I 2648; BMC 117; Imhoof LS 27; BMC 118-120; Waddington 5419-5420 etc.
Super pick-up! The grandsons of Augustus are fun to collect, but they can be tough to track down on their own. This is my Gaius until I can secure a better one Hierapolis, Phrygia under magistrare Lynkeus And little bro Lucius, Antioch ad Maeandrum I'm holding out hope of someday acquiring the baby of the family - Agrippa Postumus... https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=6363613
..ah, i thought i had them somewhere...on Augustus's denarius... Gaius & Lucius standing with shields,spears and priestly instruments reverse, with Augustus right obverse, Lyons* mint
It seems quite the coincidence that one died of an illness and the other received his fatal wound within three weeks of each other, despite being nowhere near each other geographically. Gaius and Lucius may be difficult to find on coins individually, but I don't think there's any question that this is, by a substantial margin, the most common and least expensive denarius of Augustus that one can buy. I bought my example from Frank Robinson at one of his auctions, and finally got around to taking my own photos. Which are hardly masterpieces, but are undoubtedly an improvement! Augustus AR Denarius, 2 BCE- 4 AD Lugdunum [Lyons] Mint. Obv. Laureate head right, CAESAR AVGVSTVS DIVI F PATER PATRIAE/ Rev. Gaius & Lucius standing front, each with a hand resting on a round shield, a spear, & in field above, a lituus [curved augural staff] right & simpulum [ladle] left [in "b9"-like formation], AVGVSTI F COS DESIG PRINC IVVENT (beginning at 4:00); C L CAESARES below. RIC I 207, RSC I 43, Sear RCV I 1597, BMCRE 533. 18 mm., 3.9 g.
I'm pretty sure that all or most of the denarii were being minted in Lugdunum at the time -- I recall reading that the Rome mint wasn't active then.
Roman Empire AR Denarius, 17.03mm, 3.76g Augustus (27 BCE - 14 CE) Lugdunum mint (2 BCE - 4 CE) REV: C L CAESARES AVGVSTI F COS DESIG PRINC IVVENT, Gaius and Lucius Caesars standing, shields and spears between them. Sear 1578, RIC 206
I had an example of the OP type some years ago. At one point it was incorrectly attributed to Caligula, who was also ΓΑΙΟΣ ΚΑΙΣΑΡ.
Through all the different adoptions and intermarriages, Germanicus was, technically, both the son and the grandson of Augustus and brother, son and nephew of Tiberius. Perhaps that's why his coins tend to be easier to find than those of the other Augustan grandkids: Germanicus Grandson of Augustus Bronze As Rome mint, A.D. 50-54 Obv: GERMANICVS CAESAR TI AVG F DIVI AVG N Rev: TI CLAVDIVS CAESAR AVG P M TR P IMP PP, encircling SC RIC (Claudius) 106 29mm, 10.5g.
@gsimonel actually, the overwhelmingly vast majority of Germanicus' coins were issued by Caligula and Claudius to build rapport with the Senate and commoners who had fond memories of their "Roman Alexander". Lifetime issues of Germanicus are in fact quite difficult to obtain, and I don't believe there is a single lifetime Germanicus that doesn't also have Drusus and/or Tiberius on it also Gaius is somewhat scarce on his own and Lucius is very rare on his own, but together they are extremely common, not only on the reverse of Augustus' most common denarius, but also on a slew of provincials as well
