Not owning one of these has been a constant headache for years. Or a coinache, rather. I have been bidding on some recently, and today one of my bids went all the way: Roman Republic, Divus Julius Caesar AR Denarius, 40 BC, Rome, Q. Voconius Vitulus, moneyer striking as Quaestor. Obverse: DIVI IVLI, laureate head right; lituus behind. Reverse: Q VOCONIVS, calf standing left, VITVLVS in ex. Reference:Cr. 526/2, Syd. 1132, C 46 I would of course have wanted a lifetime one even more, but in any case I'm the happy new caretaker of this one Please post any related coins.
Congratulations -- a very respectable Julius Caesar portrait denarius! I understand the sentiment perfectly. I felt I "needed" one but it took a long time to find an acceptable one available in my budget. (Then I found a second! One S. Macer & one L. Buca, Moneyers, otherwise same. I'll probably sell one at some point, or both and get one better.)
That's a very nice example of a scarcer type. Posthumous or not, any portrait denarius of Julius Caesar is a great collection addition. Congrats!
Great word! I'm going to start using it. I know that line of thinking very well. FWIW: I vote for the latter. :-D Exactly -- step-by-step; piece-by-piece; upgrade by upgrade -- all in accord with our varied individual budget$ of course. Ditto . . .
Look at that! I think our L.BVCA's (480/8) are from the same die pair! They are in different die-states & struck a bit too quickly w/ different centering (and corrosion on mine), but to make the match quickly, compare: - Obverse: the "R's" in PER, the flow-line/die crack to the bead border, and in CAESAR, with the distinctive trailing leg (all the others too); - Reverse: shape of Venus' forearm (and spikey wrist) vis-a-via the angle of the base of the "L" and "B". Can't be too common: Crawford identified 28 reverse dies & 76 obverse (shared over a few reverse types).
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
@Curtis Agreed! Eagle-eyed, you are!!! And as you say, double-die matches for a coin produced with so many dies certainly "can't be too common"! And by the way, feel free to send me your example -- just so they can be united. JK!!!
Congratulations on your first Caesar! it has a well defined portrait. I got mine about 15 years ago, love the irregular planchet.
I only have this one. It was struck 11 months after Julius Caesar's assassination at Mark Anthony's military camp when when he was on the run from forces loyal to the Senate.
Thank you all for showing your Caesar portraits! I really find the imperatorial period interesting. Will probably focus more on that area in the future. I love imagining the political and military machinations of Caesar, Octavian, Marc Antony, etc. when looking at these coins.
