The many Faces of Galba

Rome is my favorite portrait style, but as @dougsmit stated, there's something attractive about the 'oddball' styles from other mints. I don't own one, but for me, the Taracco mint offers some of the most peculiar Galba portrait styles. Here's an example from Ira and Larry Goldberg Auctioneers, auction 72, in 2013. A very nice looking specimen from this mint.


Maybe one day I'm able to add one of these to my collection ...

Below is my only one of Galba. The portrait is nice, but the reverse is why I love this one.

 

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In 2008 at the Millennia Auction in L.A., this Galba aureus hammered for $460,000 (including buyer's premium):



Compare its portrait to the denarius image in the first post on this thread:



Fairly similar. I think that the evaluation of the denarius' portrait as "fine style" might be partly due to the price of the aureus.

 

That’s really interesting. Nice research!

 

Here’s another different portrait of Galba. With curly hair now

 

Galba, A.D. 68-69

Grade: VF+ light grey toning

Catalog: Köln 233-4; Dattari (Savio) 310; K&G 17.14;

Material: Billon

Weight: 7.18 g

Diameter: 24.00 mm


Obverse: ΣEΡOΥI ΓAΛBA AΥTOK KAIΣ ΣEBA, Laureate head right; L B (date) before

Reverse: EΛEΥ-ϑEΡI, Eleutheria standing left, resting elbow on column, holding wreath and scepter; to left, simpulum

 

$460K? My word.... I did not know Roman Imperial coins could go for such a price.

 

I attended that auction in person with my dealer and remember that the quality of the coins was extraordinary, and so were the prices.

Shortly after the Galba hammered, there was a short break, and I heard a lot of dealers mumbling "$390K [the hammer price] for a Galba?!" Many of them were being outbid on the coins they were targeting and were obviously frustrated. One of the Asian buyers in the room simply kept his bid paddle raised until there were no more bids on the coins he wanted.

I won a couple of denarii at that auction -- a Nero and an Otho -- but wasn't collecting sestertii at the time so missed out on a fabulous Caligula Three Sisters sestertius, which was won by my dealer for Mike Gasvoda. Eight years later I ended up winning that exact same sestertius at NAC 94 for about twice the price that Mike had paid... so much for hindsight.