This coin is my latest RR denarius: a story of family propaganda from ancient Rome in the run-up to and early phases of the Caesar–Pompey civil war. Crawford notes that "there is no convincing candidate for the portrait on 450.3". Zanin’s 2021 “The Last Postumii Albini” points out that this two-lineage layout is a family tree in miniature during a politically charged period. With this context the A. Postumius COS can be identified. Crawford shares the suggestions that the head might be another A. Postumius e.g.: Albinus Luscus, cos. 180 Albinus, cos. 151 or even the early Aulus Postumius Albus Regillensis consul in 496 BC, credited by Livy and Dionysius of Halicarnassus with leading the Romans to victory over the Latins at the Battle of Lake Regillus. His cognomen “Regillensis” comes from that battle and Aulus Postumius Albus Tubertus- consul in 464 BC and dictator in 431 BC; remembered for a campaign against the Aequi and for strict discipline. However, the “COS” legend and the series’ genealogical program - precisely the pattern highlighted in later analyses - make the consul of 99 BC the most convincing choice. Decimus Iunius Brutus Albinus, the moneyer, was born a Junian (son of D. Iunius Brutus, consul 77 BC) but was adopted into the patrician Postumii Albini, almost certainly by a son of Aulus Postumius Albinus (consul 99 BC). When he served as moneyer in 49/48 BC he used one sub‑series (RRC 450/3a–c) to advertise that double pedigree: the obverse shows a portrait labeled A·POSTVMIVS·COS (an “imago maioris” of his adoptive consular ancestor), while the reverse reads ALBINVS BRVTI·F - “Albinus, son of Brutus” - pointing back to his birth family. This exact pairing (portrait + office on the obverse; “Bruti f.” on the reverse) is the classic Republican way to boast a recent, prestigious ancestor by office and, at the same time, signal one’s natural lineage - hence the strong case that the head is A. Postumius Albinus, consul of 99 BC, the most relevant consular in his adoptive line. Why would he honor this A. Postumius? It let Decimus claim two consular families at once - the Junii (his father, consul 77 BC) and the Postumii Albini (consul 99 BC) - valuable political capital amid the civil‑war jockeying of the late 50s. On Republican coins, adding the office (COS) to an ancestral portrait typically marks a recent or direct relative, not a remote early‑Republic namesake - another reason to see the obverse as the consul of 99, not an older A. Postumius. The British Museum’s catalogue records the type this way: head of A. Postumius with legend A·POSTVMIVS·COS on the obverse, moneyer D. Iunius Brutus Albinus on the reverse. This coin is a tidy piece of family propaganda- adoptive Postumian face on the front, Junian paternity on the back. For more on the lives of the consul of 99 BC and moneyer - see latest post here: https://www.sullacoins.com/post/rr-family-propaganda. Post your coins of the Postumii or Junii, examples of family propaganda, or anything else you find interesting or entertaining. References: Zanin, Manfredi. “The Last Postumii Albini.” Hermes 149, no. 4 (2021): 474–486. https://doi.org/10.25162/hermes-2021-0035. British Museum example of this coin.
