Well, at long last, after coming up short time and time again at auction, I finally won my desired Julius Caesar denarius, for €300 below my max bid. It checks off all my major criteria. Lifetime issue from 44 BC? ✅ Caesar's name clear on the flan? ✅ (his titles are there too) Decent portrait? ✅ No major problems apparent? ✅ Fine or better? ✅ OK, so it's got a somewhat irregular flan- some might even say "ragged"- but I can definitely live with that. Oh, and there’s a banker’s mark, too. But that’s not an issue, as far as I’m concerned. Now I lack only Vitellius to complete my Twelve Caesars collection. I won it in Elsen Auction 159, Lot 278. .
Nice bold portrait & reasonable legends. Congrats on finally getting him. Julius Caesar (February-March 44 B.C) AR Denarius Lifetime Issue 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.
Mine was minted after his assassination and is off-center to a distracting degree, but I like the bust and was also really happy to obtain the coin:
Adding a portrait JC is a bucket list item for any Roman coin collector so congratulations to all of you :- ) I added mine just recently. Rasiel
Congratulations! A very nice coin. Great to see the DICT PERPETVO nice and clearly there, too - what a piece of history.
Congrats man. My requirements were somewhat similar. I think it must be the summer how a few of these are "slipping through the cracks" pricewise.
Nice. Pretty much full lifetime title on the obverse and great portrait. Wouldn't mind at all replacing my piece with it. Congrats.
[ Wow! Congrats @lordmarcovan ! I think you got the same version as mine… issued 2weeks before his Execution… 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 - 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.) 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