Lot 1213
Vespasian. Gold Aureus (7.28 g), AD 69-79. Rome. IMP CAESAR VESPASIANVS AVG, laureate head of Vespasian right. Rev. COS VII, bull standing right. (RIC 840; BN -; BMC 176; Calicó 622). Well struck with underlying luster present. Extremely fine. Estimate $15,000UP
Purchased privately from Tom Cederlind.
The reverse of this aureus resurrects a type from the numismatic iconography of Augustus as a means of linking Vespasian's Flavian dynasty, which owed its imperial power to victory in civil war, to the glorious reign of the first Roman emperor. In this way the undisputed legitimacy of Augustus was made to rub off on the militaristic Flavian dynasty. In its original Augustan context, the bull type represented one of several bovine statues by the Archaic Greek sculptor Myron carried off from Athens to Rome by Augustus in 28 BC. These were subsequently erected before the Temple of Apollo on the Palatine.
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| Realized $15,340 |
