As nice as a Mint Aureus

[Pierre Tavlitzki]

Can you imagine an uncirculated gold coin from the time of the Roman Empire? Such wonders are still on the market, and Heritage Auction Galleries offers two of them in its Dallas sale on January 4.

The Romans designed their coins to the very realistic effigy of the emperors (specifically named Augustus), their designated successor (Caesar) or the empress. Both copies have this characteristics, of course.

The most interesting for a greenhorn is the least expensive of the two. It represents Lucius Verus, who was augustus jointly with Marcus Aurelius from 913 to 921 AUC (Ab Urbe Condita). He distinguished himself in military campaigns, and his coinage is not uncommon. But this one, lot 20,084, has the advantage of being Fleur-de-Coin. This French term that the auction house did not translate indicate that it was produced when its tools were still new. Perfect from the origin and still uncirculated 1840 years after its issue, it is one of the finest examples to be found to judge the quality of Roman coins. It is estimated $ 10 K.

The other mint aureus at lot 20,077, estimated $ 40 K, is a rare coin that shall more excite the numismatists than the historians. When Hadrian promoted a senator in 888 AUC under the name Aelius Caesar, the Romans gossiped into a possible illegitimate son of the emperor. His career did not go far because he died in January 890 AUC, a few months before the old emperor that this inglorious episode had made invisus omnibus, which means hated by all. Aelius was the father of Verus.

[Pierre Tavlitzki]

Two good results, to start the year:

$ 18.5 K premium included for Lucius Verus, and $ 103 K premium included for Aelius Caesar.

The rarer character got the best price of these two coins which were very similar in their other characteristics.