Caracalla augustus, 198 – 217. Aureus circa 201, AV 7.10 g. ANTONINVS PIVS AVG PON TR P IIII Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust of Caracalla r. Rev. CONCORDIAE AETERNAE Jugate busts r. of Septimius Severus radiate, draped and cuirassed and Julia Domna diademed, draped and on crescent. C 1. BMC 260. RIC 52. Calicó 2849.
Very rare. Three lovely portraits of fine style, several edge marks,
possibly traces of mounting, otherwise good very fine

Ex Glendining's 7 March 1957, Late Foreign Ambassador, 417; NAC 24, European Nobleman, 2002, 145 and Triton VII, 2004, 997 sales. From the collection of a retired banker.

The Severans, not unlike previous emperors, often associated themselves with certain deities. In general terms Septimius Severus likened himself to Serapis, Caracalla to Hercules, and Geta to Bacchus. On this dynastic aureus we find entirely different associations: Septimius wears a radiate crown, equating himself with the sun-god Sol, and Domna's bust rests upon a crescent moon, equating her with the moon-goddess Luna, the celestial consort of Sol. Such imagery reinforces the long-held idea that the very nature of men and women is polar: night and day. This form of expression for that distinction extends through much of Roman coinage, especially later in the empire when double-denominations are indicated, in which case if it is a coin depicting a male, he typically he wears a radiate crown, and if the coin bears the portrait of a female, her bust usually rests upon a crescent.