Maison Palombo Geneve

Auction 17  –  20 October 2018

Maison Palombo Geneve, Auction 17

Ancient and World Coins and Medals

Sa, 20.10.2018, from 10:30 AM CEST
The auction is closed.

Description

Septime Sévère (193-211) Aureus - Rome (202) D’une extrême rareté et d’une qualité remarquable. Exemplaire du trésor de Karnak (1901) et de la vente Münzen & Medaillen 35 du 16 juin 1967, N°85 et de la collection du Perfectionniste (C. Vaudecrane) vente Leu 93 du 10 mai 2005, N°56 6.98g - Cal. 2428 Superbe à FDC - CHOICE AU This coin belongs to the dynastic series, because – on the reverse which depicts a galley with five oarsmen, a vexillum at the prow, and two standards at the stern – one sees the seated figures of Septimius Severus, Caracalla and Geta. The legend AD- VENTVS AVGVSTOR (The Return of the Augusts) indicates that it was struck when Severus return from the East after a long absence of five years: the journey had started by sea in the summer of AD 197, after defeating Clodius Albinus in Gaul, and by January AD 198 Severus had defeated the Parthians, with all the men of Ctesiphon being executed and tens of thousands of women and children taken as slaves. The royal family remained in the East, Severus and Caracalla jointly assumed the consulate in Antioch on 1 January AD 202, and then they returned – this time by land. Severus was coming back in time for his decennalia, and Caracalla was planning his wedding to Plautilla in April AD 202, so it was a year of celebrations in Rome: not only games and spectacles, but also (according to Dio Cassius) a donative of ten aurei to each praetorian guard. Only four other examples of this type are known, from the collections of A. Du Chastel specimen (Brussels coin-cabinet no. 677), A. Evans (Naville III lot 87 = Lanz 50 lot 685), G. Mazzini (=Biaggi = NAC 34 lot 39), and an anonymous collector (NAC 92 lot 2301).

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Bidding

Price realized 120'000 CHF
Starting price 70'000 CHF
Estimate 90'000 CHF
The auction is closed.
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