CNG 108, Lot: 571. Estimate $3000. Sold for $6000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Claudius. AD 41-54. AV Aureus (18mm, 7.74 g, 5h). Rome mint. Struck AD 46-47. TI CLAVD CAESAR • AVG • P • M • TR • P • VI • IMP • XI, laureate head right / S P Q R/P P/OB • C • S • in three lines within oak wreath. RIC I 40; von Kaenel Type 26; Calicó 379a; BMCRE 42-4; BN 50; Biaggi 211. VF, some marks.

Found near Usk, Monmouthshire in the late 1990s and recorded by Rodney Hudson at Newport Museum (with ticket in his hand).

In circa AD 55, the Twentieth Legion, Valeria Victrix, was moved to Burrium, (present day Usk) to control the restive local tribe, the Silures. Burrium was the first Roman fortress in Wales. While stationed there the Twentieth took part in the defeat of the Ordovices tribe and the invasion of the island of Anglesey, the center of British Druidism. Subsequently detachments from the Legion fought at Watling Street in the great battle that brought to a bloody end the revolt of Boudica. In AD 66, the Twentieth was sent to Viroconium (Wroxeter) and Burrium was abandoned.

See also lot 574 for another aureus found near Usk.