Sale: CNG 72, Lot: 1750. Estimate $7500.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 14 June 2006.  Sold For $8250. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Carausius. Romano-British Emperor, AD 286-293. AR Denarius (4.18 g, 6h). Uncertain mint. IMP CARAVSIVS P E AVG (sic), Laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust right / Galley right with four rowers; waves below; RSR. RIC V 560 var. (obv. legend); Shiel 49-50 var. (same); RSC 50 var. (same). EF, lightly toned. Exceptional metal for issue. Very rare.

RSR has traditionally been viewed as a mintmark, denoting either Rouen, Rotomagus, or a mint on the site of modern Richborough, where excavations have yielded the highest concentration of Carausius’ denarii at a single site. More recently, though, G. de la Bédoyère, ("Carausius and the Marks RSR and I.N.P.C.D.A.," NC 1998, pp. 79-88) has interpreted RSR as a quote from Vergil's Eclogues iv.6-7: Redeunt Saturnia Regna.