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Research Coins: Feature Auction

 
Sale: CNG 76, Lot: 1381. Estimate $2000. 
Closing Date: Wednesday, 12 September 2007. 
Sold For $2850. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Gaius (Caligula). AD 37-41. Æ Sestertius (24.72 g, 6h). Rome mint. Struck AD 37-38. Laureate head left / Gaius standing left on daïs with camp chair behind, addressing five soldiers standing right, holding parazonia and shields; four aquilae behind. RIC I 32. VF, red-brown patina.


From the J.S. Wagner Collection.

Highly unusual on this type is the lack of the letters S C, which would designate that the coin was issued by decree of the Senate (Senatus Consulto). From Republican times, the formula had been used on both silver and bronze coinage, but under the Empire, it was used almost exclusively on the bronze coinage which was controlled by the Senate while the emperor reserved to himself the issue of precious metal. In fact, imperial bronze coinage without the formula is generally thought to have been issued under special circumstances and under an authority other than the Senate.