171, Lot: 113. Estimate $100. Sold for $161. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

C. Sulpicius C.f. Galba. 106 BC. AR Serrate Denarius (19mm, 3.84 g). Jugate and laureate heads of Dei Penates left / Two male figures standing vis-à-vis, each holding a spear, pointing at a sow which lies between them; Q above. Crawford 312/1; Sydenham 572; Sulpicia 1. VF, toned.

From the Karl Sifferman Collection.

The Dei Penates Publici were the household gods of Aeneas, taken with him to Italy after the fall of Troy. They were housed in a shrine at Lavinium, which became of center of their worship, and the Lares which accompanied them. The Sulpici may have come from Lavinium.