172, Lot: 160. Estimate $150. Sold for $252. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

L. Plautius Plancus. 47 BC. AR Denarius (18mm, 3.93 g). Facing head of Medusa with disheveled hair / Winged Aurora or Victory flying right, holding palm branch and conducting the four horses of the Sun. Crawford 453/1c; CRI 29a; Sydenham 959b; Plautia 14. VF, toned, obverse die rust.

From The John A. Seeger Collection.

Lucius Plautius Plancus was the brother of Lucius Munatius Plancus, although adopted into the Plautia family. This was a common occurrence when a noble Roman family was lacking suitable male heirs. The reverse type, remarkably, can be tied to a specific ancient work of art, a painting by the 4th century BC artist Nikomachos of Thebes, apparently in the possession of the Munatii and possibly the personal property of Plautius Plancus. Plautius Plancus was proscribed and executed in 43 BC, and it is recorded that Munatius dedicated the painting to the Capitol at his Gallic Triumph of the same year. This leaves open the question of the nature of the relationship between the two brothers. Did Munatius inherit the property of his disgraced brother and make the dedication in expiation, or did he have a hand in his death and seizure of his property? Munatius Plancus was later consul in 42 BC according to the arrangement made by Caesar and then followed Antony to Asia, but deserted him in 32 shortly before the outbreak of civil war with Octavian. Plancus resided in Rome for the rest of his life, and it was on his proposal that Octavian received the title Augustus in 27 BC.