Vespasian. AD 69-79. AV Aureus (19mm, 7.07 g, 6h). Rome mint. Struck 76 AD. IMP CAESAR VESPASIANVS AVG, laureate head right / COS VII, cow of Myron right. RIC II 840; BMCRE 176; Calicó 622. Near VF.
This reverse type is very similar to an aureus struck for Augustus (cf. Triton VIII, lot 1088), and may signal the new regime's attempt to foster a nostalgic bridge with the Augustan Age. Harold Mattingly suggests that the cow is a representation of the famous statue of Myron "... which had been placed by Augustus in the Porticus Apollonis and was transferred by Vespasian to the Temple of Peace."
