63, Lot: 49. Estimate $250. Sold for $360. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

JULIUS CAESAR. 49-48 BC. AR Denarius (18mm, 3.64 gm). Military mint travelling with Caesar. Elephant right, trampling on serpent / Simpulum, aspergillum, axe (surmounted by a dog's head), and apex. Crawford 443/1; CRI 9; Sydenham 1006; RSC 49. Nice VF, some horn-silver at reverse edge.

This is the first coin struck in the name of Julius Caesar. The symbolism on the obverse apparently alludes to the conquest of good over evil - or of force over stealth (Caesar's victory over the Gauls), while the reverse refers to Caesar's prior of Pontifex Maximus.