432, Lot: 285. Estimate $100. Sold for $90. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

The Triumvirs. Octavian. 28 BC. AR Fourrée Denarius (18.5mm, 2.66 g, 9h). Uncertain mint, perhaps in Cyrenaica(?). Bare head right; lituus behind; CAESA[R] upward to left, COS • V[I] downward to right / Crocodile standing right with jaws open; AEGVPTO above, CAPTA below. CRI 430; RIC I 275a; RSC 2; RBW –. Near VF, toned, plating broken, bent. Rare.

From the Andrew McCabe Collection.

Plated examples of the Aegypto Capta types and of the Scarpus hand types are relatively abundant compared to the solid silver coins. A non-scientific observation suggests between one-tenth and one-quarter of either type seen on the collector market are plated. RIC I places Aegypto Capta in an “uncertain mint”; Sear goes a step further in saying “eastern”. The common factor between the Scarpus and Octavian denarii as regards being found plated may just have been local practices in forgery, because while one might imagine a scenario of Scarpus being short of silver, one couldn't imagine this happening to Octavian. Furthermore, the Scarpus types sometimes found plated, RRC 546/5-7, were made under the auspices of support for Octavian. Is it possible the Aegypto Capta types might be Cyrenaican, as with Scarpus? [Andrew McCabe]