CNG 111, Lot: 719. Estimate $7500. Sold for $7000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Marcus Aurelius. AD 161-180. AV Aurelius (17.5mm, 6.78 g, 11h). Rome mint. Struck AD 161. IMP CΛES M ΛVREL ΛNTONINVS ΛVG, laureate head right / CONCORDIΛE ΛVGVSTOR TR P XV around, COS III in exergue, Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus, both togate, standing facing each other, clasping right hands, each holding volumen in left hand. RIC III 10; MIR 18, 15-2/30; Calicó 1821; BMCRE 7-9 var. (bust type); Biaggi 841; Jameson –; Mazzini –. EF, lustrous.

On the death of Antoninus Pius in AD 161, Marcus Aurelius created Lucius Verus co-emperor with tribunician power. For the first time the imperial powers, except for the position of pontifix maximus, were fully shared between two persons. The reverse type of this issue, employed on coins of both Aurelius and Verus, commemorates the union of these two emperors and the concord that their joint rule would bring to the empire.