Peace Brings Happiness and Imperial Security

452, Lot: 734. Estimate $3000. Sold for $2800. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Vespasian. AD 69-79. AV Aureus (19mm, 7.24 g, 6h). Rome mint. Struck AD 73. IMP CAES VESP AVG P M COS IIII CEN, laureate head right / PAX ΛVG, Pax, draped, standing left, extending winged caduceus in right hand over follis (purse) lying on tripod to left, holding olive branch in left hand, resting left arm on column. RIC II 521; Calicó 661; BMCRE, p. 16, *; BN 309 (same dies); Biaggi –; Jameson –; Mazzini –; CNG 96, lot 767 (same dies). Some light scratches and marks. VF.

This interesting syncretic type demonstrates the relationship between healthy commerce and the peace, happiness, and security of the empire. Discussing this type, struck for both Vespasian and Titus as Caesar, Mattingly (BMCRE p. xxxvi) notes: “...Pax carries not only her own olive–branch, but also the caduceus of Felicitas and the follis (purse) of Mercury, the god who gives commercial success, and leans on the column of Securitas.”