The Caesarians. Julius Caesar. Late spring-early summer 48 BC. AR Denarius (17.5mm, 3.69 g, 12h). Military mint traveling with Caesar, probably commencing after the battle of Pharsalus, 9 August 48 BC.

CNG Feature Auction 117
Lot: 459. Estimated: $ 2 000

Roman Republican, Silver

Sold For $ 9 000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

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The Caesarians. Julius Caesar. Late spring-early summer 48 BC. AR Denarius (17.5mm, 3.69 g, 12h). Military mint traveling with Caesar, probably commencing after the battle of Pharsalus, 9 August 48 BC. Diademed female head (Clementia?) right, wearing oak wreath, cruciform earring, necklace, hair collected into a knot behind, and falling in locks down her neck; LII (= 52 Caesar's age) to left / Trophy of Gallic arms, wearing horned helmet, holding oval shield ornamented with thunderbolt in right hand and carnyx in left; securis to right, CAE SAR across lower field. Crawford 452/4-5/452/2 (for obv./rev. type); CRI 12-13/11 (for obv./rev. type); Sydenham 1010-1/1009 (for obv./rev. type); cf. RBW 1581-2 (for obv. type). Lightly toned, a few light marks and scratches, rotated double strike on obverse, two shallow test cuts on edge. VF. Knot of hair is not jeweled. An extremely rare hybrid denarius, probably the fifth known specimen. The rarest of the Julius Caesar denarii.

This coin is an extremely interesting hybrid of the Crawford 452/4-5 obverse and the 452/2 reverse. As noted in Numismatica Ars Classica 80, 20 October 2014, lot 48: “Not only is the style of Crawford 452/4-5 more delicate and refined than the 452/2 coin (obverse), but more importantly the design of the hair in the chignons [is] completely different. In Crawford 452/4-5, the hair appears to be designed as curls simply tied in a bun, whilst in 452/2 the hair seems to be held [and] covered by a veil; these particular characteristics are only found on obverses of Crawford 452/4 and 5 and never on the ones of 452/2.”

The final winners of all CNG Feature Auction 117 lots will be determined during the live online sale that will be held on 19-20 May 2021. This lot is in Session 2, which begins 19 May 2021 at 2 PM ET.

Winning bids are subject to a 20% buyer's fee for bids placed on this website and 22.50% for all others.

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