Triton XX, Lot: 695. Estimate $5000. Sold for $7500. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Titus. As Caesar, AD 69-79. AV Aureus (20mm, 7.25 g, 12h). Rome mint. Struck AD 73. T CAESAR IMP VESP CEN, laureate head right / PAX AVG, Pax standing left, leaning on short column, holding caduceus over a purse set on tripod in right hand, olive branch in left. RIC II 551 (Vespasian); Calicó 744; BMCRE 110 (Vespasian); Biaggi –. Good VF, toned.

From the Continental Collection. Ex Giessener Münzhandlung 73 (11 October 1995), lot 357.

An interesting syncretic type demonstrating 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.”