Varus Countermark

394, Lot: 447. Estimate $100. Sold for $380. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Augustus. 27 BC-AD 14. Æ As (25mm, 7.81 g, 12h). Lugdunum (Lyon) mint. Struck 10-7(?) BC. Laureate head right; c/m: ligate VAR in rectangular incuse / Front elevation of the Altar of Lugdunum, decorated with the corona civica between laurels, flanked by nude male figures; to left and right, Victories on columns, facing one another. For coin: RIC I 230; Lyon 73; for c/m: Pangerl 52. Fair, rough brown surfaces.

This countermark has been attributed to Varus, a kinsman of the emperor Augustus and the governor of Germania, who was annihilated with his legions in AD 9 at the Teutoberger Forest.