137, Lot: 185. Estimate $200. Sold for $460. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Julius Caesar. 40 BC. AR Denarius (20mm, 3.71 g). Rome mint. Tiberius Sempronius Graccus, moneyer. Laureate head of right / Legionary standard, aquila, plow and surveyor's rod. Crawford 525/3; CRI 327; Sydenham 1128; RSC 48. Fine, marks under tone.

This most interesting and informative coin was issued under Octavian by one Tiberius Sempronius Graccus, as quaestor designatus. Sear in CRI corrects Seaby in RSC (et al.), recognizing the "sceptre" as a 10-foot long surveyor's rod used to divide allotments of land granted to retiring soldiers. Along with the plow it most likely refers to the resettlement of veterans of the Perusine War, who are symbolized by the standard and aquila. (Perusia was occupied by Lucius Antony, and besieged by Octavian. It capitulated in February, 40 BC. Lucius Antony was pardoned and later made governor of Spain). Apparently it was an emergency issue, since it required Senatorial approval - thus the "S.C." Caesar's portrait, which required no legend, would have reminded active as well as retiring troops that their leader Octavian was Caesar's true heir.