Marcus Aurelius. AD 161-180. AV Aureus (19mm, 7.32 g, 6h). Rome mint. Struck AD 161. IMP CAES M AVREL ANTONINVS AVG, bare-headed and cuirassed bust right / CONCORDIAE AVGVSTOR TR P XV, COS III in exergue, Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus, both togate, standing facing each other, clasping right hands, each holding roll in left hand. RIC III 9; MIR 18, 15-2/15; Calicó 1823; cf. BMCRE p. 386 note; Cohen 71. FDC, lightly toned. Exceptional high-relief portrait.
Ex Tkalec (29 February 2000), lot 277.
On the death of Antoninus Pius in 161, Marcus Aurelius created Lucius Verus co-emperor with tribunician power. For the first time the imperial powers, except for the position of pontifix maximus, were fully shared between two persons. The reverse type of this issue, employed on coins of both Aurelius and Verus, commemorates the union of these two emperors and the concord that their joint rule would bring to the empire.
