Earliest Portrait of Caesar

Sale: Triton XI, Lot: 468. Estimate $1000.  Closing Date: Monday, 7 January 2008.  Sold For $1400. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

BITHYNIA, Nicaea. Julius Caesar. 47/6 BC. Æ Assarion (6.79 g, 12h). C. Vibius Pansa, proconsul. Dated CY 236 (47/6 BC). Bare head of Caesar right / GAIOU down right field, OUBIOU/PANSA down left, Nike advancing right, holding wreath in extended right hand and palm over left shoulder; monograms to left and right; VLS (date) in exergue. RPC I 2026.18 (this coin; illustrated); Weiser, Nikaia -; RG 11; BMC 8-9; SNG Copenhagen -. Near VF, black patina.

This type was the first anywhere to feature the portrait of Julius Caesar. C. Vibius Pansa was part of the Caesarian faction at Rome, and probably owed his proconsulship to his patron. The only other definite lifetime portrait of Caesar from the provincial series was an issue of circa 45 BC at Lampsacus (RPC I 2268-9; see lot 470 below). Both of these issues preceded the earliest appearance of his portrait at Rome, on the denarii of M. Mettius in January, 44 BC.