Before Actium

Sale: Triton XI, Lot: 632. Estimate $2000.  Closing Date: Monday, 7 January 2008.  Sold For $3750. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Mark Antony and Octavian. 41 BC. AR Denarius (4.01 g, 10h). Ephesus mint. M. Barbatius Pollio, quaestor pro praetore. M • ANT • IMP • AVG • III • VIR • R • P • C • M • BARBAT • Q • P, bare head of Mark Antony right / CAESAR • IMP • PONT • III • VIR • R • P • C •, bare head of Octavian right, wearing slight beard. Crawford 517/2; CRI 243; Sydenham 1181; RSC 8a (Mark Antony and Augustus); Kestner 3793-5; BMCRR East 100. EF, lightly toned.

The Richard Prideaux Collection of Augustus

Richard Prideaux was born in Illinois sixty years ago. A dual national, he eventually moved to France, where he studied law and history, closing the loop opened by his ancestors the Prideaux Brothers, who crossed the Channel with William the Conqueror in 1066 before some descendants sailed to America eight hundred years later. Fond of "the first centuries" (BC and AD), he started collecting Roman coins in 1970, including a broad range of coinage from aes grave to Hadrian. Later, at the Sorbonne, when he was working on the military symbolism in Augustus' coinage, he focused his numismatic interest on the first emperor's issues, and over time assembled an extensive academic collection.

Richard Prideaux believes that understanding the mentalities of people living in the past is essential to appreciate generally how they lived, and specifically to understand their coinage. To address the questions of why, how, when and where the coins were issued, one must consider many factors, some of which may easily be forgotten or misinterpreted nowadays. He is now preparing a book about Augustus' coinage. His comprehensive study has enabled him to reinterpret various aspects of the coinage, and he has kindly communicated some of his insights which have served as the basis for notes in the following catalog.

Richard Prideaux would like to pay tribute to the late Professor Pierre Grimal, who knew and understood Rome so well that he might as well have been a citizen of the 1st Century visiting our time, and who enlightened the minds of so many scholars studying Roman history and literature, and to the late Professor Andre Magdelain, whose immense and almost magical knowledge of Roman law and religion impressed and helped so many students and colleagues. He also wants to thank sincerely Professor Francois Hinard for his acute and precious curiosity in Roman mentalities, legions, oaths and symbols, and of course Professor Michel Amandry, Director of the Cabinet des Medailles of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, whose wisdom, advice and help have been priceless through the years.