Asia Recepta

Sale: Triton XI, Lot: 661. Estimate $200.  Closing Date: Monday, 7 January 2008.  Sold For $900. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Octavian. 29-28 BC. AR Quinarius (1.75 g, 11h). Italian (Rome?) mint. CAESAR IMP • VII, bare head right / ASIA on right, RECEPTA on left, Victory, draped, standing left, holding wreath in right hand and palm frond in left over left shoulder on cista mystica flanked by two interlaced snakes with heads erect. RIC I 276; CRI 429; RSC 14; BMCRE 647-9 = BMCRR East 240-2; BN 899-903 (mint in Asia Minor). Good VF, toned, a few shallow test cuts on or near edge.

Prideaux notes that this coin would not have been struck in the East as the legend “ASIA RECEPTA” would not have been well received in a land that had not been conquered but only ruled by Romans. This exaggerated propaganda, however, would have played well in Rome. A non-Asian mint is also indicated by the unaligned dies of this issue.