Rare Ricimer Solidus

Sale: Triton XI, Lot: 1049. Estimate $10000.  Closing Date: Monday, 7 January 2008.  Sold For $10000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Ricimer. Patrician and Master of Soldiers, AD 457-472. AV Solidus (4.38 g, 5h). In the name of Leo I. Rome mint. Struck AD 465-467. D N LEO PERPE-TVVS AVC, rosette-diademed, draped, and cuirassed bust right / VICTOR-IA AVCCC, Leo standing facing, holding long cross in right hand, Victory on globe in left, his right foot on head of human-headed serpent; R-M//COMOB. RIC X 2518 (Leo I); Lacam 5 (same rev. die); Depeyrot 52/2 (under Libius Severus). EF, lustrous, slight striking weakness. Extremely rare.

Ricimer was a half-Suevi, half-Visigoth who came to prominence serving under the emperor Valentinian III. By the end of Valentinian's reign, Ricimer had achieved the rank of comes, and was one of the two commanders of the army in Italy (the future emperor Majorian was the other). During the rule of Avitus, Ricimer distinguished himself by defeating a large fleet of the Vandals near Corsica in AD 455 or 456. The ineptitude of Avitus' rule in Rome provided the opportunity for Ricimer to propel himself to the forefront of political power in Italy. After the Vandal threat had abated, there was a famine in Rome leading to civil unrest that eventually escalated into a military revolt led by Majorian and Ricimer. The revolt was successful, and Avitus was deposed in AD 456. Events at the time in the east, however, pre-empted the nomination of a new emperor in the West, and neither Majorian nor Ricimer immediately sought the nomination, although both were de facto rulers in Italy. The following year, though, Majorian was proclaimed emperor by his troops, perhaps due to a victory led by one of his commanders against a sizable Alamanni raid in northern Italy. For much of Majorian's rule, although Ricimer was practically his co-emperor, the two cooperated amicably. In AD 461, however, Ricimer killed his colleague, and proclaimed Libius Severus as the new emperor. The reason for this turn-about is unclear, but it occurred in the wake of a failed campaign led by Majorian in Spain. Little is known of the period of Severus' rule, but he apparently died of natural causes in AD 465. Following Severus' death, for over a year, Ricimer ruled in Italy without an emperor. Eventually the emperor in the east, Leo I, elevated Procopius Anthemius to emperor, and sent him to deal with a new threat arising from the Vandals. Ricimer initially supported the eastern candidate, an alliance that was solidified through the marriage of Ricimer to Anthemius' daughter, Alypia. The failure of the campaigns against the Vandals in AD 468 and the Visigoths in AD 469 and 471, however, strained their relationship, and the final breach occurred when Anthemius had Ricimer's close associate, Romanus, executed on suspicion of treachery. Civil war broke out, and lasted until Anthemius was killed in AD 472, after which time (or perhaps just before), Ricimer promoted Olybrius as emperor in the west. By this time the years of warfare must have weighed heavily upon Ricimer, and although we are uncertain of his age at the time, he must have been in his later years. Shortly after this latest success in his long career, Ricimer died, apparently of natural causes.

All of the coinage struck at the Italian mints during the interregnum in the West of AD 465-467 is assigned to Ricimer, who wielded supreme power in Italy during that time.