Sale: CNG 79, Lot: 1120. Estimate $5000.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 17 September 2008.  Sold For $6000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Marcus Aurelius. AD 161-180. AV Aureus (7.19 g, 6h). Rome mint. Struck AD 162-163. Bare-headed, draped, and cuirassed bust right / Salus standing left, holding scepter and feeding snake coiled around altar to left. RIC III 77; MIR 18, 54-2/17; Calicó 1915. Near EF, slightly matte surfaces.

According to a passage in the 8th chapter of Capitolinus’s Life of Marcus Aurelius, the reverse of this type refers to the ill health of Lucius Verus while on an expedition against the Parthians near Canusium, and to the vows pledged by Aurelius for his eventual recovery.