Sale: Triton XII, Lot: 502. Estimate $3000.  Closing Date: Monday, 5 January 2009.  Sold For $4750. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Julius Caesar. Early 46 BC. AV Aureus (8.06 g, 6h). Rome mint. A. Hirtius, praetor. Veiled female head (Vesta or Pietas?) right; C • CAESAR behind, COS • TER before / Lituus, capis, and securis; A HIRTIVS PR to lower left. Crawford 466/1; CRI 56; Bahrfeldt 19; Calicó 37; Sydenham 1017; Kestner 3634-6; BMCRR Rome 4050; CNR 1. VF, a few inconsequential marks.

Aulus Hirtius, praetor at the time this coin was struck, was a close friend of both Cicero and Caesar, and had served as the latter’s legate in Gaul. He was consul in 43 BC, having been nominated by Caesar, and was sent along with Octavian and Pansa against Antony, who was besieging Decimus Brutus at Mutina. Hirtius defeated Antony but fell while leading the assault on his camp. Hirtius is credited with completing Caesar’s commentaries on the Gallic, Alexandrine, African, and Spanish wars.