Sale: Triton XII, Lot: 637. Estimate $10000.  Closing Date: Monday, 5 January 2009.  Sold For $10500. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Marcus Aurelius. AD 161-180. AV Aureus (7.40 g, 12h). Rome mint. Struck AD 174. M ANTONINVS AVG TR P XXVIII, laureate and cuirassed bust right / IMP VI COS III, Marcus Aurelius, togate, on horseback prancing right, raising right hand. RIC III 295; MIR 18, 264-2/35; Calicó 1870 (same dies as illustration); BMCRE 590 var. (bust type). Near EF, lustrous, light scratch on reverse.

The reverse depicts the famous equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius that has stood in Rome since it was first erected. It survived the Middle Ages because it was thought to represent Constantine, the first Christian emperor, and is the only surviving complete equestrian statue of a pre-Christian emperor. The statue’s original location is uncertain. In the 8th century it stood in the Lateran Palace, and in 1538 it was moved from there to the Capitoline Hill as a feature of Michelangelo’s redesign. It stood on the Capitoline until it was replaced with a copy in 1981.