Sale: Nomos 1, Lot: 163. Estimate CHF15000.  Closing Date: Tuesday, 5 May 2009.  Sold For CHF15500. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Probus. 276-282. Heavy Aureus (Gold, 6.89 g 12), Siscia, 277. IMP C M AVR PROBVS P F AVG Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust of Probus to right Rev. SECVRITAS SAECVLI / SIS Securitas seated to left on throne, holding long scepter in her right hand and resting her left on her head. Calicó 4195. Pink VI/1, p. 49, 1st issue. RIC 593. Rare. A superb piece with some dark toning as found. Very well struck and centered. Good extremely fine.

Ex Triton VII, 13 January 2004, 1028.

Probus issued a goodly number of what can be termed ‘heavy aurei’ (similar in weight to the old standard issues of the earlier 3rd and 2nd centuries but one and a half times that of the usual pieces struck by Probus himself). These were surely designed for donatives: this one celebrates the emperor’s arrival in Rome in 277. The attractive toning on this coin is similar to that found on coins from a number of hoards, such as Bosco Reale near Naples and the Getrudenstrasse Hoard from Cologne, and derives from the decomposition of the container in which the coins were originally buried.