Judaea Capta Aureus

Sale: CNG 82, Lot: 993. Estimate $7500.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 16 September 2009.  Sold For $7500. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Vespasian. AD 69-79. AV Aureus (7.14 g, 6h). “Judaea Capta” issue. Rome mint. Struck AD 72-73. Laureate head right / Palm tree; to left, Vespasian standing right, holding spear and parazonium, foot on helmet; to right, Jewess, in attitude of mourning, seated right on cuirass. RIC II 363; Hendin 762; Calicó 587. Good Fine, some marks, traces of deposits on reverse.

When Vespasian was proclaimed emperor by the legions in the East in AD 69, he left his son Titus to quell the Jewish uprising led by the Zealots John of Gischala and Simon bar Giora. Titus accomplished the task in 70 AD, and in the following year, Vespasian, Titus, and Domitian celebrated a splendid triumph in Rome. Several different reverse types were employed on the coinage of the Flavians to commemorate the triumph.