Struck the Year Agrippa Defeated the Aquitanians

230, Lot: 265. Estimate $750. Sold for $1100. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Octavian. 38 BC. AR Denarius (18mm, 3.69 g, 12h). Military mint moving with Agrippa in Gaul or Octavian in Italy. Bare head right, with slight beard / M•AGRIPPA COS/ DESIG in two lines across field. Crawford 534/3; CRI 307; Sydenham 1331; RSC 545. VF, lightly toned, light porosity.

Marcus Agrippa was Octavian’s boyhood friend, lieutenant and and eventual chosen heir, adopted by the then known Augustus in 17 BC to ensure a smooth succession. Agrippa's prominence in political affairs was emphasized in 13 BC, when two of the three moneyers included Agrippa on their coin types. Succession was not to be, though, as Agrippa died the following year.

This coin names Agrippa as “consul designate”, in anticipation of his consulship the following year. It was probably minted in Gaul under Agrippa, who was named governor of Transalpine Gaul in 39 or 38 BC. It was in the latter year, the year this coin was struck, that Agrippa but down a uprising of the Aquitanians.