Sale: Triton V, Lot: 1857. Estimate $5000.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 16 January 2002.  Sold For $4200. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

AUGUSTUS. 27 BC-14 AD. AV Aureus (7.68 gm). Struck 16 BC. L. Mescinius Rufus, moneyer. IMP CAESAR TR POT IIX, laureate head right / L ME-SCI-NIVS, AVG SVF P in exergue, Augustsus seated left on stool on platform inscribed LVD S, giving suffimenta to one of two togate figures. RIC I 350 (same dies); BMCRE 85 (same dies); BN 330 (same dies); Barhfeldt 187 (same dies); Cohen 466. VF, light field work, probably ex jewelry. Extremely rare, four known, two of which are in museum collections. ($5000)

This extremely rare type commemorates the declaration by Augustus in 17 BC of a new saeculum, to mark the inception of a new and better age. The Sibylline books were re-opened and all the old religious customs were observed, including the distribution of the suffimenta 'incense' and the celebration of the concomitant games.