237, Lot: 387. Estimate $200. Sold for $480. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Octavian. Autumn 32-summer 31 BC. AR Denarius (20mm, 3.52 g, 2h). Italian (Rome?) mint. Bare head right / Venus, seen from behind, leaning on column, holding scepter and helmet; to right, shield with star motif leaning against column. RIC I 250a; CRI 395; RSC 62. VF, toned, reverse rough.

From the Collection of Professor L. Fontana.

Since Venus is the guardian deity of the now-deified dictator and the ancestress of the Julia gens, the depiction of Venus on the reverse conveys a dynamic messsage, namely, that Octavian is of a divine heritage and is the authentic inheritor of the Caesarian tradition.