Extremely Rare Magistrate

CNG 88, Lot: 902. Estimate $2000. Sold for $6500. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

AEOLIS, Elaea. Commodus. AD 177-192. Æ Medallion (43mm, 49.54 g, 6h). Lucius Castrischinus, strategus. Struck circa AD 185. Laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust right / Commodus right on horseback, raising hand and being crowned by Nike who stands behind; to right, trophy with bound captive seated left at base below horse’s raised hoof. RPC Online 228 = SNG von Aulock 7687 (same dies); SNG Righetti 821. Good VF, black-green patina with earthen overtones in devices. Extremely rare, RPC Online cites only four examples, two of which are in public collections (von Aulock specimen in BM and Righetti specimen in Bernisches Historisches Museum).

From Group CEM.

According to Leschhorn (Lexicon der Aufschriften auf griechischen Münzen, Band II, p. 595), this medallion is the only evidence for this magistrate’s name.

Unlike Marcus Aurelius, whose reign was overshadowed by almost continuous war with the Parthians and the Marcomanni, the reign of Commodus was relatively peaceful. The borders of Dacia remained an area of instability, however, due to the war with the Marcomanni and the settlement of Germanic refugees there, putting pressure on the the provinces in the region and threatening to disrupt trade between the Black Sea and the Aegean. Shortly after succeeding his father in AD 180, and intermittently for the next five years, Commodus waged war in Dacia. In AD 185, a revolt again erupted and the Romans established a "no-man's-land" along Dacia's northern border in the hope that this arrangement would discourage the Germans, a "victory" for securing a period of regional peace (Dio Cass. 73).