Very Rare Parthian Reference Issue

274, Lot: 330. Estimate $500. Sold for $525. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Augustus. 27 BC-AD 14. AR Denarius (17mm, 2.77 g, 12h). Rome mint. M. Durmius, moneyer. Struck 19/8 BC. Diademed bust of young Hercules right, draped in lion skin; club sloped back on right shoulder / Bare-headed Parthian kneeling on right knee right, extending in right hand a signum, to which is attached a vexillum marked X, and holding out left hand below left knee. RIC I 314; RSC 433b. Near VF/Fair, scratches and porosity. Very rare.

This coin commemorates the major diplomatic coup of Augustus’ reign: the recovery of the Roman standards, lost by Crassus at the battle of Carrhae in 54 BC, from the Parthians. The Senate awarded him a triumph for this feat, and an arch that was erected in the Forum adjacent to the Temple of Julius Caesar. The use of Hercules for the obverse not only links Augustus to Rome's mythic past, but also subtly underscores his ability to accomplish such a "Herculean labor."