CNG 90, Lot: 1427. Estimate $1000. Sold for $3000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Augustus. 27 BC-AD 14. AR Denarius (19mm, 4.16 g, 7h). Rome mint; P. Petronius Turpilianus, moneyer. Struck 19/8 BC. Bare head right / Tarpeia standing facing, raising both hands, buried to her waist under ten shields. RIC I 299; RSC 494. Near EF, lightly toned, a few marks under tone, areas of slightly flat strike. Bold portrait.

Property of Princeton Economics acquired by Martin Armstrong. Ex Numismatica Ars Classica 15 (18 May 1999), lot 247.

As a subplot of the myth of the abduction of the Sabine women, Tarpeia was a Vestal Virgin who betrayed the city of Rome to the Sabines when they were attempting to rescue their wives and daughters. The price for her betrayal was what the Sabine soldiers wore on their left arms, meaning their gold bracelets. The Sabines were offended by Tarpeia's reprehensible greed and treason, and took her price literally. She met her death under the crushing weight of the soldiers’ shields.