Sale: CNG 60, Lot: 1480. Estimate $1000.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 22 May 2002.  Sold For $1500. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

AUGUSTUS. 27 BC-14 AD. AR Cistophoric Tetradrachm (11.84 gm). Struck 25-20 BC. Ephesus mint. Bare head right / Capricorn right with head left, holding cornucopiae; laurel wreath around. RIC I 480; BMCRE 696; Sutherland Group VI; RPC I 2213; RSC 16. Toned, good VF. ($1000)

The production of cistophori (triple-denarii) from the mints of Provincia Asia was on an impressive scale during the early years of Augustus' reign, attesting to the rapid recovery of economic wealth in the area following decades of pillage and exploitation during the civil wars. This attractive type is attributed by Sutherland (The Cistophori of Augustus and RIC I) to Ephesus and tentatively dated to the years 25-20 BC. Pergamum has similar types, but in a different style. The capricorn represents Augustus' birth sign and was to appear frequently as a coin type during his reign. His birthday was September 23, which would have made him a Libra by the modern reckoning. However, it is clear from an astronomical work dating from the early part of Tiberius' reign that the moon and not the sun was used as the basis for computations at that time. The moon was in Capricorn at the time of Augustus' birth (cf. Melville Jones, A Dictionary of Ancient Roman Coins, pg. 47).