Triton XVI, Lot: 1016. Estimate $2500. Sold for $2400. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Augustus, with Divus Julius Caesar. 27 BC-AD 14. AR Denarius (20mm, 3.69 g, 5h). Rome mint. M. Sanquinius, moneyer. Struck 17 BC. AVGVST DI VI F LVDOS SAE, herald of the Ludi Saeculares (Saecular Games) standing left, wearing long robe reaching to ankles and helmet with two long feathers, and holding winged caduceus upright in right hand and round shield, ornamented with six-pointed star, in left / M • SANQVI NIVS • III • VIR, youthful, laureate head of deified Julius Caesar right; above, a comet with four rays and a tail. RIC I 340; RSC -; BMCRE 70 = BMCRR Rome 4584; BN 273-276. Near EF, toned, a few scrapes under tone.

From the Goldman Roman Imperatorial Collection. Ex Triton XI (8 January 2008), lot 773.

The Ludi Saeculares or Secular Games had been celebrated in Rome since the 4th century BC. The disturbed times did not permit them to be held in 46 BC, and they were not reinstated by Augustus until 17 BC, when the first coins marking the event were struck.