CNG 96, Lot: 744. Estimate $1000. Sold for $800. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Augustus. 27 BC-AD 14. AR Denarius (19mm, 3.96 g, 2h). Rome mint; P. Petronius Turpilianus, moneyer. Struck 19-18 BC. Bare head right / Tarpeia standing facing, raising both hands, buried to her waist under ten shields; broken spear below. RIC I 299; RSC 494. Good VF, toned, struck with rusty obverse die, areas of deposits and cleaning scratches on obverse. Well centered reverse.

From the Archer M. Huntington Collection, ANS 1001.1.10548.

In the story 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. Her price for betraying Rome was what the Sabine soldiers wore on their left arms, meaning their gold bracelets, but the Sabines were so offended by Tarpeia's reprehensible greed and treason that they took her request literally. She met her death under the crushing weight of the soldiers’ shields.