Sale: Triton VI, Lot: 549. Estimate $1000.  Closing Date: Monday, 13 January 2003.  Sold For $1300. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

SARDINIA, Caralis. Circa 40 BC. Æ 32mm (33.38 gm). ARISTO MVTVM[BAL RICOCE] SVF, jugate heads right / VE-N-E[RIS], tetrastyle temple with closed doors, eagle in pediment and row of antefixes along roofline; KAR in exergue. RPC I 624; FITA 149/150. Near VF, dark brown patina. Very rare. ($1000) 

The identification of the conjoined heads on the obverse of this coin remains uncertain. They have been variously identified as Octavian and Agrippa, Octavian and M. Aemilius Lepidus, and Octavian and Caesar. RPC states that "the portraits are completely unlike those of Octavian and....are probably those of municipal officials." In the case of provincial coinage, it is difficult to use style as a criterion in identification as portraits were often either the work of inferior engravers or engravers without access to the Imperial imago. Without any epigraphic evidence the exact identity of these individuals will have to remain uncertain.