Sale: Triton VI, Lot: 830. Estimate $12500.  Closing Date: Monday, 13 January 2003.  Sold For $13000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

VITELLIUS. 69 AD. AV Aureus (7.20 gm). A VITELLIVS GERM IMP AVG TR P, laureate head right / L VITELLIVS COS III CENSOR, Lucius Vitellius seated left on curule chair, right hand extended, holding eagle tipped sceptre in left. RIC I 94; BMCRE 23; BN 54; Cohen 54. Good VF, underlying luster. Rare. ($12,500) 

On this coin, Aulus Vitellius honors his far more capable father, Lucius Vitellius. Among the accomplishments of the senior Vitellius were marriage to the daughter of Octavia, the removal of Pontius Pilate as governor of Judaea, and consulship shared with the emperor Claudius in 43 AD. Claudius left Lucius Vitellius in charge of Rome when he left to conquer the British.