Sale: Triton VI, Lot: 1171. Estimate $2000.  Closing Date: Monday, 13 January 2003.  Sold For $2100. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

LIBIUS SEVERUS. 461-465 AD. AV Tremissis (1.45 gm). Rome mint. Struck 462 AD. D N LIB SEVERVS P F AVG, rosette-diademed, draped, and cuirassed bust right / Cross within wreath; COMOB. RIC X 2709; Depeyrot 55/5 var. (obverse legend); Lacam 62; DOCLR 898. Good VF, obverse scratch and hairline surface cracks. Rare. ($2,000)

From the William H. Williams Collection.

In November of 461, Libius Severus was proclaimed emperor by Ricimer at Ravenna, and other than the fact that he was a native of Lucania, nothing else of this emperor is known. He ruled for four years and was little more than a puppet of Ricimer, in fact some of his small Æ’s even have Ricimer’s monogram as the reverse type. Severus died in 465, presumably of natural causes, quite a remarkable achievement during the final 30 years of the Western Roman empire.