56, Lot: 180. Estimate $500. Sold for $531. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

LIBIUS SEVERUS. 461-465 AD. Æ 10mm (0.76 gm). Rome mint. Issued under Ricimer. Diademed, draped and cuirassed bust right / Monogram of Ricimer. RIC X 2716. Near VF. ($500)

In November of 461, Ricimer proclaimed Libius Severus emperor at Ravenna, and other than the fact that he was a native of Lucania, nothing else is known. He was little more than a puppet, as evidenced by some of his nummi such as this one with Ricimer’s monogram as the reverse type. Severus died in 465, presumably of natural causes, which was quite a remarkable achievement during the final thirty years of the Western Roman empire.