364, Lot: 189. Estimate $300. Sold for $1500. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

The Triumvirs. Octavian and Agrippa. 38 BC. AR Denarius (21mm, 3.86 g, 4h). Military mint travelling with Agrippa in Gaul or with Octavian in Italy. Bare head of Octavian right, wearing slight beard / M•AGRIPPA COS/DESIG in two lines across field. Crawford 534/3; CRI 307; Sydenham 1331; RBW 1821; RSC 545. VF, natural patina, flip-over double strike.

From the RBW Collection. Ex Classical Numismatic Group XXII (12 September 1992), lot 315.

Marcus Agrippa was Octavian’s boyhood friend, lieutenant and and eventual chosen heir, adopted by the then known Augustus in 17 BC to ensure a smooth succession. Agrippa's prominence in political affairs was emphasized in 13 BC, when two of the three moneyers included Agrippa on their coin types. Succession was not to be, however, as Agrippa died the following year.

This coin names Agrippa as “consul designate”, in anticipation of his consulship the following year. It was probably minted in Gaul under Agrippa, who was named governor of Transalpine Gaul in 39 or 38 BC. It was in the latter year, the year this coin was struck, that Agrippa but down a uprising of the Aquitanians.