Triton XX, Lot: 803. Estimate $1500. Sold for $1600. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Divus Caracalla . Died AD 217. AR Denarius (20mm, 3.12 g, 12h). Rome mint. Struck under Elagabalus or Severus Alexander. DIVO ANTONINO MAGNO, bare head right / CONSECRATIO, eagle standing left on globe, head right, with wings spread. RIC IV 717 (Severus Alexander); BMCRE 7 (Elagabalus); RSC 32. Near EF, minor porosity. Rare and attractive for issue.

The dating of the memorial issues of Caracalla are problematic. It would have made a great deal of political sense for Elagabalus to have issued them, as the Syrian prince’s claim to legitimacy was that he was the son of Caracalla and thus rightful heir to the throne (not to mention the great restorer of the Severan dynasty following Macrinus’ usurpation). RIC p. 128, note 720, concedes that they could date to the reign of Elagabalus, but places them under Severus Alexander as the obverse legend names Caracalla “the Great.” This epithet was linked, of course, to Alexander the Great, and RIC comments that its use on the Divus Caracalla coins provides a “definite allusion” to the Macedonian king’s namesake, Severus Alexander.