Exceptional Castra Praetoria Denarius

Triton XXI, Lot: 714. Estimate $7500. Sold for $9500. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Claudius. AD 41-54. AR Denarius (18mm, 3.77 g, 6h). Rome mint. Struck AD 44-45. TI CLAVD • CAESAR • AVG • P • M • TR • P • IIII, laureate head right / Battlemented wall inscribed IMPER RECEPT enclosing Castra Praetoria in which Fides Praetorianorum stands left, aquila before him; behind, pediment with fortified flanking walls. RIC I 26; von Kaenel Type 21, 379 (V309/R317); RSC 44; BMCRE 24; BN 45 (Lugdunum mint). EF, underlying luster. Rare issue in silver.

Claudius was the first of many emperors to be raised to that office by the Praetorian Guard. This reverse type, depicting the Castra Praetoria, which lay northeast of Rome outside the Servian Wall, celebrates the event.