The Weissenberg Family Collection
Including a Hoard of Roman Coins from the Flavian Era

Triton XXI, Lot: 743. Estimate $100000. Sold for $80000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

A Flavian Era Hoard of Aurei and Denarii. Lot of forty-six (46) coins. Lot consists of eleven gold aurei and thirty-five silver denarii discovered at Agen, France. While the exact circumstances of the coins’ discovery are uncertain, the finds would seem to comprise at least a portion of a hoard deposited during the Flavian Era. Includes the following:

AV Aurei: Tiberius (2), Nero (6), Vespasian (3).

AR Denarii: Q. Cassius Longinus (1), Octavian/Augustus (5), Claudius (2), Nero (1), Vitellius (1), Vespasian (17), Titus (1), Titus or Domitian (1), Domitian (6). Fair to Superb EF. For photographs and detailed descriptions of each coin, click here to view a PDF.

Said to be retrieved little by little from the gardens of the Sicard family home at Agen in the eastern region of Aquitaine and cleaned by Ignacy Weissenberg during his stay with the Sicard family (1939-1942). The coins date from 55 BC to AD 79. The latest coins exhibit little wear, suggesting a deposit of 79 or shortly thereafter.

Agen began as a Celtic settlement called Nitiobroges before being refounded as Aginnum under Augustus. The town became quite prosperous due to its location along several major trade routes. The content of Gustave Sicard’s discovery, particularly the presence of coins from the Neronian through Flavian eras, is consistent with documented hoards and individual coin finds in the area (see Nony [1990], especially pp. 57ff).