CNG 109, Lot: 652. Estimate $3000. Sold for $1800. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Julia Titi. Augusta, AD 79-90/1. AR Denarius (15mm, 3.19 g, 7h). Rome mint. IVLIA AVGVSTA, diademed and draped bust right, hair in long plait down back / DIVI TITI FILIA, peacock standing facing, tail ‘in splendor’. RIC II p. 314, n. 72 = RIC II (1st ed.) 218 (Domitian); RSC 7; BMCRE 250 note (Domitian); BN –; Mazzini 7 (Domitian) = Benz Collection (Lanz 94) 366 (same dies). Good VF, dark iridescent tone, holed. Extremely rare.

This issue is well known as aurei, but the denarii have had a mixed history. At the time of the first edition of RIC II in 1926, the type was cataloged alongside the aurei, without question. By the time the second edition of BMCRE appeared in 1976, though, there apparently were doubts about the authenticity of the denarii, as the footnote referencing them simply stated, “authority?” Nonetheless, the issue was revisited in the second edition of RIC II in 2007, in which the authors state: “Such denarii were previously doubted (modern forgeries of this issue exist, e.g. Becker, also ancient plated copies) though the presence of a denarius for the parallel Domitia issue suggests denarii of this type may be possible.”