Sale: CNG 63, Lot: 1192. Estimate $500.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 21 May 2003.  Sold For $1100. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

JULIUS CAESAR. February-March 44 BC. AR Denarius (4.13 gm). C. Cossutius Maridianus, moneyer. Laureate and veiled head right / Venus leaning left on shield set on globe, holding Victory. Crawford 480/16; CRI 111 (same obverse die); Sydenham 1067; RSC 9 (same obverse die). Toned, near VF, obverse die cracks, porous. ($500)

Gaius Cossutius Maridianus was the fourth member of the short-lived quattuorviri monetales. Shortly before Caesar's assassination, the Senate, under pressure from Caesar, acquiesced and decreed that the dictator's portrait should be allowed to appear as an obverse type on denarii, and that the number of moneyers be increased to four. For the first time in Roman history, the image of a living individual appeared on the coinage of the Republic. It was Caesar's undiplomatic wielding of power and image makeover during these last few months which led to his assassination on 15 March.